Felipe Macia

Chicago - Bogota


My practice delves into the intersection of art, environment, and community engagement. Through the mediums of documentary, video installation, light, and sound, I explore the intricate relationships between planetary systems and the production of space. Rooted in my background in regenerative business design, environmental conservation and community based projects, my work takes a responsive approach, intuitively navigating landscapes while remaining ethically attuned to the communities I collaborate with.

Fascinated by how landscapes sculpt and shape biological organisms, I have been researching how climatic memory is embedded within biological bodies and proxy data. For example, through the work, "Archeology of Sky" I investigate the auditory manifestation of climatic conditions through tree rings, utilizing sound art to render visible the climatic history embedded within wood. By transforming data into sonic compositions, this work celebrates the inherent connection between sound, atmosphere, and landscape.

Employing weather and meteorology as mediums to embody the senses with the atmospheric essence of our current geological age, I developed "Atmosphere of Rivers," an immersive video installation driven by atmospheric data, visualizing the interconnectedness of global water cycles and their impact on climate dynamics. By animating fluctuations in atmospheric rivers, the installation highlights the delicate balance of ecological systems across geographies.

My practice is also deeply interested in light and public space, exploring how the built environment is shaped by human interaction and relationships that build situated meaning. I investigate how art and material interventions can create new situated meaning within public spaces, fostering new metaphors between individuals and their surroundings.

One example of my work is "Architectural Kinetics," a large-scale public installation that reimagines facades as dynamic light objects, transforming the grid patterns of modern architectural design into sources of movement and light. This exploration extends the principles of artists like Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz Diez, utilizing architecture as a material to probe the potential of color and geometry in spatial composition.

Another example of public space intervention is the work "Public Space," where I intervene in Doane Observatory in Chicago to provoke contemplation on the ownership and sovereignty of celestial bodies. Drawing from space law treaties, the work challenges the notion of national appropriation of celestial territories amidst the burgeoning race for space colonization.