Los tiempos del aire by Cristina Umaña Durán explores breathing as a vital engine and the body as a measure of time. Through an installation of textile and inflatable structures, the artist creates an organic universe that invites contemplation and asserts the act of breathing as a profound emotion in the face of current immediacy.
Los tiempos del aire (The Times of Air) proposes a reflection on notions such as time, body, air, memory, and fragility, inviting the viewer to enter the personal universe of Cristina Umaña Durán—a space designed to listen, perceive, and reflect on the transcendence of the very act of breathing. To see the invisible.
In this context, air—that imperceptible, immaterial, and volatile element—manifests as the vital engine that animates matter, while the body becomes a measure of time.
For the artist, the concept of Time is a fundamental axis, which she explores through cyclical and repetitive biological processes: breathing, swallowing, digesting. From this perspective, she proposes that one way to stop time is through the body, which she defines as an unstable, mutable, and even monstrous entity; a territory that oscillates between the self and the other, between subordination and dominance.
The immersive installation is a monumental drawing composed of "bodies of air" that inhabit the room, endowed with a rhythm and cadence that emulate the vital pulse. Cristina’s practice, which stems from drawing and writing to expand into sculpture and performance, materializes here in inflatable and textile structures that, in the absence of air, remain as inert matter. Upon activation, these forms come to life: they expand and transform their scale within the space, following a whimsical score that dictates their "plastic breathing." The seams cease to be mere joints and become boundaries, arteries, and veins that trace organic shapes across the surface.
Through a palette of reds, oranges, and burgundies, the artist reveals an inner universe where play and curiosity allow for self-discovery. Hands, a recurring motif in her imagery, act as symbols of connection, reach, and contact.
In a present saturated with stimuli and marked by immediacy, Los tiempos del aire proposes a different rhythm. In this contemporary chaos, breathing is reclaimed not only as a survival mechanism but as a profound act of contemplation and emotion.
She is an artist who works with textiles, drawing, writing, sculpture, installation and performance. Her work imagines the inner human body, exploring how it digests emotions, perceives time and experiences grief, in a paradox between play and pain.
She began her studies in Art History and Visual Arts at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and completed them at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she obtained the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2017. It is part of the 2024 generation of the SOMA Educational Program in Mexico City. Her work has been exhibited in Colombia, Mexico and the United States, including Espacio Odeón (Bogotá), ARTBO - Bogotá International Art Fair (Bogotá), SOMA (Mexico City), ACME Hall No. 10 and No. 11 (Mexico City), Croma (Mexico City), FORO.SPACE (Bogotá), Casas Riegner Gallery (Bogotá), Policroma Gallery (Medellín), Centro Cultural Plaza Fátima (Monterrey), Ely Center of Contemporary Art (New Haven) and the Cabañas Museum (Guadalajara) to name a few.
Cristina has been nominated for the Emerging Artist Award of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (2025), the Sara Modiano Foundation Award (2023) and the Colsanitas Young Art Award (2020). She has participated in residencies such as Spudnik Press Cooperative (Chicago, 2017), Proyecto Nave (Ecuador, 2019), ACRE Residency (Wisconsin, 2022, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Nebraska, 2025) and Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists' Residency (Michigan, 2025); and will now be part of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture residencies (Maine, 2026) and Coordinate Residency (Buenos Aires, 2026).
She lives and works in Mexico City.
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