Daniel Steegmann Mangrané

Daniel Steegmann Mangrané (born 1977 in Barcelona, Spain) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses drawing, photography, collage, sculpture, installation, moving image, sound and poetry. His work explores the relationship between culture and environment, with nature as a constant field of research. Organic and geometric forms frequently coexist in his installations, challenging conventional distinctions between the natural and the constructed and creating environments in which perception, space and materiality become interconnected. He lives and works in Barcelona. Nature, and particularly the rainforest, occupies a central place in Steegmann Mangrané’s practice. His long-standing interest in biology led him to explore the Amazon rainforest and Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, where he became interested not only in their biodiversity but also in Indigenous cosmologies and different ways of relating to the natural world. Since moving to Rio de Janeiro in 2004, his engagement with Brazilian environments has become an important reference within his work. For Steegmann Mangrané, the rainforest functions as a metaphor for the interconnectedness of things, while his installations seek to unsettle the distinction between what is natural and what is artificial. His practice often brings organic material into geometric or constructed spaces, creating situations in which forms appear to shift between solid and liquid, natural and artificial, real and imagined. Rather than treating nature and culture as opposing categories, his work proposes a more interconnected understanding of their relationship. This approach is also reflected in his immersive installations, which engage the visitor through light, colour, scale, sound and other sensory elements. His 2023 exhibition at Kiasma in Helsinki, developed in collaboration with MACBA, brought together collage, drawing, hologram, installation, moving image, photography, sculpture, sound and poetry to create an environment experienced through the entire body. Steegmann Mangrané has presented solo exhibitions internationally, including at MACBA in Barcelona, Kiasma in Helsinki, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum in Tromsø, Institut d’Art Contemporain in Villeurbanne, Kunsthalle Münster, Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona and Museu de Serralves in Porto. His work has also been included in major group exhibitions at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Bourse de Commerce in Paris, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Liverpool Biennial, Taipei Biennial, Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Berlin Biennale and New Museum in New York. More recent presentations include a solo exhibition at Mendes Wood DM in Paris in 2024 and at Atelier Hermès in Seoul in 2025. In 2026, his work has also been presented at the Pola Museum of Art in Hakone and in exhibitions in Brazil and Portugal. Across these different contexts, Steegmann Mangrané continues to investigate the relationships between organic and geometric forms, perception and environment, and the ways in which humans understand their place within the natural world.