Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (born 1961 in Madrid) is a conceptual artist working across media to create works that challenge our notions of the political and the cultural. His work is occupied with the attempt to understand forces and systems that continuously drive forward the transformation of our world including social phenomena as well as phenomena of the natural world. Whether it is in sculpture, film or photography, his work presents a moment of change, conversion, and transformation. Consistently, people become the starting point for Manglano’s thought process. Often collaborating with scientists, architects, writers, and composers, the artist creates technically complex and systematically aesthetic objects. Earlier works primarily delved into social aspects such as migration and immigration, ethnicity and increasing urban development. His most noted films must include Le Baiser/The Kiss
(1999), Climate (2000) and Alltagszeit (2001), focusing on the architecture of Mies van der Rohe and the effects of modernism.
Read MoreRecently his work has been centered around genomic and meteorological aspects, discussing questions on race, identity, and the potential and moral ambiguities of modern technology such as genetic engineering, astrophysics or the use of computers in contemporary architecture. By using this form of technology – assuming that they are already a part of contemporary culture – and implementing them into artwork, Manglano-Ovalle turns our attention to the way information is spread and manipulated, how history is represented through objects and images, and how metaphysical forces shape contemporary life.
Notable recent solo exhibitions include The Power Plant, Toronto (2011), MASS MoCA North Adams, MA (2010), Berkeley Museum of Art, CA (2009), Sala Parpalló in Valencia, Spain (2009), The Art Institute of Chicago, IL (2005), Museum Haus Esters and Haus Lange, Krefeld (2005), El Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey and Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2004), Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación La Caixa, Madrid (2003), and Barcelona Pavilion, Fundación Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona (2002).
Manglano-Ovalle took part in many group exhibitions, among Documenta 12 (2007), Liverpool Biennial (2004; 2006), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2002; 2003), MoMA (2002) and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2000).
He has received numerous awards including a United States Artists Guthman Fellowship (2011), a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2009), and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award (2001), as well as a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1995).
Manglano-Ovalle lives and works in Chicago.
