Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle was born in 1961, in Madrid, Spain, and currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He received B.A. degrees in
Art and Art History as well as Latin American and Spanish literature from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1983. In
1989, he completed his M.F.A. degree in sculpture from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Manglano-Ovalle investigates diverse
subjects such as technology, climate, immigration and the global impact of social, political, environmental, and scientific systems. Often
working in partnership or employing technical experts across multiple disciplines including engineering, architecture, genomics, and
climatology, Manglano-Ovalle produces objects that are often technically complex, formally captivating, and conceptually engaging. His
early work focused on collaborative explorations with young people in his hometown of Chicago, which led to the founding of Street-Level
Youth Media, a community arts organization for youth in 1993. Across multiple independent projects executed during the same period,
Manglano-Ovalle explored a multi-faceted and socially-focused approach to art making, blending layered concepts with a variety of
materials both typical and unorthodox. Incorporating objects such as identification cards in Assigned Identities (1991) or automobile tires
in Flotilla (1991), Manglano-Ovalle made reference to the difficulties surrounding illegal immigration into the United States. In the sculptural
works Bloom (1995–96) and Subwoofer (1995), Manglano-Ovalle utilized ballistic gelatin, firearms and car sound systems to explore
notions of violence and division. His noted film trilogy Le Baiser/The Kiss (1999), Climate (2000), and In Ordinary Time (2001) focused on
the architecture of Mies van der Rohe and the implications of Modernism. More recently, he has employed genomic and meteorological
methodologies to explore issues of race, identity, and the promise and threat of technology in works such as Cloud Prototype No. 1 (2003)
and Portrait of a Young Reader (2006).
Manglano-Ovalle has exhibited his work at acclaimed institutions both nationally and internationally. Selected one-person exhibitions
include Focus: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, The Art Institute of Chicago (2005), The Krefeld Suite, Museum Haus Esters and Haus Lange,
Krefend, Germany (2005), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, El Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey and Museo Tamayo Arte
Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2004), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Sala de Exposiciones de la Fundación "la Caixa", Madrid, Spain (2003),
White Flags, Barcelona Pavilion, Fundación Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, Spain (2002), and Balsero, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago (1997), among many others. Group exhibitions include the Liverpool Biennial (2004 and 2006), Moving Pictures, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York and Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (2002 and 2003), Tempo, Museum of Modern Art, New York
(2002), Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (1998), and the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2000). He
has received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship (2001), the Media Arts Award from the Wexner Center for the
Arts (1997), and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship (1995).
Currently Manglano-Ovalle is presenting a new work at Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany (2007). He is represented by Max Protetch
Gallery, New York.