La Tormenta - by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle

La Tormenta - by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle



La Tormenta / The Storm - by Inigo Manglano Ovalle

Installed: 2006

Fiberglass and Titanium Alloy Foil

Location: 101 W Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago

Commissioned by US GSA Art-in-Architecture program

Born in Spain, artist Inigo Manglano-Ovalle explored the ways individual affect and are affected by complex systems. Through space forms and diverse media his work examins subjects like economics, politics and immigration. He often uses weather as a metaphor to engage these topics.

Commissioned to create art for this site, Manglano-Ovalle collaborated with architect Doug Garafalo and the Department of Atmosphenic Sciences (DAS) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. DAS tracked the evolution of an actual storm as it entered Illinois, in 2002. Using data from this study, the artist and the architect digitally translated the changing shape of the tempest into a two-part sculpture that depicts the moment the storm shifted in response to internal and external forces over the split second.

Titled La Tormenta ( The Storm) , the sculpture is suspended near the auditorium where immigrants are sworn in as new citizens. Drawing attention to the changing sky above, the sculpture alludes to the many effects produced by trandformative events.

La Tormenta - by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle

La Tormenta - by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle

La Tormenta - by Inigo Manglano-Ovalle