Williams College Museum of Art Presents Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: Juggernaut
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.– Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents Juggernaut, a new video work by contemporary artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. Interested in connecting man’s overpowering industrial presence with natural surroundings, Manglano-Ovalle’s projects explore the global implications of social, political, environmental, and scientific systems. His projects are often interdisciplinary and Manglano-Ovalle frequently works with experts in fields such as engineering, architecture, genomics, and climatology to produce his conceptually engaging objects.His new work on view at WCMA, Juggernaut, was filmed in El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja Sur, Mexico using super 16mm film, which was then transferred to HD video. El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve is the largest protected area in Mexico, and is best known as the site of the mating ground for the endangered grey whale. However, instead of filming the endangered whales, Manglano-Ovalle chose to track the seemingly enormous salt mining vehicles and the expansive horizon of the landscape.
A “juggernaut” is defined as any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, which Manglano-Ovalle presents to the viewers as these salt mining vehicles as they consume the pristine environment. The soundtrack for the video is a layering of static, voices, and electronic noises that ebb and flow throughout the video, building into dramatic climaxes. Similarly, the sense of space for the viewer constantly shifts between a vast, open landscape and a closed, cramped foreground, keeping the viewer off-balance and reinforcing the spatial contrast.
Juggernaut was commissioned by the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Gravity is a Force to Be Reckoned With, another installation by Manglano-Ovalle, will be on view at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts from December 12, 2009 to October 31, 2010.
About the Artist
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. 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.
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). 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). Additionally, he received a Bicentennial Medal from Williams College in 1995.
Williams College Museum of Art
The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 am to 5 pm, and on Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. Admission is free and the museum is wheelchair accessible.
