Redberg

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle investigates diverse subjects such as climate, immigration, identity, scientific inquiry and social hierarchies, creating objects that are both technically complex and formally captivating.  Since 2003 he has been investigating naturally occurring phenomena, working with teams of scientists, researchers, architects and other non-art professionals to create sculptures based natural phenomena. Using the latest scientific and industrial technology, these phenomena are captured and then frozen once again into solid form to create metaphors for the complex nature of global climate and the inter-relationship of nature and culture.

Manglano-Ovalle worked with the Canadian Hydraulics Centre of the Canadian National Research Council to acquire topographical data on a number of icebergs. The Canadian Hydraulics Centre archives scanned iceberg topography both above and below the ocean surface. This topographical data is gathered by the Centre from a number of researchers in the field that use a combination of radar and GPS stereo-photography above water and sonar echolocation below water.

The suspended iceberg sculptures began with information from an actual iceberg, r11i01, which was scanned in the Labrador Sea.  The iceberg was a formation that originally broke from the Greenland ice sheet and drifted to the coast of Newfoundland.  r11i01 was 140 meters tall, from its lowest point beneath the surface of the ocean to the highest above water level. 

The final iceberg artwork is scaled down to create a sculpture constructed from 515 custom-cut anodized aluminum tubes connected via 140 digitally printed plastic joints.  The finished work is suspended from the ceiling via three 1/16 in. aircraft cables one inch off the floor, thus revealing the underwater portion of the iceberg that usually remains unseen.  And although the artwork is fabricated from high-tech materials, using advanced digital technology, its original sources are water, climate, and the effects of time.  In a world where the fluidity of information is always on the rise, the iceberg represents a migration of data, the drift of a phenomenon specific to one context (arctic waters) to another that may seem incongruous.  Of course today all contexts are inextricably linked via an expansive network of communication; the presence of the iceberg is a metaphorical reminder that brings together the forces of nature, culture and science to address a specific place, at a specific moment, within the global climate of the time. This is what makes Redberg such a fitting artwork for the NOAA Satellite Facility.

Constructed from aluminum rods and rapid-prototyped connectors Redberg is extremely lightweight for its size, approximately 125 pounds.  The technical brilliance of the piece lies in its use of recent rapid-prototyping technology that allows for each joint to be created as a unique object.  Each joint is numbered and can be re-fabricated and replaced easily and inexpensively.