Credit line: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, BlueBerg (r11i01), 2007, suspended anodized aluminum, rapid-prototyped ABS, USB drive. Cleveland Clinic. Photo courtesy Thom Sivo Photography.
BlueBerg, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (b. 1961 – Madrid, Spain) Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle investigates diverse subjects
such as technology, climate, immigration and the global impact of social, political, environmental,
and scientific systems. He has worked in a wide range of media-activist-inspired public art,
sculpture, film, sound, and photography. The artist embraces the interdisciplinary; working in
collaboration with geneticists, biotech researchers, legal consultants, medical ethicists,
architects, composers, writers, historians, and others, Manglano-Ovalle forges a creative enterprise
unrivaled among his peers in its scope and complexity.
Credit line: Jaume Plensa, Cleveland Soul, 2007;
river stone and steel 112 x 74 x 103 1/8" 2007.2533; Photo credit: Thom Sivo Photography
Cleveland Soul, Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa (b. 1955- Barcelona, Spain) Catalán sculptor and installation artist Jaume Plensa seeks
to illuminate relationships between ideas and physical forms. For Plensa, language becomes a primary
sculptural element. Fascinated with books since childhood, the artist recalls, “I always dreamed
about transforming letters into something physical.”
Next to language, the human body is by far the most prominent motif within all of Plensa’s works. The
artist combines these elements in Cleveland Soul, in which he articulates the form of a human body
through letters of the alphabet. The image of a body made up of language is an apt metaphor for the
artist’s belief that the psyche is imprinted with human experiences; or, as Plensa has put it,
“Every second, every moment, our experiences are tattooed on our skin.” In this case, the random
assortment of letters underscores the universal nature of Cleveland Soul: in rendering the text
unreadable, Plensa ensures that the “experiences” inscribed on the sculptural body are not
particular to an individual, but accessible to all.
