Schering Stiftung

Exhibition 

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.
Photo: Sergio Belinchón | © Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Schering Stiftung

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.
Photo: Sergio Belinchón | © Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Schering Stiftung

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.
Photo: Sergio Belinchón | © Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Schering Stiftung

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Bird In Space Prototype for MACH 10 Hypervelocity Test (Produced in collaboration with the United States Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center and University of Maryland, College Park), 2012, steel, aluminum, high-density resin, concrete, 71-1/2 x 18 x 18 inches.
Photo: Sergio Belinchón | © Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Schering Stiftung

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Bird in Space at Mach10

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Bird in Space at Mach10

Duration:

September 19 – November 16, 2013

Exhibition opening:

Wednesday, 18. September 2013, 7–9 p.m.

Opening hours:

Thursday through Monday, 1–7 p.m.

Venue:

Schering Stiftung
Unter den Linden 32-34
10117 Berlin

Artikel MONOPOL, Wie haben sie das gemacht, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle?


How does a sculpture of classical modernism behave in a wind tunnel at ten times the speed of sound? This has been examined by the Chicago-based, Spanish-born artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, whose Phantom Truck drew international attention at the 2007 documenta in Kassel. He tested Constantin Brancusi’s groundbreaking work “L‘Oiseau dans l’espace” (Bird in Space, 1923-26) in a U.S. Air Force wind tunnel at Mach 10. The results are now on display in the exhibition “Bird in Space at MACH10” at the Project Space of the Schering Stiftung.

Constantin Brancusi’s “Bird in Space” is considered to be an icon and key work of modern sculpture. Many art critics even see it as the birth of modernism. The fact that Brancusi is also said to have shaped the forms of industrial design as we know it today inspired Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle to use his work for the unusual test.

Around the same time that Brancusi worked on the form of “Bird in Space”, European, especially German scientists took up intensive aerodynamics research and tested the flight characteristics of objects in high speed wind tunnels. Driven by the ambition to build more powerful and precise weapons with greater reach and capacity, Germany became a pioneer of this technology. The world’s first hypervelocity wind tunnel was built in Peenemünde, where Wernher von Braun directed work on a long-range missile program.

It was this wind tunnel which was dismantled after the Second World War as part of the U.S. “Operation Paperclip,” shipped across the Atlantic and rebuilt in Silver Spring, Maryland – a knowledge transfer that might be unique in history. On the same premises – today home to a U.S. Air Force complex – Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle deliberately connects the achievements of modernity, in art as well as in technology and science, with the present: Together with scientists and engineers, he exposed a model of Brancusi’s sculpture to speed ten times that of sound in Wind Tunnel 9. The shock waves produced during these tests were recorded with high speed cameras – a technique called Schlieren photography, which was also developed by German scientists during World War II, originally for ballistic tests.

Manglano-Ovalle in his current project once again critically examines the values of modernity and its occasionally tragic consequences for our world today.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the fourth volume of the publication series of the Schering Stiftung has been publisheded with argobooks. It includes essays by David Familian and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Charlotte Klonk as well as Thomas Wagner. You can order it here.

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Artist's talk and book launch 

Artist talk — November 16, 2013

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle will speak about the artistic and scientific background of his exhibition Bird in Space at MACH10 and present the book on the exhibition.

Learn more

Gallery

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Exhibit Opening "Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: Bird in Space at MACH10" on September 18, 2013

Visit the media library

Quote 

"Ich bin oft überhaupt nicht an der Wissenschaft als Technologie oder als einem Apparat für die Erkenntnis der Wahrheit interessiert. Mich interessiert die Wissenschaft als eine weitere ästhetische Praxis, die wie die Kunst einen Versuch darstellt, etwas Substanzlosem Substanz zu verleihen."

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Artikel MONOPOL, Wie haben sie das gemacht, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle?

Newsletter 

Contact & social networks

Schering Stiftung

Unter den Linden 32-34
10117 Berlin

Telefon: +49.30.20 62 29 62
Email: info@scheringstiftung.de

Opening hours
Project space

Thursday to Monday: 1 pm - 7 pm
Saturday to Sunday: 11 am - 7 pm
free entrance

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