At the Art Institute

The Art Institute has been heavily advertising its "Chicago Architecture: Ten Visions" exhibit, and while there's some okay things to see there, far more interesting and innovative is the exhibit of two works by Chicago artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. The first work, Iceberg (r11i01), is prominently displayed in one of my favorite spots in the museum, the staircase in Gallery 135, with large windows that prominently feature Michigan Avenue and the Metra tracks:

What's interesting about this work is that it's a scale representation of an actual iceberg. It's in amazing harmony with this beautiful spot in the museum--the ground plane of the second floor serves as the water level, separating what one would see above/below water. Even neater: it has integrated into it a dock for the 512 MB jump drive which contains instructions for its assembly:

The other work in the exhibition is Vanishing Sky (2005), consisting of a dark room with specially-recorded white noise, and which projects a randomly-generated, always-changing star field. It's an amazing atmospheric creation. Perhaps appropriately, the best my camera could do actually resembles the real movement of stars in the night sky:

With these two works, the Art Institute proves once again that it's a much more adept and savvy exhibitor of contemporary art than even the Museum of Contemporary Art. Given you can also get in for as little as a quarter, there's no excuse not to go have a look.

Focus: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago (111 S. Michigan Ave.) until May 14th.