In this text, Mercedes Vicente interviews the artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, who talks at length about the progression of his oeuvre between 1989 and 2001. Manglano-Ovalle elaborates on his investigation and questioning of the meanings of cultural terms, and on the social dynamics of relationships that serve as the basis as strategies for addressing the politics of identity and difference in his works. Specific works discussed include Assigned Identities, Sereno, Tele-vecindario: A Street-Level Video Installation, The Garden of Earthly Delights, El Niño Effect, Le Baiser, Climate, FM, Alltagszeit (In Ordinary Time), and White Flags. Manglano-Ovalle discusses how, in these projects, he has addressed the construction of identity through politics and genetics, citizenship, and urban space and territory. Manglano-Ovalle also considers how the conflation of concepts of “community” and the construction of “the Other” leads to a redefinition of community. He also reflects on his engagement with architect Mies van der Rohe’s Modernism, and with climate change as a metaphor for transformations in politics and nation-states. Throughout the course of the interview, he weighs his engagement with social and political questions and his positioning in relationships with museums.

This interview with the Spanish-born, Chicago-based conceptual artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle appeared in Lapiz magazine in Madrid (2003). Not only does the artist use this as an opportunity to reflect on the progression of his own artistic practice, he also considers at length debates about community art, public art, and institutions that arose during the 1990s around such projects as Mary Jane Jacob’s project Culture in Action, in which she commissioned public art projects from artists including Manglano-Ovalle, Daniel Joseph Martínez, and Suzanne Lacy. Manglano-Ovalle also explains that his interest in identity is based both in history and personal experience, referencing casta paintings during Colonial times as well as the conflict over race in his own family, who moved to the United States after stints in Spain and Colombia when the artist was a child. Among other reasons, this interview is significant because the artist discusses works produced over a period of twelve years and cites the influences of events, Gordon Matta-Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Abbie Hoffman.