Cloud Prototype No. 1

Cloud Prototype No. 1 is a large-scale titanium cloud sculpture whose form is based on an actual cumulo-nimbus (or supercell) thundercloud modeled by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois in the United States. Manglano-Ovalle converted the numerical data scanned from a 30-kilometre wide storm system, and then scaled it down to be digitally sculpted by computer-controlled milling machines used by industry to fabricate automobile and military prototypes. The result of this process is a complex form that reflects a myriad of climatic events, as well as the fluidity of environmental changes. The artist engages these atmospheric phenomena as metaphors for the complex effects of globalization on our existing cultural and political climate.