As part of an on-going series called Nimbus, Dutch artist Berndaut Smilde is creating clouds that last roughly 10 seconds.
Creating the clouds in various locations such as churches, museums, galleries, warehouses and more, Smilde states that the clouds “present a transitory moment of presence in a specific location”.
“They can be interpreted as a sign of loss or becoming, or just as a fragment from a classical painting,” explained Smilde. “People have always had a strong metaphysical connection to clouds and through time have projected many ideas on them.
“It’s there for a few seconds before they fall apart again. The physical aspect is really important but the work in the end only exists as a photograph,” said Smilde. “The photo functions as a document of something that happened on a specific location and is now gone.”
The locations are selected based on the requirements for a cold and damp space with no air circulation. To create the clouds, Smilde mists the area with water vapour from a spray bottle then uses a fog machine to discharge smoke.
“I see them as temporary sculptures of almost nothing—the edge of materiality,” said Smilde. “It looks like you can dive into them or grab them, but they just fall apart. There’s a duality that I really like where you’re trying to achieve this ideal thing that then collapses just moments later.”
“Clouds are quite universal,” noted Smilde. “Everyone can relate to them, but by putting them indoors you kind of change the context. It can become strange or even threatening. They can stand in for the divine, but also for misfortune.”
To view more images of Smilde’s Nimbus series, click the link below.
