Produced by Berndnaut Smilde since its conception for the Probe exhibition space in 2010 (see above), the nimbus series was conceived as being, in the artists words, 'the ultimate work of disappointment'. Smilde wanted the viewer to enter a space and be confronted with nothing, but a nothing which may just rain on you as well.
The spatial tensions he addresses in the work suggest an exploration into boundaries, and interestingly how you cannot readily define them in open space, or open air. The cloud then, not yet solid but none the less present, could be seen to signify an in-between space.
Earlier this year Smilde formed one of his clouds in Portland Place, London. Yet it is the procedure by which the formations are created that is of particular interest. The delicate sculptures involve 'a mad assemblage of items as mundane as seat-belt brackets, which hold up two smoke machines hired from a theatrical company, and ventilators taped to tripods'. More a composer than a sculptor, Smilde sprays water on the surfaces of the spaces to ensure a humidity which allows the longevity of the clouds. For him, the idea is about not what the objects do to the space, but more what the space brings out of the object.
Recently, his collaboration with Harper's Bazaar has seen the clouds used as iconography. If his aim is to see what a space brings out of an object, it seems then that even a cloud can be subsumed into advertising.
All images taken from:
www.berndnaut.nl/works.htm
Quotes taken from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/10727195/The-cloud-maker-Berndnaut-Smilde.html
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