berndnaut smilde

Holy magical-mind-blowing-jaw-droppingness! Berndnaut Smilde can make clouds appear in the middle of thin air.  Literally.

For the Dutch artists latest project he has installed real Nimbus clouds in empty gallery spaces in Amsterdam.  In what seems like a magical act, Smilde perfects the atmosphere in the room by regulating the temperate and humidity of the space then when the moment is right he sprays a short burst from a fog machine to create a cottony cloud suspended in the middle of the room for just an instant before it collapses ( you can watch it here).

“I’m interested in the ephemeral aspect of the work,” Smilde said in an e-mail. “It’s there for a brief moment and then the cloud falls apart. It’s about the potential of the idea, but in the end it will never function.” 

Smilde’s clouds dissipate so quickly that they exist mainly in photographs. He chooses surreal spaces, such as empty churches or galleries, as his setting. One photo, taken in a room with bright blue walls, is evocative of the painter Rene Magritte’s azure skies and puffy clouds. 

“I wanted to make a very clear image, an almost cliché and cartoon like visualisation of having bad luck,” writes Smilde in his artist’s statement.

Pretty fucking epic, ay?

Photos: Anthology and The Washington Post