There is no photo-manipulation involved in this photograph. Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde has invented a method to form a small cloud in the middle of a room. It’s a case of now you see it, now you don’t as the cloud does not last more than a few seconds before it dissipates. Yet caught on camera the effect is startling to say the least.
To produce something so wonderful but fleeting, Smilde has to meticulously plan the event. The lighting and temperature have to be exactly controlled to create the right conditions for a cloud to form indoors. Once the conditions are correct Smilde uses a fog machine to spray the room lightly. Then, as if from nowhere, the cloud appears. Magic!
Believe it or not what you see is just a dress rehearsal. Next weekend, the platform57 gallery in Den Haag, Netherlands will see Nimbus II created for a live audience. You can visit
their website to see if there are tickets left – however unlikely that may be. We do, however, hope to be able to bring you some photographs of this most ephemeral of installations.
Kuriositas would like to thank Ed Jansen for his kind permission to share these pictures with our readers. Please visit his
Flickr Photostream.
