Ioannis Michaloudis: Talking with the Rusted Cloud

Artist(s):

• Ioannis Michaloudis

Title:

Talking with the Rusted Cloud

Exhibition:

• SIGGRAPH Asia 2013: Art Gallery

Category:

• Installation

Artist Statement:

In the 21st century, the speed of transformation in Southeast Asia is perhaps beyond anything experienced by preceding generations. Because of this prompt change, the air pollution is so big in Asia that a giant brown cloud blocks the sunlight over our planet from India to China. The Asian brown cloud has reduced sunlight by more than 10% in huge swaths over planet Earth. Extreme weather events are costing governments and citizens billions each year. Science, Technology and Art are key words for every Change Of The World. Our Art & Science project focuses on these three key words and on the brown cloud phenomenon. In our drawing below, we propose a translucent cave where a “Cloud Room” and a “Touching The Cloud Screen” are enclosed. . In the cloud room we install a 20cm diameter sky-disc made out of NASA’s nanomaterial silica aerogel. Inside this sky-disc there is a brown cloud. A white LED light projector will orbit around the rotating sky-disc, generating thus a giant golden-hue shadow, scanning it on a semicircular back projection screen. (shadows visible only from the outside of our installation, cf. simulation cello video and photos attached) On the opposite side of our projected shadows there is a second rear projection where Biennale’s spectators can see someone’s finger trying to touch the brown cloud… Searching where this projection is coming from, (s)he could enter our cave and discover how we can communicate with a cloud.

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