CLOUD WALK @ZKM. Fog Sculpture #10731
The fog sculpture by the artist Fujiko Nakaya embraces the cube of the ZKM and is part of the exhibition »Negative Space. Trajectories of Sculpture«.
»Fog is always changing … We can play and hide in it. It is a negative sculpture covering the positive sculpture of reality. […] I see my fog sculptures as negative sculpture. The atmosphere is the mold, and the shape is carved by the wind.« – Fujiko Nakaya
Sculptures by the media artist Fujiko Nakaya (*1933) are unique and ephemeral works of art: They are site-specific, performative, and participatory. In a state of constantly altering their appearance, formations of ground mist and towering, cloud structures combine. The shifting fog, which constantly redefines the space while becoming increasingly thinner and decreasingly visible, in the end segues entirely into airspace.
In »CLOUD WALK«, an artwork created by Fujiko Nakaya for the ZKM, its cube of transparent glass architecture was chosen to be the main player. With airy fog swirling around it, the austere cuboid seems liberated from terrestrial gravity and made to float.
The conventional relationship between the observer’s position and the sculpture in the space also dissolves. Instead of a clear juxtaposition of observer and artwork, the sculpture advances close up, and enfolds the viewer’s body. Sculptural fog can be felt on the skin.
900 nozzles and environmental influences ensure that the microscopically small droplets create a sculptural event, a negative sculpture ex tempore. Fujiko Nakaya already called her first fog sculpture, which she created for the Pepsi Pavilion EXPO '70 in Osaka, a negative sculpture – a sculpture that defies mass and gravity.
Operating Times
April 6 until August 25, 2019
During the museum opening hours (Wednesday to Sunday), the sculpture was in action for 8 minutes every hour until 6 pm.
The first fog starts 10 am
The last fog occurs at 6 pm
