Cloud #07156

This summer, La Rotonda at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, is transformed into a unique, mesmerising space with uncertain contours. Visitors will find themselves appearing and disappearing within a dense, ethereal white cloud in this captivating fog sculpture created by the Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya. Her work evokes a sense of wonder and introspection by interacting with the human experience and the natural environment.

The #cloud07156 installation draws inspiration from the artist's captivating concept of 'Fog Sculptures', a medium that she has been developing with great passion for over fifty years, in both museum settings and vast public spaces. This work encourages engagement and reflection. Born in Sapporo, on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, Nakaya developed a fascination with weather phenomena from an early age. This intense curiosity is unsurprising, considering her father was the esteemed physicist Ukichiro Nakaya, a true innovator in the extraordinary creation of artificial snowflakes that fuses science and art in an enchanting manner, altering our perception of the natural world.

Nakaya joined Experiments in Art and Technology, a collective of artists and engineers, in 1967. There, she created her first Fog Sculpture around the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, collaborating with engineer Thomas Lee. The interplay between the 'natural' and the 'artificial' is a key feature of her work. Using fully industrial methods, she imitates the physical traits, appearance and behaviour of natural fog.

The concrete cylinder inside the Bourse de Commerce serves as a stage for the shifting sunlight over the Rotunda. Subtle variations in light signal the changing seasons. It simultaneously obscures and reveals the historical structure that surrounds it. By incorporating a natural phenomenon into a man-made structure, Nakaya's Fog Sculpture enhances Ando's fundamental vision. This profound connection to the location is reflected in the title of the work: 'Cloud #07156'. The number corresponds to a meteorological station near the Bourse de Commerce, providing an intriguing contrast to the clouds drifting overhead in the Parisian sky.

Fujiko Nakaya's Fog Sculpture brings to life the intriguing concept that has driven her work from the outset: capturing the transient and ever-changing nature of the world and its inhabitants. By transforming the museum into a fluid landscape, the artwork engages in a dynamic relationship with the outside world, rather than merely acting as a space for preservation. The artwork thus ceases to be a static object, evolving into something akin to a living presence, constantly reshaped by its surroundings and by those who experience it. Scientific advancements enable Nakaya's Fog Sculptures to create opportunities for political, metaphysical and spiritual contemplation.