artificial weather installation, 2018
variable dimensions
in collaboration with Itamar Bergfreund & Bruce Yoder
The metallic structure of the piece sits on an open surface. Suddenly, a cloud emerges in the center of this sculptural object. The wind comes into play, shaping the cloud and driving it towards the horizon. From a distance, a series of clouds can be observed floating in the same direction in oddly repetitive patterns – as if they were an encoded message.
The delocalization of this natural phenomenon evokes a surreal experience. The installation is an attempt to synthetically imitate one of nature’s most complex and stunning marvels. This impossible endeavor appears to be doomed to failure, but raises various questions of how we interact with our environment as well as human’s desire to control and recreate nature by his own means.
Approaching the installation at night gives a whole different impression: patterns of light are moved around by the gusts of wind inside the geometric shapes of the piece. A cloud appears in the middle and follows the direction of the moving light paths. Passing through the sculpture, it is being lit up from inside with different colors revealing yet unthought aspects of these fleeting phenomena of nature.
This supposed contrast between technology and nature is explored in a scope of unseen possibilities of sustainable interdependence.
_Exhibitions
06.2019 Liminal Festial – Bucharest (RO)
03.2019 Mirage Festival – Lyon (FR)
09.2018 Burning Man 2018 – Black Rock City (US)
_Project credits
<> Concept:
Lukas Truniger, Itamar Bergfreund, Bruce Yoder
<> Artistic direction: Lukas Truniger
<> Logistics direction: Itamar Bergfreund
<> Scientific consulting: Bruce Yoder
<> Structural design: Itamar Bergfreund, Ollie Tanner
<> Software design & development:
Adele Lin, Sophi Kravitz, Mat Pinner, Lukas Truniger
_Tech specs
1 x Intel NUC
8 x Teensy microcontroller
4 x fog machines
7’200 x RGB LED’s
Aluminum pipes and clamps
Lots of CAT5
_Support
+ Burning Man 2018 Honoraria art grant
_Press
* Los Angeles Blade (USA)
* California Sun (USA)
_Project website
http://etherealfleeting.lukastruniger.net/
