Artist Berndnaut Smilde Talks About His Indoor Cloud Installations

Last year we posted about the incredible indoor cloud installations created by Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde. The artist recently discussed his work in this mini-documentary by Avant/Garde Diaries, an online interview magazine and global event series.

A few onlookers hold their collective breath as Berndnaut Smilde pushes a remote control button to activate a smoke machine in the Green Room of the Veterans Building in downtown San Francisco. Billowing smoke forms a luscious, cotton candy-like mass in the middle of the Beaux-Arts chamber before it vaporizes into haze, casting a luminous complexion on the room. The Dutch artist’s work is defined by emphemerality, his delicate installations existing for a brief moment before they fall apart, often their only documentation in the form of a photograph.