Cloud

source: vimeo
CLOUD is a large-scale interactive sculpture created from 6,000 light bulbs (new and burnt out) by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett. The piece utilizes everyday domestic light bulbs and pull strings, re-imagining their potential to create wonder and inspire collaboration. As part of the process of creating the sculpture, the artists collected burnt out incandescent light bulbs from the surrounding community, forging an informal relationship with non-artists, reducing costs, and asking audiences to reconsider household items in an alternative context. During exhibition, viewers interact with CLOUD by initiating impromptu collaborations, working as a collective to turn the entire sculpture on and off.
How CLOUD works: The hand-bent steel substructure of the sculpture is covered in a skin of incandescent light bulbs (new and burnt out), and rear-lit from within by 250 compact fluorescent bulbs, pulling a total power of approximately 20 amps (the equivalent of two household outlets). Each of these bulbs is attached to a pull-string, allowing viewers to control the illumination of the structure – like lightning in the CLOUD above them.
Editions of CLOUD have appeared at Nuit Blanche Calgary (Canada) and Garage Center for Contemporary Culture as the centerpiece of Art Experiment 2013 (Moscow, Russia). A third evolution of the sculpture was created in June 2013 in Chicago, USA. Entitled CLOUD CEILING, this rendition is a permanent installation (sans pull-chains) in Progress Bar, utilizing motion sensors and over 15,000 light bulbs.
Sponsors: Alberta College of Art + Design, The Nuit Blanche Foundation, The City of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development Authority, Calgary Public Arts, Calgary 2012, and The Awesome Foundation (Calgary chapter).
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source: incandescentcloud
CLOUD is an interactive sculpture created from 6,000 incandescent light bulbs by Canadian artists and collaborators Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett. The piece utilizes pull string switches and everyday domestic light bulbs, re-imagining their potential to catalyze collaborative moments and create an enveloping, experiential environment. As part of the process of building the sculpture, the artists collected burnt out bulbs from the surrounding community, forging an informal relationship with non-artists, reducing costs, and asking audiences to reconsider household items in an alternative context. During exhibition, viewers interact with CLOUD by initiating impromptu collaborations, working as a collective to animate “lightning” on the surface of the sculpture, turning the entire cloud on and off.

Simple, bright, and playful, CLOUD functions as an icon of hope and optimism, illustrated by upturned faces, glittering eyes, and a whole that is greater than the sum of its many parts. As incandescent bulbs are phased out in the European Union and various countries around the world, the sculpture gains new meaning as a beacon of transitional technologies and changing futures – where are we going next? On a more symbolic level, CLOUD relies on the universal language of environmental imagery – despite language barriers, cultural differences, and geographic distance, rain clouds are understood by people all around the world.