Cloud #07156 Transforms Emptiness Into A Tangible Presence

As a part of “Clair-obscur” exhibition, Cloud #07156 is named after the code of the nearest meteorological station in Paris and tailored specifically for the Rotunda, reflecting its deep connection with the City of Light. Beyond the name or purpose, this connection continues to be demonstrated through the way Fujiko Nakaya created Cloud #07156: she allows the fog to move around, interact with distinctive architectural details and Tadao Ando’s monumental concrete cylinder.

Looking at the history of contemporary art, it's clear that fog is not a common material in sculpture. However, before Cloud #07156, Fujiko Nakaya has been using this medium for more than five decades. She first introduced herself and her extraordinary artistic approach to the international stage through her pioneering fog sculpture for the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo ’70 in Osaka. Since then, her ethereal veils of mist have moved across the world, enveloping forests, rivers, public squares and museums. Formed by air currents, humidity, temperature and the movement of visitors, fog sculptures dissolve the boundaries between object, area and perception, turning those environments into dim and immersive spaces. To this day, Fujiko Nakaya remains the only artist in the world working on this unique material at scale.

The 93-year-old sculptor never stops creating, as in Cloud #07156, she once again shows the world just how magical fog can be. Made of microscopic water droplets from high-pressure pumps, this dense, artificial cloud drifts, thins, gathers, and disperses throughout the day. Contiunuing spirit of her reowned fog works, Fujiko Nakaya further invites the Parisian climate and the museum’s visitors to be her parnters in Cloud #07156, as the sculpture continuously changes shape in response to air currents, temperature and human presence. Furthermore, its inconsistency in shape makes time an important part of the work: within the concrete cylinder structure designed by Tadao Ando, the cloud keeps concealing and revealing the interiors every second, transforming architecture into an exceptional sensory experience.

“Fog makes visible things become invisible and invisible things - like wind - become visible”, said Fujiko Nakaya. Here, through elegant concealing and revealing movements, her Cloud #07156 exposed the circulation of air and the relationship between bodies, architecture and environment. A corner of Paris became an ethereal space, where the fog carries not only unique sculptural techniques, but also philosophies about the connections in life.