We’re not sure what the deal is with the art world’s recent fascination with clouds—from creator Aaajiao (Xu-Wenkai)‘s piece cloud.data to John Baldessari’s Brain/Cloud, we’re seeing these pillowy masses of frozen condensation in the most unusual places. Maybe it’s due to a heightened awareness of climate change and environmental conditions, or a passive reference to cloud computing, or maybe the contemporary art world just has its proverbial head in the clouds these days. What ever the cause, a new installation at the San Jose International Airport continues the trend.eCLOUD is a dynamic sculpture designed by artists Dan Goods, Nik Hafermaas, and Aaron Koblin. Hundreds of polycarbonate tiles, similar to the glass used for your computer screen, hang above the walkway between gates 22 and 23 at the San Jose International Airport. The glass turns from opaque to transparent with the addition of electricity, allowing the sculpture to mimic the look and behavior of weather conditions from cities around the world. Next to the glass panels is a large dynamic display that runs custom software pulling data from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This data is used to create the weather simulation, which is represented both within the cloud sculpture and on the dynamic display sign in the terminal.Watch the video below to get a sense of the sculpture, or better yet, schedule a layover in San Jose next time you’re passing over California.[via Notcot.org]
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