Berndnaut Smilde is a Dutch visual artist known for his ephemeral indoor cloud installations. His most renowned project, the Nimbus series, involves creating realistic clouds inside various indoor spaces using a combination of smoke and water vapor. These clouds typically last only about 10 seconds, just long enough to be photographed.
Smilde likes to create his clouds in special places like churches, castles, and museums. The mix of the strong, lasting buildings and the short-lived, floating clouds makes his art more interesting. His clouds represent brief moments that don’t last long, encouraging people to think about how time passes and how there is beauty in things that are temporary.
More info: Instagram | berndnaut.nl
At first glance, these images might seem like AI creations because of their dreamlike quality. However, don’t be fooled, making these clouds takes a lot of care. Smilde needs a cold, wet place with still air to create them. He uses a smoke machine and a fine spray of water, sometimes making up to 100 clouds to get the perfect photo. The images are then edited to hide any tools, showing only the delicate cloud in the building.
The Nimbus series has become famous around the world. Smilde's creative mix of art, science, and buildings fascinates people everywhere.
