In this exhibit, EuropeNow provides an escape and a pause. Berndnaut Smilde’s Nimbus and Benjamin Løzninger’s THE C/LOUD PROJECT focus on cloud formations through ephemeral projects that confound the boundaries between inside and outside, between 3-D and flatness, and between movement and stillness. While Smilde has developed a technique to produce unique fluffy cloudy creations indoors, inverting interior and exterior, Løzninger uses blind flat vertical surfaces to create depth and extend the sky down onto structures that are part of viewers’ everydayscapes. His temporary cloud murals at the same time connect the mundane street level with the celestial infinite and make buildings disappear altogether to become unbounded, just as Smilde’s indoor clouds eventually dissipate and unshape. In both projects, the built environment—whether ordinary or iconic—becomes extraordinary; and the fleeting and impermanent condition of the installations suspends the viewers in time and in space. By creating spatial continuity and playing with light, volumes, and temporalities, the artists fashion atmospheric moments and prompt unexpected place-based experiences between fantasy and reality.
—Hélène B. Ducros for EuropeNow
Berndnaut Smilde: Nimbus
Benjamin Løzninger: THE C/LOUD PROJECT
Berndnaut Smilde is a Dutch visual artist who lives and works in Amsterdam. He is a graduate of the Frank-Mohr-Institute in Groningen, The Netherlands. His work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions all over the world. He has received a number of grants and residency awards and has taught at various universities in Europe, the US, Japan, and Australia.
Benjamin Løzninger is a French visual artist, art director, graphic designer, photographer, musician-singer-producer, director, and illustrator. He shares his time between France and NYC, where he founded the French-American creative collective FrenchBK.
Hélène B. Ducros, JD, PhD (UNC-Chapel Hill), is a human geographer studying heritage spaces.
Nimbus @Berndnaut Smilde; All images courtesy of the artist and Ronchini Gallery.
THE C/LOUD PROJECT @Benjamin Løzninger
Published on November 21, 2023.
