klarissenplatz
from 05.12.2017 to 18.02.2018

Philipp Messner

Clouds

The CLOUDS project is a performative installation in which standard snow canons of the kind used in Alpine ski resorts to simulate natural snow are transferred into an urban context. By releasing dye into the water supply, the machine generates tinted artificial snow for a moment, making a painterly field of crystalline layers that can be walked on.

Over a period of a month, Klarissenplatz becomes a place where fiction, the process of waiting for the event, becomes part of the project, because the snow canon is only set in motion by the correct meteorological conditions, at temperatures of roughly -3°C.

CLOUDS addresses notions of artificiality and reality, both a comment on and a deconstruction of what we perceive as our (natural) environment. On a sculptural level, the project also deals with our perception of spatiality and materiality, exploring matter in its various states. Besides its processual quality, ephemerality and non-controllability are key aspects of this temporary installation.