When they form interesting shapes, for example, and when they provide at least some shade on very sunny days, or when they interact with sunlight and create beautifully coloured skies that impress and inspire us.
"Paper Cloud" is a special sky-like image of a very different kind in the form of an installation made up of more than 140 hand-made artificial clouds. Not floating around in the open air like their big sisters, but in a building, on the occasion of the AIA San Antonio Beaux Arts Ball event in the so-called "Light Building" in San Antonio/US. There they decorated the "sky", glowing in warm sun-like light until the wind blew them away. Four hundred metres of LED tape and 1252 electrical connections were applied to make the inside of every cloud glow. The white paper was crushed and shaped by hand, stapled to form the appropriate shape and size, and then suspended from a grid beneath the ceiling or mounted on small stands to fill the lower parts of the space. The light art installation was a collaborative endeavour, constructed by more than 70 individuals, including local architects and designers, over the course of eight workshops.
At the end, the little paper clouds had come together to form a huge, coherent cloudscape, the light inside simulating sunlight shining through the clouds and creating a closely-knit pattern of patches of light and shadow. "Paper Cloud" was like a piece of sunny sky – clearly a simulated setting, but nevertheless a strangely fascinating impression of something from outside brought inside.
Coordination and realisation: Bridge Projects – Stuart Allen and Cade Bradshaw, with the support of local architects, designers and companies.
