Annual Reportt, DK. Photo: Alexis Mark		Computer simulation: Bettina Meyer	Annual Reportt, DK. Photo: Alexis Mark

On Thunderclouds

Installation:
12 cloud solarizations, unique prints, 55 x 55 cm
Animation (computer simulation), 4:22 min
Animation (text), 8:10 min
(2020)

In the installation On Thunderclouds, Nanna Debois Buhl examines the thundercloud as artistic motif, meteorological phenomenon, and ominous sign of climate change. The work combines photographic solarizations, scientific research, and algorithm-based textual speculations. With its timely subject, the installation is both a reflection on thunderclouds and a picture of a state of mind marked by uncertainty and anticipation.

The installation was sparked by Buhl’s conversations with physicists from the Group for Atmospheric Complexity at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, who study the dynamics of thunderclouds to understand how we might experience increasingly extreme weather in the future.

The installation brings together a series of 12 cloud solarizations, an animation based on a computer simulation showing the effects of a thunderstorm on its environment, and an algorithm-based text made up of language from research articles on thunderclouds. Computer simulations by Bettina Meyer. Text animation based on Buhl’s modified version of Nick Montfort’s “Taroko  Gorge” program.