Songs of the Sky

Clouds have long been regarded as an oracle and harbinger in both science and art. What visions and associations are evoked by clouds in the 21st century? The exhibition project “Songs of the Sky” is dedicated to the theme and metaphor of the “cloud” in contemporary art. It begins with the observation that artists are once again gazing at the clouds in order to explore the future of our digital, algorithmically organised life. Against this backdrop, the project aims to reinterpret the depiction of clouds as a classical subject of photography and reveal the fundamental shift of the image in the digital age. The exhibition sheds light on photography in its evolution from an analogue medium of visualisation and representation to an autonomous, computer-aided “operational image” (Harun Farocki) and its pictorial regime. Machine-seeing algorithms are often tested using cloud pictures, as these oscillate between representation and abstraction, figure and background, positive and negative.

In another part of the exhibition, the focus shifts from the concrete image of the cloud to the metaphor of the “cloud” as a nebulous concept which does more to conceal than describe the function of our Internet technologies. The group exhibition is scheduled to open at the end of 2021 and will feature international works of art, such as photography, film and media art from Europe, South Korea and the United States. The organisers have also commissioned several new works based on digital technology and network-based logic. These will be presented ahead of the exhibition on the C/O Berlin website. The project will be accompanied by a satellite exhibition at the festival “Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles”, a trilingual publication and diverse educational formats.

Artistic director: Kathrin Schönegg
Artists: Marie Clerel, Raphael Dallaporta, Noemie Goudal, Harun Farocki, Noa Jansma, Stefan Karrer, Evan Roth, Adrian Sauer, Shinseungback Kimyonghun, Lisa Oppenheim and others

Additional Dates

Photography festival "Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles", Arles: Summer 2022