Berndnaut Smilde’s Ephemeral Sculptures ⇥ nationalgeographic.com

Daniel Stone, National Geographic:

Berndnaut Smilde creates fluffy clouds in locations where nature never would place them. The Dutch artist’s sculptures last five seconds — 10 seconds tops — before they disappear.

Smilde’s ongoing project, called “Nimbus,” explores the visual effects of clouds. A church or museum interior looks different behind a cloud, and an everyday cloud is peculiar in a castle or a canyon. Each scene is made more intense by lasting only moments.

Via Jason Kottke, who introduced to me the concept of an “ephemeral sculpture”, in those words. I think that phrase is a beautiful idea unto itself: a physical object that only briefly exists.