Despite being amorphous, air carries humidity, temperature, clouds, wind, lightning, radio waves, birds, pollutants, and dust. Air percolates through both the living and inanimate, buildings and mountains, spatial and virtual; binding the environments that we all breathe together. Synonymous with mobility, intimacy, sharing, and freedom, air sits in contrast with the trends of a world gripped by a pandemic; one of control, distance, global protectionism, and digital tracking.

As an open, public interface that flows freely across biospheres and boundaries, air is frequently appropriated by digital and capital-driven processes. Fossil fuel-based industries transform the atmosphere from natural to artificial; electromagnetic waves envelope the Earth; digital model builds infinite nature into a finite world of knowledge. In response, “Vibrating Clouds” raises a series of questions: how can we co-exist with a medium as intimate yet uncontrollable as air? How can designers intervene in the realms of climate regulation and space? How can we mediate between vastly opposing scales, from planetary computations to individual sensations?

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The space from terrene to ether is not empty. Rather, it is full of vibrations from natural phenomenon and artificial infrastructure; from water vapor to cosmic rays, from humming drones to 5G signals, from aerial operations to communication flows. The “Cloud Platform” is in fact analogous to a “Cloud”. From physical space to virtual platform, the network expands ourselves into multiple terminals and databases. Our perception of these invisible surroundings also relies on artificial viewpoints. It is only when we can look back at the Earth from outer space that the atmosphere becomes a tangible, recognizable entity. In this new paradigm, to occupy clouds and cloud platforms is as familiar as occupying the land and self.

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Curator

Yixuan Cai