Cloud Arbor by Ned Kahn

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We have a few sculptures around the city that are considered interactive. We also have some misting stations here and there to cool people off. In Buhl Community Park on the Northside though, we have melding of the ideas: A sculpture that creates a cloud. You can run through it like a water feature (like at PPG plaza); stand and wait for the cloud to wash over you; or stand back and watch the cloud form and float off.

Viewing the sculpture is a lot like watching the clouds roll by in a blue sky. You see it take shape and watch that shape change and morph with the wind, eventually dissipating. Every few minutes the cycle begins anew. There’s always something relaxing – almost hypnotic – about watching a water feature, and no less so when the water is vaporized.

Cloud Arbor was commissioned by the Children’s Museum to be a focal point in the revitalization of nearby Buhl Community Park. Funded by The Charity Randall Foundation, the sculpture is one of many pieces of artwork added to the Northside through the efforts of the Children’s Museum.

We found an article for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette by Kaitlynn Reily where artist Ned Kahn is quoted as saying If you step back and look at it, it’s incredibly beautiful and interesting. I feel the same way about clouds, and I just want to call people’s attention to it. He also said It demonstrates the swirling emotion of things we cannot see. It makes them visible.

The artwork is constructed with 64 poles that contain high pressure nozzles. Within the framework of the 32 foot tall poles, a cloud approximately 20 feet across will form. As the wind shapes and moves the cloud across the park some just watch the transformation, and some literally immerse themselves in it, taking advantage of the cool mist on a hot day.

On Ned Kahn’s website he makes this statement:

The confluence of science and art has fascinated me throughout my career. For the last twenty years, I have developed a body of work inspired by atmospheric physics, geology, astronomy and fluid motion. I strive to create artworks that enable viewers to observe and interact with natural processes. I am less interested in creating an alternative reality than I am in capturing, through my art, the mysteriousness of the world around us.

My artworks frequently incorporate flowing water, fog, sand and light to create complex and continually changing systems. Many of these works can be seen as observatories in that they frame and enhance our perception of natural phenomena. I am intrigued with the way patterns can emerge when things flow. These patterns are not static objects, they are patterns of behavior – recurring themes in nature.

Some details:

• -64 stainless steel 32 foot /3”diameter poles – 24 of them with nozzles
• -high pressure nozzles create vapor at 1000psi to form a cloud at regular intervals
• -4 poles with 18 nozzles ea
• -8 poles with 24 nozzles ea
• -12 poles with 22 nozzles ea
• -total of 528 nozzles
• -poles angled slightly inward to create the cloud effect
• -originally set to run 15 sec every 10 minutes

According to the artist, when the wind conditions are calm, the fog nozzles sculpt a spherical cloud, spinning and rising in the winter and spinning and falling in the summer. As the wind picks up, the spherical shape becomes distorted. The intent is to create a porous environment that merges with the atmosphere, blurring the boundary between atmosphere and architecture.