CLOUD BEHAVIOR · EMBASSY OF DENMARK · LONDON
Nathalie Pozzi
Consulting with artist Nanna Debois Buhl on the installation of "Cloud Behavior” photographic series for the Embassy of Denmark in London.
“How do clouds move? What do they signify? What can they predict? Cloud Behavior is a work about the behavioral patterns of clouds, about depicting them, and examining them in search of symbols and predictions about shifting weather and climate.”
Nanna Debois Buhl
Layout and Installation Consulting
Artist
Nanna Debois Buhl
Artwork
Cloud Behavior
Series of C-print photographs
29.6×30.4 cm
(2018)
Location
Embassy of Denmark in London
a building by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen
Donated by
The New Carlsberg Foundation
Year
2023
Images
© 2023 Nanna Debois Buhl
© 2018 Nanna Debois Buhl
Work focused on the placement of a series of thirty-two photographic prints. Consultation covered the placement of works within the spaces, the overall scale, and the selection of the works based on the composition and color combinations.
The installation layout responds to the building's low and intimate ceiling height by arranging the photographs in a cloud-like composition.
Rather than a linear sequence, the composition highlights the rhythm of the existing walls and door and window openings.
“Over several months, Nanna Debois Buhl has photographed clouds on medium-format film and experimented with the images in the darkroom. The result is a series of cloud photographs that range from neutral registrations of the clouds to dramatic and color-saturated images.”
Nanna Debois Buhl
© 2018 Nanna Debois Buhl
A grid system was designed to harmonize the proportions of the existing ceiling height, doors, baseboards, and photographic prints.
Works were installed at varying heights not only to reflect the series's subject — a quiet nod to gazing at the sky — but also to ensure accessibility for all visitors
© 2018 Nanna Debois Buhl
“In A Blue Book (1907–12), Strindberg envisions that cloud formations continually return in the same shapes and to the same place in the sky over Stockholm and speculates about what this means.”
Nanna Debois Buhl
Concept Layout
Thirty-two photographic works are grouped across several areas of the Embassy, creating a natural path through the installation.
© 2018 Nanna Debois Buhl
Danish Embassy, Sloane Street, London • Photo by Stephen Richards
Designed by Arne Jacobsen and completed in 1977, the Danish Embassy in London reflects a distinctly Nordic sensibility - spare, functional, and curated with an ambitious collection of contemporary Danish art and design.
Danish architect Arne Jacobsen during his visit to Finland • 1968 • Photo: Anonymous, courtesy of Helsingin Sanomat / Public Domain