Cloud Music

Robert Watts, David Behrman, Bob Diamond, Cloud Music, 1974-1979, hybrid sound/video installation with custom electronics, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.64, © 1979, Robert Watts Estate, David Behrman, Bob Diamond

Artwork Details

Title
Cloud Music
Artists
Date
1974-1979
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 1979, Robert Watts Estate, David Behrman, Bob Diamond
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
hybrid sound/video installation with custom electronics
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — weather — cloud
  • Performing arts — music
Object Number
2013.64
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.64

Artwork Description

Cloud Music is a synthesis of sound and image, the result of a collaboration between three artists: Robert Watts, David Berhman, and Bob Diamond. A closed-circuit video camera is directed through a window to the sky. A video analyzer and audio synthesizer read the image on a TV monitor, transforming the movement of clouds and changing light into an original score of music that transports the natural environment into the gallery for a new and immersive audio-visual experience. The result is an electronic score that fills the space with subtly shifting harmonics. Visitors listen to video as a nature-driven event unfolds in real-time. As sound is composed from light, Cloud Music is at once a conceptual homage to “chance” and a technological triumph that inspires a new means to experience the world.


Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015

Works by this artist (162 items)

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Chiura Obata, El Capitán, 1931, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Obata Family, 2000.76.24, © 1989, Lillian Yuri Kodani
El Capitán
Artist
Date1931
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Untitled (Magnolia in a Blue Round Vase), ca.1930s, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.74
Untitled (Magnolia in a Blue Round Vase)
Artist
Dateca.1930s
ink on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Landslide, 1941, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.72.2
Landslide
Artist
Date1941
watercolor on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Topaz, ca. 1942, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.72.5
Topaz
Artist
Dateca. 1942
pencil on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

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Claire Falkenstein, City is Man, 1941-1952, linocut, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.14, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
City is Man
Artist
Date1941-1952
linocut
Not on view
Claire Falkenstein, Untitled, 1976, embossed paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.18, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
Untitled
Artist
Date1976
embossed paper
Not on view
Claire Falkenstein, Mandala, 1977, lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Falkenstein Foundation, 2019.27.19, ©1997, The Falkenstein Foundation
Mandala
Artist
Date1977
lithograph
Not on view
Nathan Oliveira, Site with Blue and White, 1978, monotype, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Moses Lasky, 2004.32.14
Site with Blue and White
Artist
Date1978
monotype
Not on view