In the Time of Clouds

On view, Dec. 6^th – Jan. 26^th Opening Reception, Dec. 6^th, 6–10pm

In the Time of Clouds is an installation that utilizes the networked “cloud” to explore our collective sensorial relationship to the sky. Responding to a February 2019 Nature Geoscience article that speculates about a possible future without clouds, the project attempts to archive cloud forms and document their influence on our collective imagination before they disappear from our atmosphere due to rising carbon dioxide concentrations. Utilizing both social media discourse about clouds and live video streams from public observatory cameras, the project amalgamates linguistic and visual data, mining this data to create an atmospheric triptych of poetry, ice cream, and ceramics.

The installation is composed of three intertwined parts: Part I (The Observatories), a series of videos that combine algorithmically generated poems and live streams from networked observatory webcam; Part II (Terracotta Clouds), a collection of handbuilt dessert wares based on unique cloud forms culled from the videos; and Part III (Cloud Ice Cream), an ice cream whose flavor profile is derived from social media discourse speculating about the taste of clouds, a “cloud ice cream.” 

Part III (Cloud Ice Cream) produced in collaboration with Dr. Dennis D’Amico, Associate Professor of Dairy Foods, UConn Department of Animal Science. Production by UConn Dairy Creamery, and Fabrication by Michael Xander of Urban Sawn.

This project is supported by the University of Connecticut (UConn) SFA Research Grant (the School o Fine Arts and the Office of the Vice President for Research) and the SCHARP Development Award (the Humanities Institute and the Office of the Vice President for

Sue Huang is an artist and researcher working at the intersections of new media, installation, and social practice. Her current research investigates our complex techno-cultural relationships to nature. Her solo and collaborative works have been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati, Rhizome at the New Museum in New York, Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, and the Beall Center for Art and Technology in Irvine, California, among others. She holds an MFA in Design & Media Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Huang co-founded the media arts collaborative Knifeandfork (2004). She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Digital Media & Design at the University of Connecticut and an artist-in-residence at Cherry Street Pier.