Cloud Music by Robert Watts, David Behrman and Bob Diamond (1974-79)
We often look up and imagine what clouds look like, but have you ever wondered what a cloud sounded like? Well, wonder no more.
With the recent acquisition of Cloud Music, a collaboration among Robert Watts, David Behrman, and Bob Diamond, one window-lit corner of the Lincoln Gallery has been turned into an electronic score of shifting harmonics. "The artwork reads the sky like a musical score and plays it out live in real time in the gallery space," says Michael Mansfield, associate curator of film and media arts. A closed-circuit camera focuses on the sky and is read by a video analyzer that sends voltage signals into an audio synthesizer. "Whenever there's a change in the sky, Mansfield adds, "the note that is being played, changes. In addition, with every eight notes the artwork changes octaves."
With Cloud Music, the three artists wanted to break down the boundaries of art-making. Robert Watts, a primary figure in the Fluxus movement, and according to Mansfield, "the conceptual instigator of the work," was a poet of sound and sky, interested in environmental phenomena. When he moved from the midwest to the big city, he was concerned about his inability to access the sky, and wanted to bring it into his studio and gallery. Bob Diamond, who worked at WNET with Nam June Paik, created the video analyzer, while experimental music composer, David Berhman, created a six-octave musical score.
"It's an important collaborative work and I couldn't be happier with the way the piece transforms that corner of the gallery," adds Mansfield.
Beginning with its creation in the mid- to late 1970s, the work has traveled around the world and was featured in important exhibitions (including New York's Whitney Museum of Art), but has not been on view for more than twenty years.
When you stand in front of the installation, you'll find yourself rooting for birds, bad weather, or thick clouds to activate the score. But, fear not, even a clear sky has its own kind of sound. As Mansfield points out, no matter the weather, "Cloud Music changes the way you look at the sky."
Learn more about the museum's film and media arts initiative on our website.
