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Finding Pictures in the Sky: Machinic Vision of Cloudscapes
Abstract
Within cultural and art theory, there has been an emergence of attention placed on machine vision technologies as introducing a new regime of images and ways of seeing. This paper addresses this subject in the context of environment and nature through an inquiry into machinic ways of seeing cloudscapes. Attention is placed on how the cloud form presents a challenge to the logic of machine vision thereby introducing a potential for exploring machinic modes of perception. I look at the work of contemporary artists Daniel Lefcourt, Shinseungback Kimyounghyun and the collaborative group, Forensic Architecture who each, in their own way investigate various forms of machinic representation of the cloud. These cloudscapes are referenced here as theoretical and practical sources to explore a techno-aesthetic that is constituted by a confrontation between the machinic logic of advanced visual technologies and the organic form of the cloud. In different ways, the works explored here each bring to the fore, latent layers of representation of a machinic vision. The visibility of these layers foregrounds its productive capacity in a meaning production which is both open and speculative. These artistic and collaborative engagements provide critical points of departure through which to explore contemporary visualisations of the environment and a production of meaning within a cultural and political realm.
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