Cumulus Calcite. The Subtractive Rendering of a Photographed Cloud

Abstract

Clouds are primarily condensed water vapour that produce very small ice crystals held in the atmosphere as a light reflecting mass. As cumulative contingencies, their most arresting attribute is the power to take form whenever, wherever and from thin air. Produced as a unique object at Factum Arte digital mediation studio in Madrid, the backlit alabaster Cumulus Calcite reveals veins of minerals running throughout the stone that astoundingly correspond with a cloud’s aerial fluxes. The original digital image was carved into the translucent slab with CNC milling technology driven by software that renders tonal information into relief surfaces. Despite being ‘carved in stone’ the luminous shape undergoes substantial changes. As soon as the viewer steps aside, the cumulus implodes into a rugged formation of canyons and cliffs. What was once nebulous floating mist is transformed into a variegated topographical terrain. Caught up in the intermittent perception of sky and earth, reflective light (albedo) or transmitted light (lithophane), medium as reproductive technology or affecting account of sensorial weather, is the poetics of deep geological time and the transitive formations of atmospheric phenomena.