Among Clouds
Among Clouds is a six week course open to all faculty, staff and students at LNAA and KSA in the spring of 2026.
Floating between weather and wonder, this course looks at the idea of the cloud as it has gathered in the minds of visual and spatial practitioners, visionaries, critical thinkers, engineers, scientists, and poets over the ages.
From the Greek playwright Aristophanes, to 18th-century balloon explorations, to the iCloud, humans have put themselves and proxy selves into and amongst the clouds. And while we have been joining clouds, they have also been joining us: transforming from ancient myths, drifting down from cathedral ceilings, hovering on walls within landscape paintings, gradually appearing in the photographic image, and dissipating into social networks. Presently, the three intermingling clouds of war, computing, and weather are bearing down upon us, and we would do well to understand their properties by looking up to the sky and down at our devices to understand their impact.
The course first provides a meteorological overview of actual clouds – how they have been observed, named, and classified. In learning the basics of cloud identification, students will transpose this practical knowledge into a more comprehensive understanding of symbology and metaphor. In short, we will undertake to answer the question: what cultural, technological and social meanings have been assigned to clouds, and by whom?
Among Clouds is designed to integrate with students’ own interests and pursuits, crossing multiple fields of inquiry, from various forms of artistic production to historical and technological investigations.
Course Structure
Participants may attend all six classes in this course, or just one, though it is highly recommend to join the first two classes. All sessions are taught in English. There are no prerequisites and no specific skills are required. There are no exams or mandatory assignments.
Schedule
The course will take place on Tuesdays from 11:00 to 12:30, starting April 28, ending June 02. Locations to be announced.
April 28
01. Introduction. Techniques for identifying cloud types, their names and their places in the sky.
May 5
02. What are clouds, how are they made, and what role do they play in shaping climate and our understanding of ourselves ?
May 12
03. Shaping and unshaping the built world: the cloud in architecture and war
May 19
04. The making of myths: painting the cloud
May 26
05. Moving skies: the cloud in cinema and opera
June 02
06. Catching vapor: the cloud and photography
