30.09.2022

ISTA produces clouds at Design Week - photos of clouds sent to a cloud server obscure the space in an art project.

Research meets art – ISTA curator Mia Meus, cloud researcher Yi-Ling Hwong, and physicist Andrea Stoellner from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) are participating in Vienna Design Week from September 16 to 25. With their cloud machine, they are combining citizen science with design in a large-scale participatory project, thereby also drawing attention to the advancing climate crisis.

ISTA

How does cloud research actually work?

A curious glance at the sky is already one of the most important building blocks: What does a cloud look like, how does it change over time, and how does it behave? Doctoral candidate Andrea Stoellner and researcher Yi-Ling Hwong from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) study clouds at a wide range of scales, from the tiniest components and forces to globally extending cloud fields. Clouds are among the most ubiquitous yet largely unexplored formations in our atmosphere. Seemingly light, soft, and fleeting individual objects, they are in reality a complex network of droplets and particles that together can weigh several million tons. They extend across landscapes, even continents, so researchers around the globe are looking to the sky together to document their shape, their behavior, and their impact on our rapidly changing climate.

Guests Make Science

With the art project "Cloud Campaign," the project team aims to draw the public's attention to these very clouds. Using a modified "cloud" server at the heart of the space, they encourage visitors to participate in observations and the collection of potential research data. Guests share photos of the sky over Vienna with their smartphones and send them to the server. The server then reacts directly, creating a cloud within the exhibition space into which guests can literally immerse themselves. The project thus connects fundamental climate science research, as conducted at ISTA, with the participatory aspects of citizen science.

Cloud researcher Hwong: “It always amuses me when I tell friends and relatives that I research clouds. The first reaction I get usually relates to the IT infrastructure and not to the actual clouds. My personal wish for the project is that it inspires people to consciously observe the beauty of complex cloud formations.”

Playful Learning

The project aims to playfully generate a comprehensive dataset while simultaneously recreating traditional cloud observation practices using modern methods, thus offering the public a new approach to cloud research. At the panel discussion “Design ßà Science” on September 17th at the Haus der Begegnung (House of Encounters) at Königsegggasse 10, 1060 Vienna, ISTA researchers will exchange ideas with Viennese artists about mutual influences and synergies between research and science, starting at 3:30 pm.

Shutterstock / ISTA

A stormy job. Yi-Ling Hwong from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and her colleagues study clouds, using image data from all over the world.

Artistic Collaborations

The ISTA regularly collaborates with the international art scene. Just this past June, Professor Michael Sixt, in collaboration with the Museum of Applied Arts, participated in the exhibition “ENTANGLED RELATIONS – ANIMATED BODIES” in Milan. “Our goal as a research institute is to be even more closely networked with the Viennese and international creative scene in order to establish ourselves as an inspiring collaboration partner in the long term,” explains Mia Meus, Science Curator at the ISTA. “So many incredible ideas are generated at our institute, just waiting to be realized and given form! Artists and designers are wonderful partners for this. And exciting news for all art lovers: The Institute of Science and Technology Austria is launching its first in-house artist residency this fall.”