The Cloud is the symbol of the Arteplage Yverdon-les-Bains – a building without firm walls, pure atmosphere. This is architecture made of water, mist and fog, a collection of the finest water droplets in the air, with no predetermined shape and in a constant state of flux. Designed by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, the Cloud offers visitors a delightful welcome – it’s not an illusion, but the Cloud does trick our senses.

Finding your way in thick fog is rather difficult at first. You can protect your skin and clothing from the fine vapour and put a coat on if you wish. The atmospheric cloud is supplemented by the musical cloud of sound artiste Christian Marclay, which makes you even more confused in this game of deceiving the senses. At the Angel Bar – in a building made of water and suspended over the waters of the lake – you can sample many different kinds of mineral water from around the globe.

The sound composition Nebula emanates from the white noise of the fog jets. What gives the cloud its appearance simultaneously creates its soundtrack. from the omnipresent hissing and noise, a series of discrete natural and electronic music pieces emerges. Ten CDs of different lengths are played endlessly; they overlap randomly and over and over again. Visitors complete the composition by moving between the speakers suspended throughout the cloud. Unstable like the cloud itself, the composition is constantly changing.

Arteplage
Yverdon-les-Bains

Visitor capacity per day
not available - free flow

Total visitors
not available - free flow

Sound design
Christian Marclay

Sound engineer
Douglas Irving Repetto

Sound installation
Nicolas Dhellin

Audio Consultant
Jens Maasen

Project Management Expo.02
Deborah Rozenblum

^{Photos: © Christoph Steudler}