“I was initially painting clouds but this was in the 60s when everyone was out on the streets so I no longer wanted to paint clouds, I wanted to interact with the environment and the actuality of society” Fujiko Nakaya

Standing on the edge of Pero’s Bridge on a busy Saturday afternoon, I made an observation: everyone had a reaction to Fog Bridge. The reactions were diverse, mostly subtle, but some more urgent and spirited. In a few people it provoked irritation. Regardless of the manner of reaction, one thing was clear; the installation caused an interruption to the daily activity.

On Friday 13 February, we partnered with In Between Time to bring Fujiko Nakaya and Anne-Marie Duguet (Fujiko’s long time collaborator) to the Watershed to talk about Nakaya’s fog sculptures.  

Nakaya was the first artist to master the reproduction of natural fog, without using any synthetic materials, just water and wind. Her process has involved 40 years of collaboration with nature and technology. Nakaya’s experiments with manufacturing fog began in 1969, when she created dry ice clouds on a plate. The scientific precision of the fog experiments; working closely with physicists and meteorologists; is at the centre of Nakaya’s practice. Gathering precise data on the natural surroundings of the installation; humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction; informs the decisions she makes about the power, frequency and direction of the nozzles dispersing the water that creates the fog.

Nakaya spoke fondly of her most influential partner in the series of fog sculptures: nature.  She has found many ways to naturally control the movement of the fog, including building “chocolate bar hills” to diffuse the wind and create turbulence to enable to fog to linger in Foggy Forest in Tokyo.  Nakaya shared with us a memory of her apologising to an audience for a previous fog installation “failing” on a stormy day when the wind almost entirely dispersed the fog. An audience member disagreed with her perception of “failure”, exclaiming that the storm had created the best version of the fog installation that day. Nakaya now believes that the fog cannot fail, and that it would be an insult to her collaborator; nature; to make an assessment of the installation based on success or failure. Nature is an extension of the gallery space; and the fog installations are augmenting the natural environment, providing a catalyst for nature to transform the landscape and create a performance.

Very early on in Nakaya’s experiments, she discovered that the fog allows people to behave differently; opening up their senses, exercising their imagination and allowing them to experience public space in a new way. This informs the way she chooses the locations for the fog installations, they must be in a space people can walk through. The installations are designed as a pleasurable experience, encouraging people to linger and engage all their senses.

Fog Bridge is the first time Fujiko has installed a fog sculpture in the UK, it will run from 12-22 February 2015 on Pero’s Bridge.

The Fog Bridge Exhibition, curated by Anne-Marie Duguet, is displayed in Arnolfini from 13 February – 14 March 2015.