Museum of Clouds

Museum of Clouds is a weekend programme of screenings and discussions exploring the films, the contexts, the figures that connected a diverse group of artist-filmmakers working over the last ten years. The series includes works by Gabriel Abrantes, Basma Alsharif, Alexander Carver, Benjamin Crotty, Mati Diop, Beatrice Gibson, Shambhavi Kaul, Laida Lertxundi, Matías Piñeiro, Ben Rivers, Ben Russell, Daniel Schmidt, Ana Vaz and Phillip Warnell, as well as conversations with the artists and with the programmers, writers and producers who have championed their work. Encompassing a dynamic range of visual languages, the programme pays particular attention to approaches to sound, landscape and format in these artists’ works.

A fundamental question for Tate Film is how a museum might go about representing the intertwined practices and constellation of relationships formed between the artists and programmers with whom we have been in conversation for many years. Museum of Clouds emerged as proposition in response to this question, an apt metaphor for the ever-shifting nature of the cluster on the one hand, and the problematic of trying to delineate or historicise ephemeral formations that inevitably form part of larger ecosystems. Its screening programme is curated in response to some of the themes that emerged when looking at these artists’ bodies of work together, rather than focusing specifically on formal collaborations. Its discussion forum serves as an instrument for all participants to help map shared approaches, attitudes, languages, sources or interests, to expand the network outward, and, last but not least, to acknowledge the work of peer institutions that have consistently programmed and supported their works.

This weekend gathering at Tate Modern is the first formulation of the Museum of Clouds, a concept intended to be reshaped and remapped by artists and curators alike. It is curated by Andrea Lissoni, Carly Whitefield and Raoul Klooker with Garbiñe Ortega. The next iteration of the programme takes place at the 2019 Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival in Pamplona, Spain​.