Vertical Visibility: Berndnaut Smilde’s Poetic Interventions in Space and Time
In his much-anticipated return to London, Berndnaut Smilde presents Vertical Visibility, his third solo exhibition with Ronchini Gallery. The Dutch artist, celebrated for his ethereal and enigmatic Nimbus series, once again invites viewers into a space where the boundaries between reality and illusion collapse into ephemeral beauty. Hosted in Ronchini’s refined Mayfair gallery, the exhibition is a study in contrast — between the monumental and the fleeting, the structured and the intangible.
At the heart of Smilde’s practice lies a fascination with the ephemeral. Vertical Visibility continues this thread with a selection of atmospheric interventions — photographic works capturing real clouds suspended within interior architectural spaces. These are not mere illusions or digital fabrications; Smilde constructs actual clouds inside buildings, their transient forms lingering just long enough to be photographed before vanishing into thin air. It is a feat of poetic precision — a conjuring of the sublime within the walls of the familiar.
The title itself, Vertical Visibility, echoes both the physical orientation of the work and a meteorological term used to describe how cloud cover limits upward visibility. In this way, the cloud becomes both subject and metaphor: it is presence and absence, weight and weightlessness, form and formlessness. As viewers, we are made acutely aware of what we see — and what slips away before we fully grasp it.
Each image in the exhibition is situated within a site of architectural significance, from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam to a disused ice factory in South Korea, and the historic Royal West of England Academy in Bristol. These locations are not incidental. They function as more than settings; they are active participants in Smilde’s alchemy. Their permanence intensifies the impermanence of the clouds. Their grandeur frames the softness. Their history gives context to the present moment, caught mid-evaporation.
In Smilde’s hands, the built environment becomes a stage for the atmospheric. Columns, corridors, and ceilings play host to vaporous presences that seem to both haunt and hallow the space. The result is a dialogue between architecture and atmosphere, between the intention of the man-made and the unpredictability of natural forces. These are not just compositions of light and vapor; they are studies in balance and tension, in clarity and obscuration.
Born in Groningen in 1978 and based in Amsterdam, Smilde’s cross-disciplinary practice spans sculpture, installation, and photography. Yet it is in his temporal constructions — where art and weather briefly align — that his voice is most distinct. Holding an MA from the Frank Mohr Institute, his work has been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, and the World Expo in Dubai, and resides in prestigious permanent collections across the globe.
With Vertical Visibility, Ronchini Gallery deepens its ongoing relationship with Smilde, offering London audiences a rare opportunity to witness the artist’s quiet defiance of permanence. In a world fixated on what lasts, Smilde elevates what disappears.
What lingers, ultimately, is not the cloud itself, but the moment it leaves behind — a haunting trace of what was, and a gentle reminder to look up.
