Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | A Rent in the Clouds | 20090224 | In a series tracing the role of clouds in art, architecture and the cultural imagination, architectural historian Robert Harbison considers the obsessive fascination with clouds in the baroque period.
He explores the depiction of ever-expanding spaces, as architects tried to realise this vision with elaborate cloud-ceilings and extravagant multi-media designs. Harbison describes the experience of standing in these buildings that to him seem part-earthly material and part-cloud.
Architectural historian Robert Harbison on the interest in clouds in the baroque period. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 03 | Dark Clouds | 20090225 | In a series tracing the role of clouds in the arts and architecture, cultural historian Steve Connor examines the depiction of clouds in the popular imagination - as generators of turbulence, melancholy and toxicity.
He considers subjects from Norse mythology to the fiction of Don DeLillo, looking at metamorphosing visions of apocalypse glimpsed in the clouds by ultra-religious combatants in the English Civil War, as well as visions seen by Elvis Presley.
Cultural historian Steve Connor on the depiction of clouds in the popular imagination. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 04 | Thought-Cloud | 20090226 | In a series tracing the role of clouds in the arts and architecture, writer, critic and translator Professor Esther Leslie examines the image of the clouds as a model of thought and the imagination itself: from the sublime of Immanuel Kant to the ridiculous of comic strip thought-clouds.
She also recounts various ill-fated attempts in the past to project thoughts, ideas, messages and sales-pitches on to the clouds themselves.
Writer, critic and translator Professor Esther Leslie examines the image of the clouds. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 05 | Constructing Clouds | 20090227 | In a series tracing the role of clouds in art, architecture and the cultural imagination, architectural historian Mark Dorrian discusses the current fascination with cloud-like buildings, from architects such as Frank Gehry and his 'clouds of glass', to more radical attempts to construct buildings that float on air, or buildings composed of mist.
Architectural historian Mark Dorrian discusses the fascination with cloud-like buildings. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 01 | The Nebular Turn | 20090223 | Series tracing the role of clouds in art, architecture and the cultural imagination. Cultural historian and architect Mark Dorrian examines the pervading influence of the cloud as a metaphor, as a portent and as a transmitter of meaning, drawing on thinkers, poets and artists, from Aristophanes to Anthony Gormley. Mark Dorrian on the influence of the cloud as a metaphor and a vehicle for meaning. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |