Elusivity (research)

Since the sky has been mentioned...



James Benning, Ten Skies, 2004


From recent readings:

Clouds are associated with cosmology, but also inner states. It is this combination of indeterminacy, space, and interiority that [...] make us think not only about form and vacancy, mobility and change, but also about the peculiar realm of affectivity that we call "mood." Whether we feel uplifted or depressed, we tend to take the ups and downs of internal states for granted - so much so that we scarcely notice them. Mood is like the weather, changing and unformed, yet always with us. In classical landscape painting, weather and mood tend to converge on the drama of the sky. A cerulean sky spells calm; dark clouds indicate tempestuous events or passions. But in temperate climates, we most often experience an in-between state that is subject to subtle fluctuations of brightness and shadow, transparency and opacity.


Goethe in response to 19th Century meteorology and Luke Howard's first classification of clouds:

Ich muss das alles mit Augen fassen,
Will sich aber nicht recht denken lassen 

(All of this I have to take in with my eyes,
But it will not let itself be grasped by thought).


ref:
[Mary Jacobus, Romantic things: a tree, a rock, a cloud, 2012, University of Chicago Press: Chicago & London.]