A large-scale interactive sculpture created from 5,000 re-appropriated domestic light bulbs, CLOUD invites the viewer to wander through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. (Nuit Blanche Calgary, September 15, 2012).

On September 15th, Calgary will be hosting its first Nuit Blanche – an all-night public showcase of contemporary art on the streets of downtown Calgary. As part of Nuit Blanche, local multidisciplinary artist Caitlind r.c. Brown is building an 18-foot interactive electrical CLOUD – out of 5000+ light bulbs. Viewers will be invited to wander beneath the structure through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. Visiting CLOUD will be free, open to the public, and kid-friendly.

Here’s the thing – only one in every ten light bulbs actually needs to glow. The rest are purely ornamental. Why waste fresh light bulbs when there are tons and tons of burnt out bulbs being discarded every day?

In pursuit of inexpensive and waste-free materials, CLOUD is experimenting with community collaboration, asking the public to contribute materials by donating their burnt out incandescent light bulbs. Intended to create an awareness of usage and a reminder of the potential of items post-function, this experiment explores the ability of art to re-imagine the possibilities of functionless domestic objects (in this case, burnt out light bulbs).

As you can imagine, while there are indeed thousands of burnt out incandescent light bulbs waiting in store for this project somewhere, it’s incredibly hard to get the word out to the broader public – especially to the restaurants, lighting stores, schools, etc. who go through handfuls of incandescent bulbs weekly. This is how the Awesome Foundation can help: with $1000, we can lend legitimacy to our experiment, and spread the Call for Burnt Out Light Bulbs all over the city.