ABSTRACT
At this point, perhaps we need to remind ourselves of the notion of a shifting sky in the projects viewed. The idea of a cloud, the elusive and incomplete element, is interpreted to serve as a register of otherwise potentially imperceptible changes. For Tatlin's Tower, the sky is a backdrop on which propagation messages can be projected, increasing the scale and influence of the structure as a whole. The unbuildable is literally expanded on the scale of the sky itself. In the case of the Palace, the cloud was used to enhance the scale of the Palace but pushed itself forward in front of the statue, dominating and obscuring it from view. Lissitzky's Cloud Iron is formed around a fragmented centre, creating a circular horizon. In that sense, Lissitzky's PROUN series demonstrates the architectural drawing transforming into a-scalar space with multiple representation techniques ranging from painting, sculpture, and interior space, to finally, a series of buildings in an urban context. Despite this series, at first glance, seeming to be all about an enclosure, a pure interior, it can be considered to be the exact opposite, the infinite and immaterial. It embodies not just duality but also a multiplicity of meaning. The complete absence of sky in Chernikhov's opus could be interpreted to suggest virtual space. The cloud disappears entirely from his most famous industrial series and most other works only to make a brief appearance in the one cycle most out of character with the rest, the Palaces of Communism. The only constant, the size of the drawings, serves similarly as a computer screen, allowing for other elements to be infinitely changeable. At the end or at the beginning, the cloud in Piranesi's Carceri is positioned at the very centre of his etchings. The cloud is the sign of a negation of the centre and a finite singular architectural object. In the second, double edition of the etchings, the cloud does not become resolved; it is made more complex, thus confirming the idea that the unbuildable is relative to speculation and discovery, not a singular fixed solution.
