The Cloud

The sculpture CLOUD was conceived as a reflection on the heritage, transformation, and the potential of a space shaped by its layered industrial past – the former Chinatown, today the Creative District of Novi Sad.

The work consists of two contrasting yet complementary elements: the lower segment is a six-sided steel column, representing a factory chimney – rigid, geometrically shaped, solid, and cold. It is followed by the upper part, carefully modeled from warm and soft material of terracotta – a form that visually resembles a cloud or smoke, composed of several interlocked, bulbous spheres that form an organic, almost floating mass.

The choice of materials is intentional: steel and terracotta evoke the industrial legacy of the District, once a hub for metal production, where workshops and warehouses were built from brick, tile, and clay. The shape and substance of the sculpture recall what once was, while also pointing to the space’s new identity – one defined by art, experimentation, and an openness to the future.

The sculpture is both playful and cautionary – its cartoon-like, stylized form hints at irony and play, while the heavy mass of several tons of terracotta hovers above an open space and the viewer, creating tension and serving as a reminder of the ecological and social consequences of our relationship with nature and our environment.

The title CLOUD – rather than SMOKE – is deliberately ambiguous. Though it emerges from the form of a chimney, the sculpture does not suggest only pollution, but rather an ascent toward something unknown and open. In this sense, CLOUD is more a lighthouse than a chimney – a symbol of the awakening of creative ideas and energy that are now emerging within these old walls.

The sculpture is installed as if it has always been there – quiet, yet present; rooted in the past, yet facing an uncertain, but inspired future.