The Cyanometer

The Cyanometer by Martin Bricelj Baraga is a monument to the blueness of the sky. It is inspired by the original cyanometer invented by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. His cyanometer – a blue color wheel, forms the core of the monument, gently directing our gaze back to the sky. The Cyanometer is both a monument and software that periodically collects images of the sky. The monolith gathers data about the blueness of the sky and the quality of air and visualizes them, thus becoming an instrument that raises awareness of the quality of one of the crucial elements of life. Together with air quality data, the Cyanometer website is creating a special kind of online archive and retrospective calendar that is measuring and documenting the changes to our environment. In a cloud-based world, the only clouds that really matter are the ones we see in the sky. The Cyanometer monolith is currently installed in Ljubljana (part of Green Capital of Europe programme) and was acquired by the city for permanent installation, and Wroclaw (part of the WRO Media Art Biennale) where it received the Critics and art magazine editors award. The Cyanometer sculpture is an artifact, a smaller version of the original monolith, similar to it in design and materials used. The printed triptychs present a selection of photographs of the sky, taken by the original Cyanometer in Ljubljana. The graphics are illuminated laminated prints of the blueness indexes for each respective city. In addition to the artifacts, there will be a video presentation of the Cyanometer project and concept.

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