Clouds Cortina

CLOUDS is a public art project created in January 2016 in the green spaces south of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, in the heart of the Kunstareal. During a sculptural performance, artist Philipp Messner transforms three common snow cannons — typically used in ski resorts — into gigantic “spray cans.” By adding food coloring to the water, the cannons produce colored artificial snow that covers the landscape with crystalline and iridescent layers.

Installed between the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) and the Alte Pinakothek, the cannons only operate under appropriate weather conditions (temperatures below –3 °C), making the work unpredictable in its form and timing. The project reflects on the boundary between natural and artificial, inviting the audience to experience and interpret a real yet abstract space, where perception, matter, and human intervention intersect.

On Monday, February 9, 2026, at 7:00 PM, the artist Philipp Messner will present an edition related to the project Clouds Cortina at the Sovilla Bookstore in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The meeting will take place in conversation with Gianluca D’Incà Levis, curator of Dolomiti Contemporanee.

Clouds is a public art project that reflects on the interaction between natural and artificial, human and nature, which Messner has been working on for over ten years. DC began to reflect on Clouds Cortina and activate exploratory networks in its favor starting from 2022.