Artists often use fog as a metaphor for murkiness, but in five sculptures dotting Boston’s parks, Fujiko Nakaya deploys clouds of mist to “make the invisible visible.”
“The fog reveals the choreography of what’s already there,” said curator Jen Mergel ’98, referring to the ways wind, temperature, and humidity are mirrored in “Fog x FLO,” an installation commissioned by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy to mark its 20th anniversary.
On a recent sunny morning, Mergel watched Nakaya’s fog take shape outside the visitor center of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum as if she were watching a band she’d seen dozens of times but could still surprise her. The eight-minute performance, which repeats every half-hour from dawn to dusk, was scripted by Nakaya, Mergel said, but climate constantly improvises and reveals itself in the variations.