Sarajevo often disappears for days under a blanket of clouds, against the meteorological forecast of sunny weather. One may speak of them as «false clouds» made up not only of condensation of aerosols, but of harmful fine particles. While false clouds deceive, art can make visible how environmental pollution harms Earth and her species. The exhibition False Clouds investigates the chimneys that create and blow out these delusive clouds. They consist of acid rain droplets seeping into the soil, industrial sewage flowing into rivers, fine particles reaching the bloodstream of living beings, or microplastics we inhale and find their way into plants through their roots. These kinds of pollution often remain invisible, and thus, we rarely attribute to them the damage they cause. The artworks in this exhibition highlight different forms of environmental pollution both locally and globally, focusing on postwar Bosnia. Here, privatization of heavy industry, urban transformation, lack of governmental measures and neocolonial exploitation by international investors are among the major causes of environmental violence.

Accompanying the exhibition at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a discursive side program explores these issues through film screenings and panel discussions at the Kino Meeting Point and the Urban Design Studio Sarajevo, lecture performances, workshops for children and guided tours. In these different formats, False Clouds combines artistic, activist, scientific and socio-political approaches to make visible what industrialists, politicians and lobbyists usually downplay: the clouds that poison the environment and obfuscate us of their toxic nature.

When? Where?
10 September - 20 October 2022
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zmaja od Bosne 3
Sarajevo 71000

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