The Boggy Gassy Black Clouds is a work in progress. The work consists of thousands of small, finger-rolled black plasticine balls. The balls translate the bytes (single digits) in a continuous data stream from an agri-sensor network monitoring the temperature and moisture levels of a degraded peatland in the Cambrian Mountains, West Wales. When finished each black cloud, or cluster of clouds, will represent the bytes from each of the 8 sensors in the network, over 24 hours, from the 1st – 7th June 2026.
The work renders raw environmental data as something volatile and active: a lively accumulation of both presence and absence. By translating digits into hand-rolled soft, sticky, slippery, mouldable forms, the work transforms the rigidity of a data stream into a tactile, malleable presence.
The sticky, sweaty, hand-rolled plasticine balls cling to the heads of slippery pins, temporarily suspended, perhaps reminding us that every byte (digit/ball) of data from the peatland sensor is one more byte that generates its own carbon footprint.
The paradox is that giant resource-heavy servers storing our climate warnings are warming the climate they warn about.
These little black clouds, absurd and a little menacing, might be asking – when does measuring harm become harming!
All photos by Ash Calvert, 2026