In New York, clouds become an experiment in evidence
· BehindLines newsroom
In New York, the Museum of the Moving Image presents nephomancer, an installation by misha de ridder and miragenesi announced for 29 October to 6 December 2026. On the museum’s media wall, photographs of clouds become the material for an experience bringing together images, music and public participation. Museum presentation.
The project begins with 60 photographs, according to the MoMI x Tezos partnership website. Their capture is accompanied by a cryptographic proof intended to establish their provenance without exposing the image itself. The photographs then remain deliberately concealed in their representation on the wall. The cryptographic data associated with each cloud contribute to the visual and sound composition. Project description.
According to the same page, at the moment of capture the camera converts the sensor’s raw data into code, a so-called zero-knowledge proof, which confirms that this exact image was recorded by a sensor without the photograph itself having to be shown. This description concerns the mechanism chosen by the artists; it does not turn a photograph into a general guarantee about the meaning of what it shows.
The installation adds an exchange with visitors. Visitors may leave a message that shapes the piece: it sends a spiral over the hidden clouds. If the message and the proof data resonate, a poem can come back to them. Presented to the visitor services staff, it earns them a print of one of the 60 original cloud photographs.
This circulation changes the place of looking. The image is more than an object offered for contemplation: it can remain hidden while its technical trace and the public’s response occupy the space. This is an interpretation of the announced installation, without a visit report or an assessment of how it actually works.
The title refers to the practice of seeking signs in clouds. The work thus brings an ancient form of interpretation together with a verification technology. The experience therefore invites a distinction between what we see, what we can establish and what we choose to interpret.