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  • Kids walking on the Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium
  • An aerial view of the Fog Bridge.
  • Artist Fujiko Nakaya muses on her ephemeral outdoor creation Fog Bridge #72494.

  • Immerse your senses in Fujiko Nakaya's mesmerizing installation Fog Bridge.

  • Kids walking on the Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium
  • An aerial view of the Fog Bridge.
  • Fog Bridge by Fujiko Nakaya
  • The Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium

Fog Bridge #72494

Lose yourself in a sudden, swirling mass of fog.

In a city notorious for fog, this immense artwork by Fujiko Nakaya intermittently shrouds a pedestrian bridge spanning Piers 15 and 17 with clouds of mist, enveloping all in its gauzy embrace.


Where:   Plaza
Exhibit Developer:   Artist Fujiko Nakaya, 2013

What’s going on?

Debuted at the Exploratorium’s reopening in April 2013, Nakaya’s fog installation stretches across the 150-foot-long pedestrian bridge that spans the water between Piers 15 and 17.

Water pumped at high pressure through more than 800 nozzles lining the bridge creates an immersive environment that shrouds all in its midst in mist.

To help conserve water, Fog Bridge was temporarily deactivated in 2014 in response to California's multi-year drought. After being reconfigured to run on desalinated water from the Bay, it now once again bathes the bridge in periodic fog.

 

Going further

Although Nakaya’s fog environments have been presented around the world, this is her first project in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region famous for its dramatic fog.

San Francisco owes its fog largely to the California Current, a cold, southward-moving coastal current in the Pacific Ocean. Incoming air cools as it passes over this cold water, causing moisture in the air to condense into fog droplets.

 
Phenomena: Evaporation, Change of State, Scattering
Keywords: fog, weather, evaporation
Aliases: Fog Bridge
Collections: Over the Water

More to explore

Over the Water: Fujiko Nakaya
Over the Water: Fujiko Nakaya

Read essays about this dynamic artwork and artist.

Fog Bridge by Fujiko Nakaya

Artist Fujiko Nakaya muses on her ephemeral outdoor creation Fog Bridge #72494.

The Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium

Immerse your senses in Fujiko Nakaya's mesmerizing installation Fog Bridge.

Science activity that demonstrates how clouds form
Fog Chamber

Create clouds in a bottle by rapidly expanding the air.

Related exhibits

Icy Bodies
Icy Bodies

Small chunks of dry ice jet and swirl across a liquid surface.

Vortex
Vortex

A silvery, dancing vortex appears in rotating water.

Tornado
Tornado

Step into an indoor version of a powerful natural vortex.

Cloud Rings
Cloud Rings

Launch a ring of fog.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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