The sky looms in the background of all human activity. It is elementary then that artists should be preoccupied with a phenomenon whose ageless nature remains elusive and opaque. Bruce and Norman Yonemoto's A History of Clouds (33:46 mins, Color) investigates the representation of clouds as they appear in art, first as amorphic elements in early oil painting, then as photographically reproduced elements of 20th-century works. This premiere videowork ends in the advertising studio where clouds provide a "natural" backdrop for commodified dreams. The journey from representation to sales presentation is complete. George Kuchar's Weather Watch (16 mins, Color) takes a much more personal view. Here, the raging tempest outside is a cipher for Kuchar's internal workings. The terrific tornadic activity of Oklahoma finds Kuchar alone in a dingy motel, waiting perhaps for a funnel cloud to take him away from it all. Doug Hall's majestic Storm and Stress (47:56 mins, Color/B&W) presents a great sweep of tempestuous weather-burdened landscapes ring with thunderclaps released from tortured clouds. But Hall is also attempting to locate human action within this unreasoning sphere of nature. In sublime style, Storm and Stress explores the attempt to represent and, ultimately, harness weather by mimicking its conditions. --Steve Seid