Tomás Saraceno Launches You into the Sky with His Latest Suspended Installation “In Orbit” at K21 Staendehaus

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

© Studio Saraceno & Kunstsammlung NRW

In one of his most ambitious suspended installations to date, artist Tomás Saraceno (previously) launches visitors at the K21 Staendehaus museum in Düsseldorf more than 65 feet (20 meters) above the main piazza with a taut, multi-level web of netting. Titled In Orbit the giant interactive piece is constructed from three separate levels of safety nets accessible from various points in the museum separated by enormous PVC balls measuring almost 30 feet (8.5 meters) in diameter. The resulting aerial landscape is an interesting hybrid between science fiction, spider webs, neural pathways and cloud formations.

Known for breaking the boundaries between art and science, Saraceno often refers to his interactive pieces as living organisms. In fact, over a period of three years Saraceno consulted with arachnologists (experts in the study of spiders), as well as architects and engineers to achieve the final design for In Orbit. Via the museum:

This floating spatial configuration becomes an oscillating network of relationships, resonances, and synchronous communication. When several people enter the audacious construction simultaneously, their presence sets it into motion, altering the tension of the steel wires and the intervals between the three meshwork levels. Visitors can coordinate their activities within the space, and are able – not unlike spiders in a web – to perceive space through the medium of vibration. Saraceno himself speaks of a new hybrid form of communication.

The installation opened to the public starting today. To enter In Orbit patrons must be at least 12 years old and are asked to wear special grip-soled footwear while traversing the webbing. You can read much more over on Art Daily. All imagery courtesy K21 Staendehaus.