Tomás Saraceno

b. 1973, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. Lives and works in Berlin

Gravitational solitary solitary Choreography Beta Scorpii built by: a solo Nephilasenegalensis - three weeks, and a solo Psechrus jaegeri – four weeks, 2018
Courtesy of the artist

Reacting to any movement of the air, the fragile web architecture presented in this glass cube is the result of a “collaboration” between two species of arachnids. The title includes the names of the species that contributed to the making of this tiny universe and the amount of time it took. Webs are believed to be an extension of a spider’s sensory and cognitive systems, so the gravity-defying galaxies suspended in the air inside the cube are created through a combination of the sensory experiences of different creatures and their acts of communication. Each spider/web, sharing its space and threads with others, is a living product of interspecies collaboration and a metaphor for the hybrid relationships between humans and non-human species in the world outside the box.

With his series of works produced in collaboration with spider/webs, Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno invites humans to adjust their sensory apparatus to the environment of other species and experience new ways of living together. The installation becomes a space where visitors can, among other things, watch themselves as a community in the state of becoming. Saraceno believes that a physical space inhabited by humans and other species has a creative force that can destroy the current order and produce new, shared hopes. The web here symbolizes both the technocratic Internet and the fragile balance of relationships in the real environment.