Design: Thomas Saraceno - On Space Time Foam

So I've mentioned Thomas Saraceno's work before, his new installation, which he premiered at the Hangar Bicocca in Milan (on till February 2nd 2013), is called "On Space Time Foam". It's a multi-layered installation of translucent PVC membranes suspended 24 meters off the ground. The piece continues Saraceno's "interest in the desire to create self-sufficient aerial structures that can be inhabited by people with a low environmental impact," and creates a symbiotic relationship between structure and user, in which "one cannot survive without the other for the concept to truly function." It articulates Saraceno's interest in the desire to create self-sufficient aerial structures that can be inhabited by people with a low environmental impact. The billowing landscape is made up of various levels where each one supports a different atmospheric climate; this air pressure then reacts to the movement and clambering of its visitors. Every step, every securing grasp feeds the artwork in a unique way - a symbiotic relationship between user and structure, one cannot survive without the other for the concept to truly function. The work can only be sincerely understood through meaningful interaction, one cannot anticipate the experience with 'On Space Time Foam' until faced with the prospect of its influence - a visitor can move from a feeling of complete liberation to allegorical suffocation - surprise, delight or fear without knowing when. The installation can be considered a product of research into quantam and string theories that assert the elemental component of human existence. Generating form and concept based on the subatomic planck realm - where physical theories of wormholes and multiverses exist - to mimic what can be described as an elastic membrane which can curve, warp, stretch and contract. The work, which required months of testing, will be continued with a project saraceno will realize throughout a residency at the massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) and in a later version, 'On Space Time Foam' is expected to become a floating biosphere above the maldives islands that is made inhabitable with solar panels and desalinated water. The work is a cohesive, extraordinary culmination of the artist's fascination and knowledge of airborne biospheres - merging theoretical frameworks and knowledge from engineering, physics, chemistry, aeronautics and materials science for a greater insight into not only future societies, but the human condition.

For more on Thomas' work, click here.