It shakes, has holes, and is 80 feet high above the ground, but that hasn’t stopped 100,000 people from visiting and climbing this K21 Museum’s giant art installation that looks like a futuristic spider web. In fact, the installation, which opened in summer 2013 and was only to last for a year, has been thoroughly tested and deemed completely safe for the thousands more humans who would like to move about the net like insects in a spider web for yet another year. The experience has proven so captivating with visitors that the installation will remain open until the end of 2015.
The installation by artist Tomás Saraceno is called “in orbit” and creates three different levels of steel wire and transparent orbits that brave visitors can access. Their movements cause vibrations – like in a spider web – which, combined with the lofty heights, create a fascinating spatial experience. The wire mesh alone weighs 3 tons; the largest of the spheres – 6 total and up to 27 feet in diameter – weighs more than 600 pounds; and the entire net structure spans an area of almost 27,000 square feet.
The piece, which incorporates concepts from nature and references from Jules Verne to American architect and visionary Richard Buckminster Fuller, is awe-inspiring for any visitor — whether they decide to access it or not — and emotions about life and death, thrill and fear, are part of the experience.
The K21 Museum and its sister museum K20 together hold one of the most internationally renowned collections of 21st and 20th century art, respectively. The two museums are among Düsseldorf’s major art institutions and are supported by a foundation of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which owns the permanent collections.
For more information, see: www.kunstsammlung.de/en.