TOMÁS SARACENO: ENTANGLED ORBITS: BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

Internationally acclaimed artist and trained architect Tomás Saraceno uses iridescent panels, spider webs, and inflatable orbs in three fascinating sculptures on view. The centerpiece of the exhibition, Entangled Orbits, transforms the East Lobby with clusters of iridescent-paneled modules held in place by strings reminiscent of a spider web. Appearing somewhat like bubbles, these spherical modules evoke the artist’s visionary plans for “cloud cities,” which look to naturally occurring forms for inspiration and might provide environments for future human habitation. Similarly, the intricate spider web of ropes refers to a natural structure that encompasses the qualities of strength, beauty, and flexibility.

Immersive installations by Saraceno in the BMA’s European Art galleries (on view through April 1, 2018) further demonstrate the artist's interest in the structures of the natural world—clouds, bubbles, and spider web—that could model the architecture of the future. These arresting and imaginative installations include:

• An elaborate spider web (built by several types of spiders) encased in a suspended vitrine and dramatically lit within an entirely darkened space
• Hovering abstract sculptures that evoke planetary systems and early 20th-century modernist designs
• Iridescent inflatables suspended from above and filling an entire gallery

This exhibition is curated by Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman.