Floating high above D\u00fcsseldorf, a surreal landscape once captivated visitors. That was Tom\u00e1s Saraceno’s “In Orbit” installation. It was suspended 25 meters above the K21 St\u00e4ndehaus.
“In Orbit” opened in 2013. It was the culmination of two years of planning. Spiders, engineers, architects, and biologists all contributed. Saraceno’s creation became one of his most complex works.
Imagine a webbed mesh, like a windsail. Clustering threads and ballooning shapes filled the space. When people entered “In Orbit”, the entire structure moved. The tension of steel cables shifted. Distances between the three net levels changed. It was an experience of interconnectedness.
Originally planned for a short run, its popularity extended its life. It closed in January 2024 after ten years. “In Orbit” became a symbol. It represented both the museum and the city.
The installation looked like an ocean of clouds. Floating planetary bodies filled the space. The accessible artwork used near-transparent steel mesh. This mesh interlaced three levels. It spanned the glass dome’s immensity. Five air-filled spheres punctuated the net structure. The structure encompassed 2500 square meters.
Visitors could crawl, climb, and explore the space. Once inside, they joined an expansive ecosystem. Each person influenced the whole. Every physical presence reverberated. This codependent sociability shaped the experience. “To describe the work means to describe the people that use it and their emotions,” Saraceno noted.
Visitors adapted to the network’s changing conditions. They improvised movement. They responded to reverberations and changing tensions. The floating space became a vibrating web. It fostered relationships and synchronous communication. Like a spider web, visitors felt the presence of others through vibrations. This mirrored Saraceno’s research. He studied hybrid and interspecies communication.
“In Orbit” alluded to interplanetary coexistence. It played with recursive analogies. It moved from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic. Spider webs provided a model for rethinking interconnectivity. They recalled the cosmic web envisioned by astrophysicists. In the installation’s vibratory continuum, bodies moved like molecules, planets, and black holes.
Saraceno saw each discipline as another universe. He strived to perceive realities beyond his senses. He envisioned Cloud Cities facilitating dialogue. For the K21 project, predicting the net’s behavior proved challenging. No computer program could fully simulate it. Engineers concluded that a 1:1 real model was the most effective test.
Saraceno emphasized that the process itself was the project. It changed, expanded, and rebuilt. It hibernated, reproduced, and mutated. These dynamic systems operated in feedback loops. Saraceno noted that much of the universe remains unknown.
“What is this? Where are they? How could it be? Is this real?” Saraceno asked. He described feelings of displacement and fear. He spoke of falling into an unknown landscape. He wanted visitors to share feelings with others. The artwork became the experience of reverberation. Visitors became small riding on a cosmic web.
After a decade and nearly a million visitors, “In Orbit” was dismantled. The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen thanked the public for their interest. The installation had become an integral part of K21.
Even those hesitant to enter could appreciate the installation visually. They experienced archetypal emotions. They considered themes of flying, falling, and floating. “In Orbit” touched viewers’ fears and desires. It altered perspectives. It made the airborne condition tangible.