The site-specific commission will transform the BMA’s East Lobby from October 1, 2017 – June 2018
BALTIMORE, MD -The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has commissioned a major new work by internationally acclaimed artist Tomás Saraceno for an exhibition that will dramatically change the East Lobby and several galleries. Tomás Saraceno: Entangled Orbits brings together a group of fascinating sculptural works by the Argentinian artist and trained architect known for exploring new ways of inhabiting and sensing the environment. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Entangled Orbits, a cluster of luminous spheres suspended within a complex web of lines commissioned by the BMA and displayed in the East Lobby from October 1, 2017 through June 2018. This work is accompanied by three interventions in the European Art galleries that show the artist’s ongoing engagement with spheres, mobiles, and spiderwebs. These works are on view through April 29, 2018.
“Entangled Orbits demonstrates the museum’s commitment to presenting work by living artists in public spaces and the idea that art should be the first thing you see when you enter the museum and the last thing as you leave,” said BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director Christopher Bedford. “This commission is the first expression of that commitment.”
Berlin-based artist Tomás Saraceno (b. 1973, Argentina) takes inspiration in the adaptability, integrity, and beauty of such natural formations as molecular chains, clouds, and spiderwebs. He creates drawings, sculptures, and site-specific installations that apply these natural structures to the problem of developing alternative constructions for living that would enable humans to more responsively and responsibly inhabit the planet. Although grounded in science and observation, Saraceno’s vision is expansive, including a strong sense of aesthetics and an openness to utopian solutions.
“Tomás Saraceno, his studio team, and an expert group from the BMA have spent many hours developing a highly complex and fascinating series of installations that will transform a number of the museum’s spaces in thoroughly unexpected ways,” said BMA Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman. “The result will be sculptural environments that immerse visitors in a magical combination of art, architecture, and science.”
Saraceno is the first artist to produce a site-specific, three-dimensional work of art in the BMA’s East Lobby. Weaving together art, architecture, natural sciences, and engineering, the artist’s installation combines clusters of iridescent-paneled spheres within a sweeping “spiderweb” of black ropes that will be woven on-site across a two-story open area bordered by a staircase and mezzanine. Appearing somewhat like bubbles, these spherical modules evoke Saraceno’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 spiderweb of ropes refers to a natural structure that encompasses the qualities of strength, beauty, and flexibility.
