Galaxies Forming along Filaments, Like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider’s Web is a space-filling installation piece constructed entirely from elastic rope. Two intersecting “geodesic” spheres hang weightlessly at its center. Each facet of these shapes serves as an anchor point for hundreds of lines that connect to eyehooks affixed to the walls, floors, and ceiling. The work is premised on a complex set of scientific and philosophical concepts––some grounded in actual research, others bearing more of a sci-fi provenance. Saraceno takes spiderwebs as a starting point, investigating how these intricate meshworks gain immense strength, despite their delicate nature, due to their inherent structural properties. Key to Saraceno’s fascination with webs are recent theories that argue that the early universe consisted of a sponge-like form, within which galaxies were birthed along filaments, like droplets on a web.  Saraceno uses sculpture and architecture to model theoretical systems and visualize radical approaches to the design of urban habitats, food production, and transportation. A central theme his practice has been the possibility of moving cities and farms off of the earth’s surface and into the air, an idea that he has embodied with fantastical floating gardens attached to giant, flying geodesic spheres.