Documented artwork / participatory membrane installation

On Space Time Foam

Visitors enter a suspended layered membrane whose shape changes with their weight and movement. The work makes each participant’s spatial experience depend on others, turning ideas about cosmic and social relationships into a physical environment.

Saves on this device.

Already working on a project?

Adds directly to your existing saved project and keeps its brief intact.

Documented work. Current availability, ownership and installation requirements must be confirmed with the artist.

See the documented project and images

Image: studiotomassaraceno.org ↗

At a glance

Year / version: 2012
Materials: transparent crystal-clear PVC membrane, Velcro, wood
Documented setting: indoor
Dimensions: 20.5 × 24 × 24 m
Dimensions apply to: Artist-captioned 2012 installation at Hangar Bicocca, Milan; source does not label the axis order.
Availability: Unconfirmed

Places & versions

Installation history

Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.

2012
Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Site
Hangar Bicocca
City
Milan
Country
IT
Start year
2012
Installation details checked 2026-10-16.
Installation source

From a reference to your project

Keep the idea.
Shape the brief.

Save this reference to your shortlist while you explore. Review your selection, then carry the references you choose into a commissioning brief for your site, audience, timing and open questions.

Your shortlist is saved on this device. Saving a reference does not contact the artist or reserve a work. Participation, availability, price and site suitability need confirmation.

View shortlist Build brief from shortlist Discuss a project with this reference Open full planning workspace Use the project worksheet Suggest a correction or provide an artist update

Research notes for project planning

How this work was made and presented

Studio account of the 2012 installation

Participation changes a shared surface

Tomás Saraceno’s account of On Space Time Foam describes a membrane environment in which a person’s movement changes conditions for others. The work turns an abstract discussion of interdependence into a bodily encounter with a shared, deformable surface. Its documented materials and dimensions belong to the 2012 installation, rather than a generic package for other rooms. For planning, the key lesson is to evaluate the social behavior intended by the structure alongside its physical configuration, including how participants understand the effects they have on one another.

Studio Tomás Saraceno — On Space Time Foam ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-10

For your project brief

How would participants learn that their movements alter other people’s experience?

Big Art Partners planning prompt

Pirelli HangarBicocca CUBO exhibition, 2012–2013

The building helped generate the form

Pirelli HangarBicocca’s exhibition archive records three accessible levels of transparent film created for its CUBO space in 2012–2013. The host explains that the room’s cubic form inspired the installation and that architects and engineers worked through months of preparation and experimentation. This is a strong precedent for a commission emerging from a particular building. A comparable proposal would need to establish how spatial research and multidisciplinary development fit the schedule before treating the finished installation as something that can simply be transferred between venues.

Pirelli HangarBicocca — On Space Time Foam ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-10

For your project brief

What site research and engineering development must precede a presentation in a different building?

Big Art Partners planning prompt

Interactive art installations ↗