14 Billions (Working Title) (2010) is an enormous model of the web of
a black widow – a poisonous spider. The public are invited to walk
around and through this installation, which consists of 8,000 black
elastic bands stretching from floor to ceiling and held together with
23,000 individual knots.
Saraceno was initially curious about how scientists use the spider
web as a metaphor to describe the universe’s origin and structure. To
make the work, he collaborated for two years with arachnologists,
strophysicists, architects and engineers. The project’s research
material is also on show.
This installation is one of several of Saraceno’s works dealing with
spider webs and their relation to architecture and cosmology – the web’s
social and symbolic value is also elucidated.