Suspended within the dome of The Alfond Inn, Cloud Cities – Nebulous Thresholds unfolds as an iridescent constellation of interconnected geometries. Hovering just above the viewer’s headspace, the installation evokes the lightness and interdependence central to Tomás Saraceno’s long-term research trajectory Cloud Cities: a proposal for alternative forms of urbanism and assembly that brings together constellations of geodesic modules, inspired by principles within the universe that affect the groupings of cosmic clouds and soap bubbles.

In the suspended constellation, the allure of iridescence—the phenomena of luminous color produced by a particular intersection of light and viewing angle—becomes pigmentally representative of a rapidly warming planet, producing a viewing experience narrated by gradients of hue and transparency across their coloured membranes.

For more than two decades, Tomás Saraceno has drawn inspiration from the morphologies of clouds, the woven habitats of spiders, and the interdependent web(s) of life—from the microscopic to the cosmic. The artist’s foam and spherical sculptures propose complex geometrical systems of fractal color through which light illuminates in myriad constellations. From the nacreous glow of spider/webs, to the energetic heat evidenced by a star’s celestial color, the artist has long sought to make visible the spectral hues and synesthetic vectors that shape the cosmic web.