Solitary semi-social mapping of Ceginus by a duet of Nephila senegalensis - four weeks, a triplet of Cyrtophora citricola - three weeks

The title of these works include the name, genus, and species of the spiders who collaborated to produce the web fixed within the frames, as well as the length of time taken for them to complete it. The status of each spider’s relative sociality is also detailed. Produced in collaboration with different species, it can, from an understanding of their characters, be assumed to have been produced in separate stages. It is accordingly titled a solitary semi-social mapping. Nephila spiders, who are solitary, will only weave webs in isolation from others. By comparison, semi-social Cyrtophora will build webs that are “partially supported by, or touching another spider’s web, without engaging in social relations (they simply tolerate each other).”

If such was the case, the viewer can imagine the initial groundwork of the former being built upon by the latter trio of Cyrtophora spiders to create the hybrid web before them, encased in glass. As Sasha Engelmann, professor in GeoHumanities, writes, “what is produced, from the obscure and intense milieu of these hybrid webs, is also a visceral sense of the social.” It is precisely this view of spiders’ webs as a form of social cartography which determines Saraceno’s interest. By looking at elemental sources of energy, habitation, and interconnectivity which pre-exist in nature, he “invites viewers to consider geometries and phenomena of the natural world as adaptable models for the ways we live and interact.” In this way, his spiders’ webs can be viewed alongside his investigations into bubble, foam, and cloud formations all of which contribute natural data to his utopic visions for a more sustainable future.

–Elsa Gray