A walk in the park with Peter Fratzl

Spider webs resemble architecture – and indeed, they are architecture. The artist Tomás Saraceno explores these delicate structures, places them in new contexts, expands their meaning and makes them tangible for an audience. But it is not only the web itself that is an architectural structure: spider silk, too, consists of a highly complex architecture of protein filaments, which gives the material its extraordinary properties.

On this walk, engineer and physicist Prof. Dr Peter Fratzl will talk about the spider as an engineer. The focus will be on the structure of the silk – invisible to the human eye – and the complex spinning process, as well as the many high-tech tools that spiders carry on their exoskeleton.

The walk is part of the ‘Education and Participation’ programme accompanying the exhibition Tomás Saraceno: Interwoven Worlds. Through interdisciplinary discussions with experts from the natural sciences, scientific and artistic perspectives are brought together. These encounters take the form of guided walks leading from the museum into the urban space – or, in this case, the English Garden. On site, participants can experience first-hand what climate change, resilience to extreme weather and responsibility for nature actually mean. Together, the group will discuss the implications this has for both cultural institutions and civil society actors.

Free tickets available shortly.

A cooperation between Haus der Kunst and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.