Cable Robot Simulator
Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik
Eight steel cables, each with 1.4 tons of tensions, hold aloft a caged platform with a seat for one person. Using a wireless VR headset, that person can simulate experiences like flight while being zoomed in dozens of different ways. Eight retracting cables connected to a winch pull on the cage. It’s like a giant, flying VR jungle gym.

micro | macro
micro | macro transforms Hall E in the MuseumsQuartier into an oversized world of moving images and sounds. In his immersive installation, multimedia artist Ryoji Ikeda creates a field of imagination between quantum physics, empirical experimentation and human perception. In collaboration with nuclear scientists at CERN, Ikeda has translated complex physical theories into a sensory experience. The Planck scale is used by scientists to denote extremely small lengths or time intervals. Concepts like space and time lose their meaning beyond this scale, and contemporary physics has to rely on speculative theories. And on art. Visitors to micro | macro enter a world of data, particles, light and sound that makes the extremes of the universe perceptible to the eye and ear. In the micro world we penetrate the smallest dimensions of the unrepresentable, while in the macro world we take off into cosmic expanses that allow us to experience the infinite space beyond the observable universe. In this maelstrom of data, an acoustic and visual firework bridges the gap between theoretical understanding and sensual perception.

Micro Macro
micro | macro trasforma il padiglione E del MuseumsQuartier in un enorme mondo di immagini e suoni in movimento. Nella sua installazione immersiva, l’artista multimediale Ryoji Ikeda crea un campo di immaginazione tra fisica quantistica, sperimentazione empirica e percezione umana. In collaborazione con scienziati nucleari del CERN, Ikeda ha tradotto complesse teorie fisiche in un’esperienza sensoriale. La scala di Planck viene utilizzata dagli scienziati per indicare lunghezze o intervalli di tempo estremamente ridotti. Concetti come spazio e tempo perdono il loro significato oltre questa scala e la fisica contemporanea deve fare affidamento su teorie speculative. E sull’arte. Visitatori di micro | macro entra in un mondo di dati, particelle, luce e suono che rende gli estremi dell’universo percettibili all’occhio e all’orecchio. Nel micro mondo penetriamo nelle più piccole dimensioni dell’irrappresentabile, mentre nel macro mondo decolliamo in distese cosmiche che ci permettono di sperimentare lo spazio infinito oltre l’universo osservabile. In questo vortice di dati, un fuoco d’artificio acustico e visivo colma il divario tra la comprensione teorica e la percezione sensuale.

Max-Planck-Institut

The CMS consists of an industrial robot arm with six independent axes, extended with an L-shaped cabin axis. The seventh axis allows for varying the orientation of the cabin with respect to the robot arm by changing the location of the cabin’s attachment point from behind the seat to under the seat, or any intermediate position. Recently, the CMS has been further extended with a linear axis of ten meters. The resulting eight degrees-of-freedom (DOF) provide an exceptionally large workspace. Several extreme motions and positions can be achieved, such as large lateral/longitudinal motions, sustained centrifugal motions, infinite head-centered rotation, and up-side-down motions.

Tokamak Asdex Upgrade Periphery | Max Planck IP,Garching
Since the end of the 1970s Thomas Struth dedicates his work to the world of buildings and constructions as a visible, physical and sculptural symbol of our civilisation.
Struth’s earlier works mainly comprised architectural shots of deserted streets, squares and houses which he aimed to capture by the term unconscious places. His more recent work, however, reveals his interest in sites of high technology and places of exhibition and display. Both his work Tokamak Asdex Upgrade Interior 2 (2009) which was taken at the Max-Planck-Institute in Garching and his photography of a massive concrete construction at the Acropolis Museum, Athens (2009) bear evidence of this new focus.
This excellent selection of Struth’s works enables us to trace his development as a Photographer from small-sized prints from his time as a student of Bernd and Hilla Becher to large-sized photographic tableaus, and to experience Struth’s sculptural understanding of architecture. In addition to that the installation is supplemented by his largest work, a shot of visitors in front of the Aquarium, Atlanta, Georgia (2013) which follows the pattern of his Museum shots.