Ernesto Neto’s Célula Nave

Célula Nave. It happens in the body of time, where truth dances (2004) by the Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto is an interactive installation artwork, commissioned by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. The artwork consists of a spacious construction of turquoise fabric – the “nave” – hanging on a series of aluminium poles. Visitors are allowed to enter the nave and touch the fabric with their hands and feet. The spatial design of Célula Nave is intertwined with the museum’s Bodon Gallery, for which the artwork was created. The size of the installation has been adapted to its large-scale dimensions; the colour of the fabric matches the greenish floor of the gallery, and the daylight falling into the room enhances the fabric’s translucency.