Conrad Shawcross: Umbilical: Here East London

A major new commission for MONA Tasmania has been unveiled at Here East, London.

The Nervous System (Umbilical), 2025 is part of the 'Rope Makers' series by Conrad

Shawcross and is the artist's most ambitious rope machine to date. At 10m high, and spanning

12m in diameter the work is monumental in both its scale and complexity. Born of a late-night

conversation over ten years ago with David Walsh, the visionary behind MONA (Museum of

Old and New Art) in Tasmania, the machine's 40 interlocking arms will incrementally weave a

rope in a sequence of orbits that will never repeat.

Meticulously engineered and built in his studio in Hackney, the work represents an

extraordinary achievement of art and mechanics, speculative calculation and thought,

combining scientific and conceptual rigour. The work is analogous to our own solar system:

the rotating spools seek to correspond to the aberration of planets orbiting around our sun

within a galaxy which over millennia is flattening and expanding as it spins. The rope pulling

through the centre recalls the sun's journey through the galaxy, travelling at an

incomprehensible speed, with its accompanying planets and 891 moons on their helical paths.

Special thanks to - David Walsh, Olivier Varenne, Here East, TM Lighting, V&A, Structure

Workshop, Brier Solutions.

The installation is open to the public through to November: 

Here East (next to V&A Storehouse)

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

London E15 2GW

11th Sept – 2nd Nov: Open to the public

(Monday – Sunday 10am-6pm)