Conceived as a living, kinetic sculpture nested within the courtyard of the Contemporary Art Museum of Saint Louis, Green Air proposes an immersive space, a hanging garden that floats above a tapestry of ever changing shadows.

Green Air is the second act of a broad exploration that started in 2015 with Green Varnish, a monumental green fabric composed of thousands of succulent plants that symbolically covered all the inconvenient facts of our lifestyle. The installation was carefully deconstructed last fall and its components were reutilized to build Green Air, creating a continuity and dialogue between the two pieces and the people who experience them.

For the second act, the space was modeled as the inverse of Green Varnish, both in form and intention. What was a solid piece anchored to the ground plane, is now a dispersed fluid volume suspended from an elevated plane. What was hidden is now exposed, hovering overhead, inviting us for an urgent reflection upon the contrast between the dynamic and static in natural and man-made systems. 

Green Air is a space in and of itself, a systematic yet delicate arrangement of Tillandsias, hanging from thousands of slices of repurposed wood, suspended from the courtyard’s steel canopy, moving as a supraorganism. The installation has a powerful transformational impact on the courtyard at the heart of the Museum, as the sculpture hangs above the heads of visitors, swaying organically in the breeze, and sketching linear shadows on the courtyard’s ground plane.

 About nomad studio

Nomad Studio, founded in 2009 by William E. Roberts and Laura Santín, is an internationally awarded design office based in New York with a focus in landscape architecture.

Committed to innovative landscape architecture, planning, art, and urban design, Nomad coordinates an international network of professionals who work together to create unique and memorable experiences that foster a connection between the user and the landscape.

Green Air. Data sheet

Location: Contemporary Art Museum of Saint Louis (CAM).

Landscape Architects: Nomad Studio.

Consultants: LIA Engineering.

Installation Team

Jessi Cerutti & Caleb Hauck.

Molly Brennan, David Burnett, Key Chen, Ryan Doyle, Zac Farmer, Joshua Gann, Matthew Hannon, Emily Keefauver, Eric Kobal, Marianne Laury, Chris Lucas, Eric Repice, Adrienne Sandusky, Bret Schneider, Margot Shafran, Laura Schatzman, Jonathan Watt, Jamie Wiechens, Bin Yang, Eileen Zhang.

Maintenance Team: St. Louis Master Gardeners.

Credits: All graphics courtesy of Nomad Studio and credited to their photographers, including a copyright in front of their names.