Numen/For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable String Prototype installation
Visitors could suspend themselves within a 3D grid of ropes inside this inflatable installation created by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use (+ slideshow).
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_18.jpg)
Named String Prototype, Numen/For Use's installation consisted of an inflatable white cube filled with thin ropes that were tied up on opposite sides of the space.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_3.jpg)
When the cube was deflated the ropes loosened, allowing the installation to decompress. When inflated, the ropes tightened into a grid strong enough to hold the weight of a person.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_9.jpg)
Ropes like this are regularly used to help large inflatables keep their shape but are usually hidden from the public, whereas the String Prototype let people climb around inside.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_5.jpg)
"Bodies entrapped in a 3D grid fly in unnatural positions throughout a superficial white space, resembling Dadaist collages," said the designers.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_15.jpg)
"This creates the impossibility of perception of scale and direction, and results in a simultaneous feeling of immenseness and absence of space," they added.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_12.jpg)
A test was carried out near Vienna at the end of December, but the project is still in development.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_11.jpg)
Numen/For Use was established in the 1998 but since 2008 has increasingly focused on concepts without a predefined function and experimental works.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_13.jpg)
They are best known for their Tape Installations, which use several kilometres of transparent sticky tape to create cocoons between the pillars of a host building or scaffolding.
![Numen For Use creates 3D grid of ropes inside inflatable installation](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/NumenFor-Use-creates-3D-grid-of-ropes-inside-inflatable-installation_dezeen_16.jpg)