Scientific research suggests that strings, vibrating at the quantum level, form the fundamental structure of our universe. Italy’s Michela Pelusio has turned the idea into a kind of metaphor, scaling up a single string to giant size and setting it to revolve in a helical pattern to form a vibrating spiral glimmering with light. Part illusionist, part lab technician, Pelusio lurks behind the twisting string, using an instrument to ‘pluck’ at it and interrupt its trajectory, causing patterns and colours to flare through its whirl. Quantum physics is where science gets weird; Pelusio’s project scales up the weirdness and makes visible what might be occurring constantly, unrecognised, all around us.