Ranging from “Metabolics” in 2009 to “Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other” last year, Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum has often provided a forum for avant-garde or atypical art forms. Its two new fall openings, “Precarious Worlds: Contemporary Art from Germany” and “Tomás Saraceno: Cloud-Specific,” certainly keep with this tradition. As contemporary art often does, both of these exhibits push the boundaries of how we perceive and examine art.

“Precarious Worlds” delves into the rich German post-war art tradit

ion, primarily drawn from the Kemper’s permanent collection and from items on loan. Since the end of World War II, Germany has often been on the cutting edge of contemporary art, with many artists—including Americans—moving or spending time there to hone their craft.

In the past hundred years, Germany has had a constantly-changing cultural and political nature—nationalism in the nineteenth century to the Great War, Nazism and World War II, the country’s reunification at the end of the Cold War—and as a result, this exhibition’s work often deals with flux and the melding of different styles.

Drawing comparisons to “Chance Aesthetics,” a previous Kemper exhibition, these artists attempt to balance abstraction with the substantial, mixing non-pictorial designs and concrete portrayals. The common themes of fragility and our human frailty underlie much of their work.

Upon entering the gallery, one of the first works seen is “Untitled (yet),” a painting by Franz Ackermann that acts as a keynote for the entire exhibition. The painting is a tangled mass of shapes—both concrete and abstract—with vine-like cables connecting them. One is able to discern a railway suspended in the air and what appears to be a housing unit. This, however, is the extent of the tangible nature of the work. The rest of the painting appears to be a series of abstract shapes and ropes set against a dark background. It brings to mind a tree house, lashed against a sapling with cords to stabilize it. The railroad and housing block thus serve as a sort of beacon of solidity against a backdrop of chaos. This perfectly balances the concrete and abstract nature of the exhibition and effectively acts as its thesis: That our tangible, palpable lives are counterweighted with some degree of tenuousness. They are, as the title of the exhibition states, precarious.

Next to “Untitled (yet)” hangs Corinne Wasmuht’s “Llanganuco Falls,” a depiction of Peru’s mountainous Huascarán National Park. Created by constructing a collage of photographs, projecting them onto a wood surface and painting it, the picture is complete with waterfalls, lush paths, pools and mountains. It is not purely realistic, however; in keeping with the exhibition’s theme, it blends the unrepresentable with the concrete. Much of the color is washed out, and sections of the painting seem to have been painted on top of, or at 90-degree angles to each other. It appears almost chopped and pasted together—which, in a sense, is true. The overall effect highlights the ease with which we can change or alter the world, demonstrating its impermanence and uncertainty.

Other notable works include two columns of mirrors by Isa Genzken, in which the viewer’s face is ruptured by the cracks in the glass, and Michel Majerus’ “mm6,” reminiscent of the 1950s British-American Pop Art movement, especially of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

“Precarious Worlds” is an excellent example of the trend in art to synthesize new forms out of old; the combination of realistic depiction with abstraction allows the viewer to notice the disparity—and, thus, the lack of stability—between life and the randomness that surrounds it.

Unlike “Precarious Worlds,” “Cloud-Specific” is the work of one artist, Tomás Saraceno. While “Precarious Worlds” chooses to focus on the insecurity and unpredictability of life and the world we live in, Saraceno instead concentrates on making the gallery an experimental, interactive space.

With a background in architecture, Saraceno blends science, art and architecture into something new. He draws on influences as disparate as Archigram, the avant-garde architectural movement of the 1960s known for its technology-inspired projects, and Buckminster Fuller, a former Wash. U. professor best known as the designer of the geodesic dome. In his work, Saraceno creates webs of spheres and plywood roped together with cords.

Saraceno has taken the age-old tradition of fusing science and art—exemplified by works such as Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolas Tulp”—and brought it into the modern era. Replete with 21st century materials, such as PVC films and solar panels, these creations hang suspended in the air. Some are made with balloons, some with plywood, all are connected to each other via rope. Reminiscent of neural networks and carbon rings, Saraceno’s opera of airborne objects—though technically separate works—blend together to create a visual symphony.

The main attraction of the exhibit is “One Cloud Module,” a new take on the inflatable castle. Made out of aluminum, a PVC pillow, transparent film and solar cookers, visitors are allowed to bounce and roll around the inside of the work. This ability to interact with the work allows closer inspection, permitting the viewer to become a part of the exhibition, instead of merely an observer.

A large photograph occupies the back wall of the gallery. A variety of buildings—including the St. Louis Arch in the lower left corner—take up the lower half of the chromogenic print. It is the upper half, however, to which the viewer is drawn. This portion of the wall has been digitally altered, and appears to be filled with floating replicas of the works dangling in the gallery. Black outlines of humans are visible, walking around the inside of the creations. This creates an unnerving duality; the human figures seem to make the picture more “real” while, rationally, the whole scene is unbelievable.

In “Cloud-Specific,” Saraceno successfully melds a variety of different disciplines to create something that evades a single label. It is not merely art, science or architecture—he fuses all three and takes off in a new direction with them. The exhibition is greater than the sum of its parts.

Despite their differences, the two exhibitions successfully accompany each other. They are unified by their examination of the limits of art and life. “Precarious Worlds: Contemporary Art from Germany” and “Tomás Saraceno: Cloud-Specific” are on display at the Mildred Kemper Lane Art Museum from Sept. 9 to Jan. 9. Admission is free.