PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

From a distance, they look both natural and unnatural. They are bright, incongruous, otherworldly — and yet they seem at home.

Above the lotus pond at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, four collections of hanging streamers are suspended in the sky, flirting with the surface of the water (while never quite making contact). As you approach, they remind you of clouds — or jellyfish, perhaps? They catch the sunlight and seem to generate their own luminescence, fluttering slightly as they loll above the water.

Then the wind hits.

Suddenly, the four collections of fabric begin moving. They’re fighting the wind as if they’re moving intelligently, weaving and rising as the direction of the breeze changes. Arriving at the lotus pond, you realize that for the first time you are truly seeing the wind itself — observing the contours of the air moving around you, rendered as a quartet of ever-changing colored masses.

The fabric pieces seem to rise impossibly high, testing the limits of the rigging that tethers them to nearby trees. Then, the wind fades, and they sink back to the pond’s surface once again — relaxing as if they weren’t wonderfully alive a moment ago.

This creation, “Elevated Reflection,” is part of the installation “Momentum” by the artist Patrick Shearn of the studio Poetic Kinetics, an international studio specializing in the creation of experiential, interactive works of public art. Shearn, who currently lives in his native Colorado, says “Momentum,” which is part of his globe-spanning “Skynet Series” and will remain on view for the next several months, came from specific reference points in the natural world.

“My initial inspirations were schooling fish — or the murmuration of birds in the sky … [I watched a flock of birds and thought,] ‘Something is happening; they’re all flying and moving in synchronicity.’” Shearn, who has created site-specific works for major festivals including Coachella and Burning Man, says he wanted to “recreate that sense of wonder in people that experience this artwork.”

The other piece of “Momentum” is similar in substance but meant to be experienced up close — in fact, from within. Located near the all-ages, interactive Garden of the Five Senses, “Vivid Echo” hangs at ground level, where guests can walk through it, observing the ways the colored streamers change the perception of sound and light. (This is decidedly a worthy pursuit for guests of all ages; while children will run through giggling, adults likely will pause for a particularly vivid selfie.)

“I lean on the wind pretty heavily in these pieces,” says Shearn, who began his career working on films such as “Jurassic Park” and “Fight Club.”

“When you’re walking down the street, you feel the wind on your skin, and you’re aware that it’s blowing, but you don’t really think about it,” he says. “You can watch the little ripples through the individual streamers … You become much more connected to the scale and scope of the world around you.”

The installation coincides with an anniversary for the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden; it has been a decade since the site, which sprawls across portions of Collier and North Fayette townships, began welcoming visitors. A former mining property, efforts to reclaim and rehabilitate the land began in 1988. The lotus pond that provides the setting for “Elevated Reflection” once was a small body of water polluted with acid mine drainage; it’s now treated via a limestone bed, neutralizing pollutants through natural processes and connecting to Chartiers Creek.

The garden has expanded significantly since its 2015 opening; a picturesque visitors’ center and cafe welcome guests to miles of winding trails that are full of surprises (look for the giant birds’ nest).

“The public garden environment, the community, is by far my favorite” place to work, Shearn says. “We’ve done [public gardens] all over the world; we’ve engaged this community of people that are working toward something good — and they feel good about what they’re doing.

“The experience with Pittsburgh Botanic Garden was extraordinary. It was such a symbiotic relationship; they have a great team, and they’re doing great things there.”