Tomás Saraceno’s aerosolar sculptures take flight in Miami
The unveiling of Tomás Saraceno’s latest artwork during Art Basel Miami got off to an inauspicious start when inclement weather conditions forced the inaugural flight demonstration to be postponed. And yet, it only served to highlight the pressing environmental issues that he has been exploring in his multidisciplinary experiments with the Aerocene Foundation. ‘That’s the best beginning for a project on the weather dependancy that we’re all trying to deal with,’ the artist said at the opening.
Situated along Miami Beach’s oceanfront across from Collins Park, Albedo comprises 40-odd reflective, out-turned umbrellas arranged in a large-scale temporal pavilion. Viewed from above, the experimental sundial forms a striking geometric constellation, while solar energy is used to lift aerosolar sculptures into the sky. The artist’s investigations extend into daily performances, solar cooking events and community roundtables. Visitors are encouraged to get hands-on – they can borrow, build and share a tethered-flight starter backpack which enables anyone to launch a portable Aerocene sculpture using open-source instructions.
The artwork takes its name from the Latin term meaning whiteness, referring to amount of solar radiation reflected by a surface in comparison to the total amount it receives. ‘We discovered recently that the colour of the surface that these sculptures fly over influences it a lot. Usually when it’s a white surface you get a lot of reflection – it goes back to the sculpture itself and you have much more lift,’ says the artist and recent Wallpaper* Guest Editor. ‘It means when we perform human flights over a white surface you may be able to lift [up to] 200kg. When it’s not so reflective you can’t lift even one person.’
Audemars Piguet helped bring the Berlin-based artist’s vision to life in the same site that has previously hosted three forward-thinking art installations by the Swiss watchmaker. Like the Aerocene project, these earlier ventures by Sun Xun, Lars Jan and Theo Jansen have probed our ecological future with interactive installations that have often been achieved with the help of scientists and technologists.
Albedo springs from Saracéno’s long-term global investigation into achieving ‘an ethical collaboration with the atmosphere’ through fossil fuel-free movement. His research been exhibited globally, from Korea to the US and most recently, at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris where has taken over the entirety of its 13,000 sq m exhibition spaces for the fourth edition of the institution’s cartes blanche.
INFORMATION
Albedo is on view until 9 December. For more information, visit Tomás Saraceno’s website and the Aerocene website
ADDRESS
Oceanfront between 21st and 22nd Streets
Miami Beach
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Get to know Issey Miyake’s innovative A-POC ABLE line as it arrives in the UK
As A-POC ABLE Issey Miyake launches in London this week, designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae gives Wallpaper* the lowdown on the experimental Issey Miyake offshoot
By Jack Moss Published
-
Eurovision unveils its 2024 stage, designed by Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour creatives
This year's stage design aims to bring the audience into the performance more than ever before.
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Ikea meets Japan in this new pattern-filled collection
New Ikea Sötrönn collection by Japanese artist Hiroko Takahashi brings Japan and Scandinavia together in a pattern-filled, joyful range for the home
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Surreal, uncanny, seductive: step into Graham Little’s world
Scottish artist Graham Little presents his first US retrospective at The FLAG Art Foundation in New York
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibition
Vivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
By Emily McDermott Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
New York artist Christopher Astley showcases an alternative natural world
At Martos Gallery in New York, Christopher Astley’s paintings evoke an alternative natural world and the chaos of warfare (until 16 March 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published