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
-
Inside the Waldorf Astoria's dazzling restoration, from cigar smoke to snowy owlsHow a team of architects from SOM and a group of art conservationists brought New York's grand dame back to her original Art Deco splendor
-
How do you modernise a home without making it feel modern? This farmhouse renovation is a stunning case studyA 300-year-old English farmhouse has been given a new lease of life while staying true to the old ways
-
Meet Studio Knight Stokoe, the landscape architects guided by ‘resilience, regeneration and empathy’Boutique and agile, Studio Knight Stokoe crafts elegant landscapes from its base in the southwest of England – including a revived brutalist garden
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San FranciscoThe artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
Pantone’s new public art installation is a tribute to Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’, 25 years after its releaseThe colour company has created a – you guessed it – yellow colour swatch on some steps in Wembley Park, London, where the band will play ten shows this month
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profitsThe Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick CollectionThe actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekSummer holidays are here, with Wallpaper* editors jetting off to some exceptional destinations, including highly recommended Mérida in Mexico. Then it’s back to work, or, for one editor, back to school…
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raisingAt Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
