“We also have to ask where our guests come from. Who are they? What happens when a museum takes non-human visitors into account? Who has the power to decide this? We welcomed dogs to our exhibition and they count as visitors in our statistics. Would all the birds and spiders stay after the exhibition? Will some of the bird houses become standard? While I cannot remunerate the spider/web, whose authorship and wisdom finds a central place in Web(s) of Life, we continue to seek non-extractive and sensitive ways to support the research and practice of those in the Arachnophilia community […] whose practice of Ŋgam dù divination reveals a true interspecies dialogue. […] As well, we have discussed how the Cloud Cities sculptures, when they are occupied by birds, should remain in place, and that the ownership of such an artwork would be extended to instantiate its flying guests as co-owners together with future collectors. Degrowing ownership… regrowing stewardship… we have called this a certificate of authenticity, that states: if a collector purchases the sculpture, they will co-own it together with the bird, and will not be allowed to ship or move it so long as the birds continue nesting inside of it.’ and finally Saraceno states: ‘With the image of a dormant seed, in a latent state of hope, myself and many others have tried to make a small contribution to the movement of degrowth, by appending to it the notion of re-growth – a marker of regeneration rather than negation. This project is an imperfect, slow and sometimes bumpy attempt to take steps towards a less extractive and more eco-social transition; not only a transition in flows of energy, but in the movement and exchange of knowledge and the ways in which different forms of knowing are respected, supported and valued.’”

— Tomás Saraceno, ‘Web(s) of Life: Tomás Saraceno in Collaboration’, Ivorypress, 2023.

Alberto Pesavento, founding collaborator of the Museo Aero Solar community with Tomás Saraceno and today beekeeper, tells us about a special artwork that will be presented in the exhibition ANIMA∞LE:

‘Out-of-cell time’ (2024)
Series of natural honey combs built by honeybees inside a beehive crown board, placed upside down over the nest by the beekeeper.

“Sometimes the bees go for a walk nearby and bring everything they need with them: wax and honey. It seems that the bees prefer to occupy this empty space rather than the one we usually provide them with: a human-sized hive.”

All proceedings of this artwork will be used to preserve small scale sustainable beekeeping and educational projects on honeybees. In collaboration with âseméil.