Aria

 

 

 

Aria
Aria
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ON AIR
ON AIR
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Aria

2020, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy · Curated by Arturo Galansino

From 22 February to 01 November 2020, Palazzo Strozzi presented Tomás Saraceno. Aria, curated by Arturo Galansino.

 

 

Liquified animals are burned to propel us toward unforeseen futures. They take over the sky after being cast out from the depths of the earth. Tension between air, water, and land, beware of geological revenge when taking without asking.

CARD NO. 15 + LOST SECRET

In the context of the current ecological crisis, named the Sixth Mass Extinction, invertebrates such as arachnids and insects are disappearing at an accelerated pace, with major consequences for the environment and ecosystems. While invertebrates make up more than 95% of animal species, most countries lack ethical guidelines and regulations regarding their nonhuman rights. An avoidance of the rights of the non‐living is rooted even deeper as inestimable ecosystems dwindle in size, pro rata to the offshore accounts of intercontinental agro‐capitalists; trash bouncing from coast to coast as a few pockets get deeper and toxic incinerator fumes blow back over the border. This interface between us and the Sun, is controlled by the few and continues to be compromised: carbon emissions fill the air, particulate matter floats inside our lungs while electromagnetic radiation envelops the earth, dictating the tempo of digital capitalism, in the era of global warming. Yet, a different epoch is possible, an Aerocene epoch ‐ one of interplanetary sensitivity through a new ecology of practices. Towards this, collective ideas must form, by asking: how would breathing feel in a post fossil fuel economy?

 

Enter an atmosphere dotted with complex geometrical systems assembled to form alighted clouds. Irregular structures reminiscent of Weaire‐Phelan arrangements of aggregating foam and soap bubbles whose remarkable shapes act as an invitation to engage from diverse bearings, as mirrored planes  trace the sun’s rays in a play of light and shadow. Enter an atmosphere populated by spider’s webs, their silvery strands becoming thick with carbon dust. Sunlight, air, ash, organochlorine pesticides, sulfur dioxide ‐ particles that populate what once was simply wind and rain, particles that throw into question the very fiber of our world.

To understand why extinction is happening, or why our alarm bells sound only now that ninety‐two percent of the world’s population breathes contaminated air, we urgently need to exercise a new ecology of practice. Ecosystems should be understood as webs of interactions, within which each living being’s ecology co‐evolves, together with those of others. By focusing less on individuals and more on reciprocal relationships, we might think beyond what means are necessary to control our environments and more on the shared formation of our quotidian. Let the spider/web guide here.

 

In an Arachnomancy oracle reading, thirty‐three futures emerge all at the same time. As you ask the spider/web your question, they pick your card; in another universe, they pick your card…

 

 

What you see is my mind, my body. I cannot eat until I weave the mouth that feeds me. These threads belie the geometries of  extinction, telling stories against extraction, mind the stories you are spelling out in your trajectories.

CARD NO. 2 + SPIDER/WEB INTELLIGENCE

 

 

Tomás Saraceno. Aria featured ten such simultaneous futures: ten cards chosen by the spider/web oracle at once, taking place in ten interplaying universes.   

 

 

Gravitational waves resounding the cosmic web, yet to be felt. Infinite sensing of the world, lifeforms weave constellations.  Close your eyes, cover your ears, I will still sense your felt vibrations.  

CARD NO. 1 + MULTIVERSE

We are all invited to take part in this giant jam session as a means to shift our attention to worlds in tension and suspension. By doing so, we attune with nonhuman voices that join with our own in endless webs of connectivity and disconnectivity. The installation challenges the idea of a hierarchical tree of life, instead proposing a rhizomatic web of life, highlighting the hybridities between and among species and worlds. Encounter the oracle from anywhere in the world with the Arachnomancy App, and participate in the collective exercise of Mapping Against Extinction through the process of becoming sensitive to the multispecies ecologies in which we are embedded.

The oracle of our present, past and future, our multidimensional universe with an ontology that extends past the living, the emphasis is on connections: across scales – between the cosmic web, spider/webs and connectomes; between cosmic dust and pollutive dust; between soap bubble formations and overlapping worlds that together we form.   

 

Tomás Saraceno. Aria, was our largest project to date in Italy, responding to the specific context of Palazzo Strozzi and its relationship to the cultural and scientific history of Florence. Immersive works and participatory experiences had envisioned a new way of living in our world by making connections to non‐human phenomena such as dust particles and plants.

COLLABORATORS

arachnophilia.net

aerocene.org

 


 

 

 

Aria
Aria
·
ON AIR
ON AIR
·
...