From the nacreous glow of spider/webs, to the energetic heat evidenced by a star’s celestial color, Tomás Saraceno has long sought to make visible the spectral hues and synesthetic vectors that shape the cosmic web. A new series of infrared photography reveals how only the air and heat of the sun can achieve an era beyond the use of aerodynamics, lifting lighter-than-air sculptures into a ‘stillness-in-motion’. Here, temperature measurements rendered in colors reveal the thermodynamic vitality in the bodies of aerosolar flight.

The photos depict the flight of Aerocene Backpacks- lighter-than-air sculptures equipped with devices to detect and measure the aerial environment. This flight took place at the Salinas Grandes, a large salt lake in Jujuy, central-northern Argentina, and was conducted by a crew of sociologists, artists, radio amateurs and members of the local community.

The specific location was chosen after the lake had become the site of an extensive lithium extraction industry that threatens the surrounding indigenous communities and the delicate balance of the area’s ecosystem. Indeed, every Aerocene flight serves as a petition for an ethical collaboration with the atmosphere.

Featured exhibitions

2024 | Worldings, Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2024 | Complementarities, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China. 

2024 | Live(s) on Air, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles, USA.