Intricate webs. Cloud cities. Hot air balloons. Tomás Saraceno (b. 1973) bridges art, architecture and science. The Argentinian-born, Berlin-based artist creates projects that connect across cultures and disciplines to deepen our attunement to other living beings. His research-based works respond to global questions posed by the Anthropocene, asking how we can live better – in particular, live better as a collective – in a world blighted by air pollution, increased carbon emissions and global warming.
Saraceno brings his most ambitious show to date to Munich’s Haus der Kunst. Ancestral Futures, which opens in July, traces a unique journey through the artist’s practice, marking significant step forward in both its development and understanding. The exhibition extends across the building, including air-fuelled sculptures, shared multispecies habitats and spatial environments that transform how Haus der Kunst’s spaces are experienced. Here, visitors are invited to reconsider the ecological and social forces shaping energy transition. The show is part of a new era for Haus der Kunst, which since 2022 has been spotlighting artists who create “a new context in which to understand our increasingly digitised world.” Ancestral Futures revolves around two key strands of Saraceno’s research: Aerocene and Arachnophilia.
Aerocene, as a project, transcends the art world. The interdisciplinary community was founded by Saraceno in 2015, dedicated to researching emission-free modes of movement. In a world where 99% of the global population breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits for pollution – a cause of 4.5 million premature deaths – this work is increasingly urgent. The collective’s sculptures use air, solar radiation and infrared energy to imagine new ways of living that are independent of fossil fuels. Many of these remarkable inventions are on display at Haus Der Kunst, including the famous hot air balloon. In 2020, the flight of Aerocene Pacha in Argentine achieved 32 world records, travelling 1.7km in 21 minutes and becoming the most sustainable flight in history. Saraceno presents something invaluable with Aerocene, a blueprint for another way of living together – a vision of a future where we live in harmony with nature.
Meanwhile, Arachnophilia is built on long-term research into spiders. One of the most famous examples in this series is World(ing)WideWeb(s).Life (2023), a delicate network of silk threads that mimic the way spiders weave their traps in the wild. The exhibition at Haus der Kunst includes new artworks, such as the immersive multi-media installation Towards the Sanctuary of Water, a monumental land installation conceived by Saraceno and 11 Indigenous communities of the Red Atacama network in Salians Grandes, Argentina. The intention of Arachnophilia, as Saraceno once described in an interview with the Guardian, is to highlight “the radical interconnectedness of all things.”
Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director of Haus der Kunst, said: “With Saraceno, the building becomes a space to engage with ecological and social questions that extend beyond the exhibition itself. At Haus der Kunst, everything is programme, a living web of exhibitions, performances, concerts and encounters that amplify one another and shape a shared experience of art and ecology.” It’s a perfect way of summarising what makes Saraceno so remarkable – his work extends outside of a traditional art show. They are practical, offering tangible creations that demonstrate an alternative way of being.
Tomás Saraceno: Ancestral Futures is at Haus der Kunst from 17 July: hausderkunst.de
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Tomás Saraceno, The Sanctuary of Water, 2026. Conceived by artist Tomás Saraceno with the 11 Indigenous communities of the Red Atacama network, Salinas Grandes, northern Argentina. With the generous support of Haus der Kunst München, The Aerocene Foundation, Studio Tomás Saraceno, and many others. Courtesy the artist, Red Atacama and The Aerocene Foundation, as well as the art galleries neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Tanya Bonakdar, Los Angeles, Pinksummer, Genova, Andersen’s, Copenhagen and Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires. © Photo: Studio Tomás Saraceno.
2. Tomás Saraceno, endless big, 2006. Courtesy the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen; Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, and Pinksummer Contemporary Art, Genoa. © Photo: Studio Tomás Saraceno.
3. Tomás Saraceno, Salinas Grandes, northern Argentina, 2026 © Photo: Studio Tomás Saraceno.
4. Tomás Saraceno, Fly with Aerocene Pacha, 2020. Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc, northern Argentina. Image courtesy of the Aerocene Foundation © Photo: Studio Tomás Saraceno.
5. Aerocene Community, Fairclouds drawing, Salinas Grandes, northern Argentina, 2023 © Photo: Studio Tomás Saraceno.
