Introduction

The Asia Culture Center presents Our Interplanetary Bodies, Tomás Saraceno’s first exhibition in South Korea.

Initially studying architecture in Argentina, Saraceno then trained as an artist at Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany, where he developed his ongoing multi-disciplinary artistic exploration into quasi-feasible utopia, spanning across different study fields. Saraceno is internationally renowned for his intense collaboration with aerospace engineers, biologists, and physicists, taking research into astrophysics, thermodynamics, as well as the structures of spider webs, to concretize social, ecological and futurological issues that are often too baffling to be visualized. Saraceno’s series Cloud Cities is a post-national modular city floating above the clouds, which draws on sustainable, freely floating forms of habitats. Aerocene is a trans-disciplinary project operating with and in the air. The project relies only on the energy from the sun and the propelling of the wind, which through aerosolar sculptures, attempts to form a community in imagination for a new topography that originated from the climatology of the earth. In addition, Saraceno continues his research into the woven habitats of spiders, suggesting a move away from anthropocentric thinking towards an ethical vision of various other forms of life, with whom we share our planet. With these works, Saraceno conducts experiments to pave novel ways to move and dwell for a better future, relying on the notion that we live nestled within an infinitely complex and interconnected cosmic web.

Saraceno’s exhibition Our Interplanetary Bodies is especially planned for Asia Culture Center’s Space 1 (2,317 square meters, 16 meters high). The exhibition is composed of 9 gigantic, spherical sculptures emitting subtle light. Meanwhile, a large-scaled video projection displays the real-time movement of cosmic dust
in the air, whilst a sound system transforms this movement into an audio-spatial experience that is further augmented by the exquisite acoustic composition of low frequency sound, created by the subtle movement and vibration of a Nephila spider. ‘How are we embedded as a part of the cosmic web?’, ‘Can we consider an insect and the vibratory cosmos in the same network of relationships?’, ‘What are the possibilities for better attunement?’, ‘How do we fly with our feet on the ground?’ These questions are posed by Saraceno in his exhibition, appealing not to science fiction or fairytale fantasy, but to the possibility of realizing his utopian vision for the not-so-distant future. Our Interplanetary Bodies is an extension of the vision of Aerocene, where the audience spontaneously becomes a part of the cosmic web, watching cosmic dust dancing, traveling amidst the monumental sculptural works and savoring the magical performance of Arachnea. Saraceno makes phenomena of the mysterious Universe sensible through an organic and poetic consilience of contemporary art and different disciplines. The exhibition Our Interplanetary Bodies thus proposes creative contemplation on the more-than-human relationship and the cosmic becoming.

Inviting living and non-living agents to improvise an audible composition, Our Interplanetary Bodies posit a different, heterotopic space for a dialogue between its elements. The cosmic cacophony reverberates about the audience and their more-than-human neighbors, who become an active part of this immersive environment.