Bacelona, the Aerocene Explorer flies over the CCCB

Barcelona, Spain: 30 April 2018

Only one day before the closing of ‘After the End of the World’, an exhibition about the Earth of 2017 (irreversibly transformed into the Anthropocene planet after two centuries of human impact on natural systems) and how we will reach the world of the latter half of the 21st century; the CCCB team decided to perform the Aerocene Explorer tethered-flight by using the material contained in the Explorer Backpack hanging from our exhibition walls. The launch was performed in the Pati de les Dones, an exterior courtyard enclosed by the buildings of the CCCB. The courtyard is a public space, which means that any pedestrian passing by could see and enjoy the experience.

It wasn’t the first time we had planned to fly the Sculpture over our cultural center, but the weather conditions in Barcelona during the past weeks had been unbelievable! Since when has the sunny city seen so many cloudy and windy days in spring? May we blame climate change once again? Or shall we be blamed for the change in climate?

 

Fortunately, the conditions that morning were good enough (a sunny morning with low winds) to allow us to perform the experience and finally materialise the activity, offering greater understanding to the audience, who was able to visualize the concept functioning in open air. But how did the process go?

STEP 1: We prepare the Sculpture in the yard for the flight

STEP 2: We manage to make it fly!

We were impressed by how quickly the Structure raised to reach the sky. All of a sudden, people passing by started to gather around to see the Sculpture fly. Many were extremely curios and took their phones and cameras out to capture the moment; children were impressed, looking at the sky and running around the yard to follow the Sculpture as it flew.

When the morning started to look gloomy again, it was time to take the Sculpture back
to the ground and place it back to its container. It took 5 of us to fold it but, with
patience and team work, we finally managed to get the air out (always keep an eye on the hole – it needs to be open for the air to escape!) and finalise the experience!

Being able to publically practice and present the utopian architectural project of the Aerocene Explorer has been an invaluable experience to show the importance of using
the countless resources we have to tackle the current and future climate crisis.

All images were taken by the CCCB