A new way of flying​ – aeronautical students in Forlì

An object from the Aerocene era challenged the aircrafts of the Anthropocene in their own territory; it was a meaningful experience for all participants.

On February 14, 2023, third-year students flew the Aerocene Sculpture into the skie of the F. Baracca Institute in Forlì, one of three aeronautical high schools in Italy, attended by students who come from all over Italy with dreams of becoming pilots or aircraft engineers.

The flight of the Aerocene sculpture was the last stage of a course that began in November 2022 and was designed at the boundary between art and science. Students learned the physics of an aerosolar flight and built two versions of Tetro following the manual available on the Aerocene website.

The course was designed thanks to the collaboration between physics teachers at the Baracca Institute and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Bologna, within the FEDORA European research project. Together we designed an extracurricular course to observe what happens when scientific knowledge meets an artistic language and to develop the sustainability skills outlined in GreenComp, the European sustainability competence framework published by the European Commission in 2022. The European document is intended to be a guide for those wishing to develop educational projects aimed at developing sustainability competences. The Aerocene art project seemed a suitable opportunity to achieve these educational goals at the Baracca Institute.

The course began with a lecture introducing the works of Tomás Saraceno and the Aerocene project, followed by a lesson on the physics of aerosolar flights and a workshop on building Tetro.

Afterwards, we flew the sculpture twice. The first attempt on January 12 was on a sunny day, but light white clouds veiled the sun and did not allow the sculpture to fly successfully. The second attempt occurred on February 14, in the early hours of a beautiful sunny afternoon, with blue skies cleared of clouds. The sculpture soared a few meters into the open space around the school, a few dozen meters away from the runway of Forli’s small airport. An object from the Aerocene era challenged the aircrafts of the Anthropocene in their own territory; it was a meaningful experience for all participants.

The students were very happy to experience a new way of flying, totally different from what they learn in their school. The encounter with an art form was surprising and exciting for them and offered a unique opportunity to reflect on climate change and the need to change our habits. This experience expanded their idea of what it means to fly, made them understand how we can collaborate with nature, and showed an unprecedented way to relate to the air. The students had an artistic experience that emotionally enriched their vision of a more sustainable future, making the message more effective and persistent.

Now, it remains to finalize the project with the flight test of the two student-built sculptures as soon as the sun and wind allow. We are all happy to have been part of the Aerocene Community. The Baracca Institute will repeat the experience in future years, helping to raise awareness of Aerocene and expand its community.
At the end of the course, one student wrote, “I express my desire that art and science continue to travel together; working on this project has engaged me and I hope to work on equally exciting projects in the future.”

We hope that other schools will have the same experience.

Encuentro Salinas Grandes 2023 – CONFERENCIA DE PRENSA

CONFERENCIA DE PRENSA

En el marco del encuentro en San Salvador de Jujuy y la cuenca de Salinas Grandes y laguna Guayatayoc, las Comunidades indígenas de Salinas Grandes y Laguna Guayatayoc, el Colectivo de Acción por la Justicia Ecosocial y la comunidad internacional Aerocene convocan a una conferencia de prensa el día 13 de enero de 2023 a las 11:30 hs. en el salón en Unión de trabajadores del Turismo Hoteleros y Gastronómicos (UTHGRA), seccional Jujuy, ubicado en calle Benito Bárcena 676 de San Salvador de Jujuy.

Este encuentro marca la continuación de una relación de muchos años entre la comunidad de investigación y artivismo ambiental Aerocene, fundada en 2015 por el artista Tomás Saraceno, y las Comunidades indígenas de Salinas Grandes y Laguna de Guayatayoc. En enero de 2020, la escultura aerosolar Aerocene Pacha se elevó en las Salinas Grandes, permitiendo a su pilota, Leticia Noemi Marqués, flotar libremente, sin uso de combustibles fósiles, ni helio o litio, convirtiéndose en el vuelo más sostenible de la historia de la humanidad y estableciendo 32 récords mundiales reconocidos por la FAI. El globo  elevado ese día llevaba el mensaje propuesto por las comunidades “El agua y la vida valen más que el litio”. El proyecto Fly with Aerocene Pacha contó con el apoyo del grupo de música BTS, curado por DaeHyung Lee.

En esta oportunidad el equipo de Aerocene viajará junto a representantes del Colectivo de Acción por la Justicia Ecosocial (CAJE), entre ellxs Maristella Svampa, Enrique Viale, Gastón Chillier, Melisa Argento y Alejo Di Risio, así cómo también la abogada Alicia Chalabe, Bruno Fornillo del grupo de estudios en Geopolítica y Bienes Comunes, representantes de la Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, la curadora Inés Katzenstein, y las escritoras y ambientalistas Claudia Aboaf, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara y Graciela Speranza.

Entre el 14 y 16 de enero se desarrollarán talleres y grupos de trabajo junto con las comunidades en Alfarcito (declarado sitio de patrimonio histórico y cultural), de Salinas Grandes, cuyo objetivo es debatir sobre los escenarios regionales y globales de la transición energética, así como sobre los impactos e injusticias socioambientales de la minería de litio y la organización de las Comunidades indígenas de Salinas Grandes y Laguna Guayatayoc. Los talleres requieren inscripción previa. Si desea participar, póngase en contacto con nosotros a través de la página de contacto.

En conjunto con una agenda de actividades que incluyen la realización de talleres de trabajo en torno a las claves urgentes para la Transición Ecosocial justa desde el Sur global y la centralidad de los Derechos de Naturaleza en la defensa de la cuenca de Salinas Grandes y Laguna Guayatayoc, se presentará el primer corto de Pacha (Dir: Tomás Saraceno y Maximiliano Laina, Argentina/Alemania, 2020), una película sin fin que seguirá siendo expandida y modificada en diálogo contínuo con las comunidades, la cambiante situación en las Salinas Grandes, y la evolución de estrategias locales y globales ante la crisis ambiental, presentándose un nuevo corte en junio 2023 en Serpentine, Londres.

Estamos en tiempo de descuento. De cara al agravamiento de la crisis climática y la urgencia de encarar la transición energética, nuestro primer mensaje es: No queremos ser más zona de sacrificio. Necesitamos hacer la transición, pero no podemos aceptar cualquier transición energética, como la que quieren imponer actualmente a los pueblos del Sur, a través de la minería del litio, que amplifica las desigualdades sociales, étnicas y ambientales. Debemos escuchar las voces de los territorios, en la defensa del agua, salares y nuestros bienes comunes.

Visitá el sitio web del Territorio Salinas Grandes y Laguna de Guayatayoc

CRONOGRAMA

Viernes 13 de enero

Conferencia de Prensa

Hora: 11:30 hs.

Ubicación: Salón en Unión de trabajadores del Turismo Hoteleros y Gastronómicos (UTHGRA), seccional Jujuy, ubicado en calle Benito Bárcena 676 de San Salvador de Jujuy.

 

Sábado 14 de enero

Ubicación: Comunidad Alfarcito

10:00 – Taller 1 – Estrategias legales y visibilización de los derechos de las Salinas Grandes

13:00 – Almuerzo

15:00 –  Talleres prácticos para generar estrategias, imágenes y mensajes para la visibilización de la lucha en defensa de las Salinas Grandes.

19:00 – Proyección de Pacha.

Domingo 15 de enero

Ubicación: Comunidad Alfarcito

10:00 – Taller 2: Cómo dar visibilización a la lucha de las comunidades ante la transición energética y el aumento de la extracción de litio – varios casos

13:00 – Almuerzo

15:00 –  Talleres prácticos para generar intercambios, imágenes y mensajes para la visibilización de la lucha en defensa de las Salinas Grandes.

Aerocene at Understanding Risk 2022

In late november the Aerocene community was invited to fly aerosolar at the Understading Risk global forum, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Understading Risk is a global community of experts and practitioners with interest in “disastrology”, the field which studies disasters from all points of view and establishes guidelines for their management.
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Although the weather did not help, the Aerocene team managed to get an Aerocene sculpture airborne to the admiration of forum attendants. But soon, the clouds closed in again forcing to quickly deflate the sculpture and seek shelter from the adverse meteorology.
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The states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina have been affected by heavy rains in the last week. Disaster preparedness allows governments and humanitarian institutions to build resilience, giving priority to those most at need. As the climate emergency unfolds, the need for #UnderstandingRisk will be more and more dire.

Frontignano Art Walks, Italia

Il 15 ottobre Aerocene si è alzata in volo a Frontignano, una piccola frazione del comune di Ussita, in provincia di Macerata.

Situata nel cuore del Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini, la cittadina è tristemente nota per essere stata uno degli epicentri dei terremoti del 2016: un evento, quello sismico, che ha messo in ginocchio la città, danneggiandola in modo sostanziale e decimando al contempo il numero di turisti che ogni inverno affollavano queste zone per le attività sciistiche.

L’evento si proponeva di riflettere sul significato e sulle possibilità degli “altipiani”, di ripensare le montagne e di come viverle in modo autentico e non invasivo. cittadina è tristemente nota per essere stata uno degli epicentri dei terremoti del 2016: un evento, quello sismico, che ha messo in ginocchio la città, danneggiandola in modo sostanziale e decimando al contempo il numero di turisti che ogni inverno affollavano queste zone per le attività sciistiche.

La scultura Aerocene ha volato attraverso lo splendido scenario e, in assenza di vento, si è alzata lentamente sopra l’orizzonte, mentre un pubblico attento seguiva i suoi movimenti ondulatori.

Sineglossa (@sineglossa_), C.A.S.A. (@portodimontagna), orizzontale (@orizzontale_architecture), BAM! Strategie Culturali (@bamstracult) e Go World (@goworld_touroperator).

Museo Aero Solar Intiñan – COP20, Lima, Perú

We can become aerosolar

By Pablo Suarez, Ph.D.
Innovation Lead
Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre

On Sunday, December 7, 2014, Museo Aero Solar Intiñán became lighter than air and lifted off the ground, in the context of the annual UN Climate Conference in Lima -COP20. The event included former heads of state, national ministers, and leaders of development organizations from all continents. No need for helium or a burning flame feeding off fossil fuels: Just sunlight and the flame of motivated volunteers.

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Under Tomás’ vision and guidance, a team of local volunteers set to work, including artists, students and Red Cross youth, as well as grandmothers and children from the slums near Parque Wiracocha. They collectively constructed a Museo Aero Solar: a large, lighter-than-air sculpture made of plastic bags that would otherwise be trash, engaging people across generations. Named “Intiñán” (a Quechua word meaning “way of the sun”), the sculpture aimed to harness the sun’s power to make our thinking and action take flight.

 

While Museo Aero Solar Intiñán was absorbing the sun’s power before it took flight, many participants decided to experience the magic. People in suits and neckties removed their shoes and crawled into this cathedral of light made of simple plastic bags. An artistic vision was uniting Lima’s shanty town dwellers with Nobel-prize-winning scientists, Bangladeshi community organizers, TV crews, European donors and Ugandan disaster managers, all bonding and reigniting their commitment to a better world while looking up to the luminous world of possibilities from inside the incomprehensibly beautiful sculpture.

I imagine what Pablo must have gone through, to get bureaucratic sign-off on this. No metric of success. No Theory of Change. Him, fighting tooth and nail for a large and hugely risk-averse organization to trust, falls into the arms of a community, an artist, a facilitator, and a game maker. And they did. And it changed the entire event. People in suits crawling into this cathedral made of plastic bags, each individually cut and added with love to the whole. A pile of fancy shoes outside the entrance, like a ballroom bouncy castle. People’s unabashed joy watching art some of them had made into a room, and then lift off to become a transport

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Intiñán incarnated what our world needs: We can become aerosolar. We can mobilize the power of humanity, embracing science and art to rekindle our relationship with the world. The beauty, the sheer joy, and the deep inspiration that emerged from embarking on Tomás’ aerosolar ideas were magnificently uplifting. His invitation to an artistic experimental performance was an innovative, seriously fun endeavour that compelled us to re-imagine the world and its possibilities.

Hosted by Development & Climate Days, 2014: Zero poverty, Zero emissions, Within a generation.

With:

Studio Tomás Saraceno

Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre

Overseas Development Institute

American Red Cross

Peruvian Red Cross

Pablo Suarez, Carlos Pedreros, Willow Brugh, Helga Elsner Torres, Ramiro Espinoza Wong, Frances Munar Aparicio and many more!

Aerocene at the Grand Palais – COP21, Paris, France

During the end of 2015, “Aerocene – Around the world to change the world”, an open project by Tomás Saraceno was presented at Grand Palais and Palais de Tokyo during the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP21. In the week spanning December 4 – 11 visitors to at Grand Palais in Paris, France, were able to admire the gigantic Aerocene sculptural installation, floating above the COP21 main conference venue.

The material realization was surpassed by the message it bore: Its aesthetic form followed a both utopian and real idea of open source force of movement. Inflated by the air, lifted by the sun, carried by the wind, the Aerocene project questions and seeks answers to our current and troublesome dependency on fossil and hydrocarbon fuels and pollution – the topics that place Aerocene at the core of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP21 topical framework.

Around the world to change the world

Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015
Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015
Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015
Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015
Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno, © 2015

In a world divided by geopolitics, Aerocene calls for participation and do-it-together actions. Crossing the frontiers between art, science and education, it becomes a visionary and open platform of shared knowledge. Thus it seeks for the deep understanding of our planet and all its physical, natural and social entanglements in order to project new ways of how we can move, dwell and be-together here on Earth.

For COP21 Paris, the artist presented the first Aerocene prototype at Grand Palais that will be able to circumnavigate the earth many times. At Palais de Tokyo, a symposium and a demonstrative workshop was organized, and a series of actions and collective performances, based on open-source collaborative principles, took place. Conformed participants of three panels’ event included Leila W. Kinney (MIT CAST), Marion Ackermann (Kunstsammlung NRW, K21 Düsseldorf), Oliver Morton (The Economist), Bronislaw Szerszynski (Lancaster University) and others.

Aerocene is an extraordinary work of art that is at once a sketch of a cutting-edge scientific laboratory for the environment, a technical and collaborative challenge and a committed work of art. The objective of this ambitious project, imagined by the Argentine artist Tomas Saraceno, is to float in the stratosphere, between planes and satellites, an open data climate watch, providing data and images in real time. To achieve this, the artist has imagined an innovative machine capable of carrying out "the longest thermodynamic flight" around the world, i.e. relying solely on the heat of the sun (without solar panels), the earth's infrared and natural physical processes. This sculptural "science fiction" will be presented in prototype form in the nave of the Grand Palais. At the same time, a symposium and workshop will be held at the Palais de Tokyo on the circulation of energy and its "poetic, ethical and political" implications.

Sven Steudte DL7AD in Houston

Meet Sven Steudte!

Sven is a german electronic engineer, private pilot and radio-amateur DL7AD.

As the creator of the custom balloon tracker Pecan Pico, he has been involved with Aerocene almost since its inception.

He is the author of the Pecan Pico, a custom designed & built electronic device that allows to track the geographic position of free-flying Aerocene Sculptures through radio-amateur APRS system.

The Pecan Pico tracker has been widely used to track free flying Aerocene Sculptures that have ventured into Poland and Easten Europe.

Over the time, Sven has developed and enduring friendship with Wlater Homes K5WH, an american radio amateur who has been flying and chasing balloons with radio equipment for years.

On September 2022, Sven, Walter and a small community of Texas based radio-amateurs launched a solar sculpture carrying Sven’s Pecan Pico tracker. The tracker was able to relay beautiful images from the earth by using the APRS radio amateur network.

Pecan Pico is a cheap lightweight APRS position tracker designed especially for small ballons which may fly for months. This tracker has been made in respect of weight, functionality and price because it’s usually used once like a satellite. While the balloon can fly for a long time, this tracker is solar powered and recharges it’s battery at daytime and uses the power stored in the battery at night. Since this version the tracker is also able to receive APRS

The balloon, launched in Houston, flew south to Central America by using the wind currents at 50000 feet altitude, reaching Guatemala. It later floated above the Sea of Cortez, and turned east along the Mexican American border. It was las tracked in the North Atlantic Ocean, near New York City.

This incredible trip tells many stories: friendship, collaborative work, the inner workings of our delicate and endangered atmosphere, and the results of using technology in un precedented ways.

Congratulations to Sven, Walter, and all the radio-amateur friends within the Aerocene Community!

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Aerocene at Nextones Festival in Italy

On July 27th and 28th Aerocene community member Lorenzo Malloni carried out a 2-day workshop: 26 Steps to be On Air during the Nextones Festival in the Val d’ Ossola, Italy.

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Using inexpensive Do-It-Together techniques, the workshop’s twelve participants built two enourmous Tetro Aerosolar sculptures, that were later flown to excellent conditions. About the recent workshop, Lorenzo recalls: “We strictly followed the Aerocene sculpture construction method, including corner reinforcements and an inflation opening with velcro stripes”.

On the third day the participants were able to fly the sculptures collectively built. During the first half hour the wind was very low providing almost ideal conditions, and the sculptures took only five minutes to become buoyant. In Lorenzo’s words: “The alpine air was fresh and chill and the summer sun did the rest”.

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Aerocene seeks to change how people relate to the world in environmental, social, and political terms. To build, and to design the sculpture is to engage participants in practices of thinking-through-making and collaborative action, triggering imagination and creativity, and spreading knowledge about solar balloon flights, thermodynamic physics, meteorological science and art practices through a multidisciplinary approach.⁠

Nextones project for “A Theatre of Stone in Nature” stands out as an example of architectural and landscape design which draws on the natural context and the industrial archeology of the location, thus ensuring the continuation of a narrative and enabling future generations to actively experience these spaces and also to contribute to their transformation.

Picture credits: Piercarlo Quecchia / DSL Studio

Under My Gaze

We are happy to invite the worldwide Aerocene Community, but especially those in Berlin, to the Under My Gaze aerosolar dance performance, by Renae Shadler and her collaborators together with Aerocene.

“The Sun gazes upon the Earth, creating and destroying life, the engine on which our ecosystems depend. Under my gaze is a ritual for our times a sculpture inflated by air, carried by wind and lifted only by the Sun. Bodies and voices pulse with the gravitational pull and combustive power of this solar giant, tracing the Sun’s movements through limb and skin, through reflection and darkness.

Under my Gaze is a quartet performed by three people and the Aerocene sculpture that gives a body to the unseen forces that surround us: connecting Earth-bound dancers to aerial and cosmic worlds in a transforming landscape of shadowy creatures and molten forms.

The dancers explore ways to see the Sun without eyes, learning from other creatures – phototropic plants, hydra that sense light with their tentacles. The audience bears witness to this fierce and at times delicate interplay of force and form, tuning in via headphones to the rhythmic stomps and ethereal flight.

Under my Gaze proposes a new poetics of movement fuelled not by fossilised energy, but by the gaze of the Sun itself; moving with – rather than extracting from – the often invisible forces that stir and surround us.”

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As we learn to attune to the weather to adapt to new climates, the performance is weather dependent.

Under my Gaze
28-31. July 2022 / 11.30-12.45hr
St. Elisabeth Kirche, Invalidenstraße 4A, 10115 Berlin

The perfomance is open to everyone!
Purchasing a ticket grants you the experience of an audio soundtrack via wireless headphones.
Tickets: t.rausgegangen.de/tickets/shop/renae-shadler-collaborators

TEAM
Concept, Choreography, Performance: Renae Shadler | Performance: Mickey Mahar, Dorota Michalak | Composition: Samuel Hertz | Set design: Camille Lacadee | Costume design: Geraldine Arnold | Dramaturgy: Ally Bisshop, Maikon K | Production, Distribution: Dörte Wolter | Production assistant: Undine Sommers | Photos: Piotr Pietrus | Video: Camille Lacadee | Inspired by Susurrus group, 2017-2020: Samuel Hertz, Maria Nurmela, Kalle Ropponen, Renae Shadler

Presented by Renae Shadler & Collaborators in collaboration with Aerocene Foundation. Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.

Museo Aerosolar Cátedra Goldenstein – FADU UBA

El Museo Aerosolar es una construcción espacial efímera que promueve un estado de conciencia a favor del cuidado del medio ambiente al utilizar energía natural y bolsas de plástico recicladas como material de proyecto.

Iniciado en conversaciones entre Tomás Saraceno y Alberto Pesavento en 2007, el Museo Aero Solar se desarrolla en el espacio formado entre participantes humanos y no humanos en los simples actos de cooperación y reutilización de bolsas de plástico para producir colectivamente una escultura aerosolar, capaz de moverse en el aire, utilizando sólo la energía del Sol.

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El MAS gira la mirada hacia el aeroceno: una nueva era geológica centrada en el cuidado de la atmósfera. Es una invitación a cambiar nuestras actitudes más dañinas hacia el planeta y de promover una sensibilidad ecológica con la posibilidad de futuros más limpios.

En el 2013 por invitación del área de educación del Parque de la Memoria, el MAS fue realizado con la cátedra Goldenstein -Proyectual (CBC FADU UBA)- por primera vez. Desde entonces cada año se realiza una nueva construcción con cientos de estudiantes trabajando unidos en un solo equipo.

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Agradecemos especialmente a Joaquín Ezcurra y Carlos Almeida de la comunidad Aerocene por compartirnos sus conocimientos para ampliar los límites de esta maravillosa experiencia y a nuestros queridxs Paulina Gramón Vidal y Felipe Ramírez Vilches por las bellas fotografías y el video.