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MUSEO AERO SOLAR
collect, reuse and fly Museo Aero Solar with plastic bags
[Neither] a brand, [nor] a copy-righted artwork […] neither a flying sculpture, nor a symbol or an aestheticization of some good, politically correct eco-sustainable practice, Museo Aero Solar is firstly a community.
— Pierre Chabard, ENS d’Architecture Paris La Villette
Plastic has marked the Earth as the Capitalocene’s most ominous detritus. A synthetic monument to 20th century mass production, plastic’s immutability is observable as much as it is latent. At vast scales, though still undetectable by satellite sensing, in the image of floating garbage patches that accumulate over oceanic currents. Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans (Source: PewTrusts), corrupting its fragile ecosystems and affecting more than 800 marine and coastal species (Source: CBD). Or, at molecular scales of micro and nano-plastics, whose infiltration into human bloodstreams and placenta tissue has revealed through infant research an increasing risk of heart disease as a result of microplastics lining the body.
One less obvious, but increasingly sensible concern is that of airborne microplastics. In a study of cloud water above Mount Tai in eastern China, scientists found microplastics in 24 out of 28 samples; detecting common polymers found in synthetic fibers, clothing, packaging and face masks. Representative of a newfound shift in plastic’s planetary entrenchment, the study highlights the potential for microplastic-cloud formations to affect weather patterns globally.
In March 2022, 175 nations came together in the city of Nairobi to agree on a historic resolution to end plastic pollution. The assembly’s ambition was made clear and unanimous: to develop a global treaty that would address and curtail the full lifecycle of plastic, from its production, design and disposal—by the end of 2024. Rounds of negotiations have since taken place in Uruguay, France, Kenya and Canada. The final stage in this multi-stakeholder process is scheduled to take place in Korea in November 2024, where the plastic treaty is expected to be finalized.
Between a global treaty, patchwork-policymaking, and the innumerable bottom-up initiatives for transforming plastic into other cycles of use, a space emerges to activate the afterlife of this immutable monument.
Initiated in conversations between Tomás Saraceno and Alberto Pesavento in 2007, Museo Aero Solar unfolds here, through simple acts of cooperation, conversation, and imagination.
Uniting people through workshops and social gatherings in more than 55 locations in 24 countries to date, the practice of Museo Aero Solar—in a state of constant reassembling—entails the reclamation of plastic from the disposability of current political and aesthetic economies and its transformation from an infamous material of our current geologic epoch into a mind-expanding matter: rather than being discarded, the reclaimed plastic is washed, dried and cared for, united together as a canvas for the collection of personal stories and friendships, expressed in drawings made on the plastic membrane.
The core of Museo resides not in its image, but in the inventiveness and collaboration of local activators: initiated through transdisciplinary actions, workshops and social gatherings across the planet—from primary schools to The Anthropocene Monument with Bruno Latour, the Red Cross Climate Conference with Pablo Suarez to the growing Global Climate Strikes—over 20,000 plastic bags have been collected by the displaced, open-source community, which is situated, among others, in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Palestine, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.
In the reusing of plastic bags to collectively produce an aerosolar sculpture, capable of moving on air, using only the power of the Sun; through encouraging sensitivity and care to the environment—each manifestation of Museo Aero Solar raises questions of other possible material futures. The individual, salvaged components of Museo reflect on how we may renew a more relational understanding of the environment, our embedment within it, and of more reciprocal modes of living together
BUILD IT YOURSELF! BUILD IT TOGETHER!
All tethered flights and other activities conducted with the Aerocene Backpack included envelope and Museo Aero Solar -either self built or borrowed, will be at your sole risk and responsibility. Read more about safety on the website's HOW TO FLOAT section.
The Museo Aero Solar is a growing community, which has decided to come together under a common name and a cause.
In the past decade years, Museo Aero Solar has already landed in more than 21 sites thanks to many supporters and community members, among them:
Till Andersson, Saga Asgeirsdottir, Natasa Bandelj, Simo Barbagallo, Hoxha Besart, Benedikte Bjerre, Bob Sleighs, Juan Camilo, Maria Giulia Cantaluppi, Renaud Codron, Marc Colombaioni, Rolf Degel, Vivana Deluca, Pablito El-Drito, Janis Elko, Fabrizio, Fani, Mara Ferreri, James Flaten, Gaia Fugazza, Giovanni Giaretta, Simon Gillard, Till Hergenhahn, Andria Hickey, Juan Camillo Jaramillo, Rasmus Johannsen, Theresa Kampmeier, Kim, Daniel Kohl, Oliver Kral, Dominik Mader, Eduardo Ernesto Marengo, Persichina Matteo, Matteo Mascheroni, Natalija Miodragovic, Mohamed Nageh, Mustapha Nageh, Dragusha Njomza, Marco Orlando, Osmani, Sabine Pahl, Eduardo Perez, Alberto Pesavento, Alice Pintus, Cristian Raimondi, Yasmil Raymond, Christiana Rekada, Barrak Reiser, Jacob Remin Sikker, Hannah Rosales, Iuri Rottiers, Hoti Rinor, Tim Rottiers, Matteo Rubbi, Michela Sacchetto, Hugo Santamaria, Tomás Saraceno, Lahu Saranda, Manuel Scano, Tean, Saverio Tozzi, Ujjval, Emek Ulusay, Alejandro Uribe, Mauro Vignando, Lionel Wolberger, Carlos Almeida, Ernesto “Lalo” Paret, Camila Almeida, Nehuen Serpa; Manuel Gómez, Lorena Fiorence, Gabriela Longo, Fernando Orecchio, Maria Paula Company, Daniel Pagnota, Laura Gómez Pescuma, Walter Dantes, Rocío García, Carla Guerra; Nora Rodríguez, Daiana Recalde, Griselda Taborda, Silvia Sánchez, Alcira Sánchez; Marcos Perearnau, María Laura Compañía, Juan Perea Pons, Chaparro Acosta, Pablo Sánchez, Arce Rolón, Iván Coronel, Diego Armóa, Jonatan Martínez Gómez, Brian Matínez, Alejandro Vertoti, Gayoso Martínez, Leonel Malinovsky, Guillermo Martínez, Ángel Silva, Damián Vallejos, Luis Varas, Víctor Vivas Molina, Acevedo Gómez, Silvana Ortiz Casco, Macarena Sosa, Rodrigo Altamirano;
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El Encuentro Internacional de Medellín, Medellín, COLOMBIA, 2007 | with Alberto Sierra Maya, Ana Paula Cohen, Jaime Ceron Silva, José Ignacio Roca, Maria Inés Rodriguez & Oscar Muñoz
Isola Art Center, Milano, ITALY, 2007 | with Alberto Pesavento, Bert Theis & Maurizio Bortolotti
Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, FRANCE, 2007 | with Daniel Birnbaum, Stéphanie Moisdon & Hans Ulrich Obrist
Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 2007 | with Hoor Al Quasimi & Jack Persekian
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, UNITED STATES, 2008 | with Yasmil Raymond
Rapperswil, SWITZERLAND, 2008 | with Christiane Rekade
Tirana Art Lab, Center for Contemporary Art, Tirana, ALBANIA, 2008 | with the Ahmet Gashi Primary School, Alberto Pesavento & Fani Zguro
platform paradise, Ein Hawd, ISRAEL-PALESTINE, 2008 | with Maurizio Bortolotti
Kalbach Airport, Frankfurt am Main, GERMANY, 2009–11 | Till Hergenhahn Bonames with Umwelt Exploratorium (U-X)
Territoria 4:il grande balzo = the great leap, Carmignano/Prato/Montemurlo/Seano, ITALY, 2009 | Bert Theis
Alter Flughafen Aeronauten Werkstatt, Frankfurt, GERMANY, 2010 | with Till Hergenhahn, Barak, Janis Elko, Alberto, Giovanni, Marco, Manuel, Matteo, Rolf, Sabine
Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, GERMANY, 2010 | with Till Hergenhahn, Janis Elko, Dominik Mader, Daniel Kohl, Daniel, Vlad
Arnolfini
Center for the Contemporary Arts, Bristol, ENGLAND, 2011 | with Till Hergenhahn, Kathrin, Daniel Kohl, Benedikte Bjerre, Tim Rottiers, Gulia Cantaluppi
SMK Staaten Museum, Copenhagen, DENMARK, 2011 | with Michela Sacchetto, Simon Gillard, Janis Elko, Till Hergenhahn
Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, DENMARK, 2011 | with Benedikte Bjerre, Giulia Cantaluppi, Viviviana De Luca, Simon Gillard, Rasmus Johannsen, Theresa Kampmeier, Matteo Mascheroni, Tim Rottiers, Lionel Wolberger
11th Havana Biennial, Havana, CUBA, 2012 | with Benedikte Bjerre, Tim Rottiers, Gulia Cantaluppi, Simon Gillard, Michela Sacchetto
Helsinki Festival, The Night of Arts, Helsinki, FINLAND, 2012 | with We Love Helsinki collective, Timo Santala and Sini Kaartinen
Rituals of the Habitual, Festival: City and Public Spaces, Plovdiv, BULGARIA, 2012 | with Michela Sacchetto, Simon Gillard, Saga Asgeirsdottir
Parque de la Memoria, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, 2013 | with Tomás Saraceno
Hvidovre Kunstrad, Copenhagen, DENMARK 2013 | Benedikte Bjerre, Theresa Kampmeier
The Anthropocene Monument, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, FRANCE, 2014 | with Bruno Latour, Olivier Michelon & Bronislaw Szerszynski
Development & Climate Days, Red Cross Climate Conference, Lima, PERU, 2014 | with Tomás Saraceno & Pablo Suarez
Darb 1718 Contemporary Art & Culture Center, Cairo, EGYPT, 2014 | with Isabella Inti, Giulia Cantalupi, Rozafa Basha & Gyler Mydyti
Prishtina Common Ground Summer Festival, Prishtina, KOSOVO, 2014 | with Isabella Inti, Giulia Cantalupi, Rozafa Basha and Gyler Mydyti, Camilla Guadalupi, Matteo Persichino, Rinor Hoti, Saranda Lahu, Besart Hoxha, Njomza Dragusha
Gfba Technopolis, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, 2017 | with Dr. Martin Bonadeo, Joaquin Ezcurra, and students from TECAT
MKH Biennale, Halberstadt, GERMANY, 2018 | with Ilka Leukefeld. Jette Held, Pipa Koszerek
The Work of the Wind, Blackwood Gallery, Mississiguaga, UNITED STATES, 2018 | with Christine Shaw and students of the University of Toronto
Rosario, Santa Fe, ARGENTINA, 2019 | with Joaquin Ezcurra & Maximiliano Laina
Art and Science Museum, Singapore, SINGAPORE, 2019 | with Nina Ernst & Dina Abdul Razak
Aerocene Festival, Munich, GERMANY, 2019 | with Tomás Saraceno, Susanne Witzgall, Beate Engl, Denis Maksimov, Timo Tuominen, Erik Bordeleau, Alice Lamperti, Roxanne Mackie, Erik Vogler, Gwilym Faulkner, Camilla Berggren Lundell, Charles Gonzalez, Rebecca Schedler, Jasper Humpert, Saverio Contini, Dario Lagana, Andrea Familari, Nan Mellinger, Cordula Schutz, Sara Mack and many many more.
Escuela del antropoceno, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA, 2019 | with Debora Swistun, and Joaquin Ezcurra.
SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, GERMANY, 2019 | with Antonia Alampi, Tomás Saraceno, Erik Vogler, Alice Lamperti, Roxanne Mackie, Connie Chester, Sarah Kisner, and Zaida Violan.
17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, ITALY, 2021 | with Laboratorio inflable, Instituto de Artes Mauricio Kagel (IAMK), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) and participants within Criminal Unit No. 48 of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service, The Bella Flor Recycling Cooperative, and the community of CUSAM. Full list of participants can be found here.
(In the case that we have missed any names or places, just let us know and your contributions will be added!)
