{"id":1094411,"date":"2026-07-17T07:34:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1094411\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:34:32","slug":"tomas-saraceno-transforms-munichs-haus-der-kunst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1094411\/","title":{"rendered":"tom\u00e1s saraceno transforms munich’s haus der kunst"},"content":{"rendered":"

tom\u00e1s saraceno transforms munich\u2019s haus der kunst<\/p>\n

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Tom\u00e1s Saraceno<\/strong><\/a> turns Munich\u2019s Haus der Kunst into an ecosystem of floating sculptures<\/strong><\/a>, spiderweb architectures, Indigenous knowledge, and speculative environmental design with Ancestral Futures, opening July 17, 2026. The exhibition \u2014 Saraceno\u2019s largest ever staged in Germany \u2014 traces nearly two decades of research across art, architecture, natural sciences, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, proposing new ways of living with, rather than above, the planet.<\/p>\n

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Rather than presenting individual artworks, Ancestral Futures unfolds as an interconnected environment under the theme \u2018In Collaboration\u2019. Air-powered sculptures drift through the galleries, microscopic spider vibrations become immersive soundscapes, and collaborative installations<\/strong><\/a> developed with Indigenous communities in northern Argentina transform the museum into a site where ecological justice, architecture, and activism converge. Throughout the exhibition, Saraceno asks visitors to reconsider their relationships with air, water, land, and the countless more-than-human species that shape shared environments.<\/p>\n

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Tom\u00e1s Saraceno at Haus der Kunst | all images Agostino Osio<\/a> unless otherwise stated<\/p>\n

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sanctuary of water developed with indigenous community<\/p>\n

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At its heart is Towards the Sanctuary of Water (2026), an expansive new environment developed alongside the Indigenous Red Atacama network of the Salinas Grandes in northern Argentina. More than a gallery installation, the project forms part of a permanent land artwork, The Sanctuary of Water, currently under construction using traditional Andean building techniques. Once completed, the structure will belong to the eleven Indigenous communities who initiated the project, helping protect fragile salt lakes threatened by industrial lithium extraction while supporting local ecotourism and cultural stewardship. In an unusual move, Haus der Kunst is directly contributing to the realization of the work beyond the museum itself, allowing the exhibition to generate a tangible environmental impact.<\/p>\n

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El Santuario del Agua Salinas Grandes, 2026 | image by Studio Tom\u00e1s Saraceno<\/p>\n

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saraceno imagines collaborative post-carbon futures<\/p>\n

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The exhibition also brings together Saraceno\u2019s two defining long-term research initiatives: Aerocene, his vision for fossil-fuel-free flight, and Arachnophilia, an ongoing collaboration with spiders that explores communication, behaviour, material intelligence, and architecture across species. Together, they frame air and webs not simply as metaphors but as infrastructures for imagining post-carbon futures rooted in reciprocity rather than extraction.<\/p>\n

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Visitors first encounter Museo Aero Solar, an ever-evolving flying museum assembled collectively from reused plastic bags by participants across six continents since 2007. Rather than a finished object, the work remains an open-source sculpture that grows with every new exhibition, embodying Saraceno\u2019s idea of the Aerocene \u2014 an era centred on air as a shared commons instead of fossil-fuel dependence. Suspended only by sunlight and thermal currents, its aerosolar sculptures propose flight not as a symbol of speed or technological domination but as an exercise in collective care, coexistence, and environmental imagination.<\/p>\n

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Museo Aero Solar is an ever-evolving flying museum assembled collectively from reused plastic bags<\/p>\n

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non-human entities form part of large-scale exhibition<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere, Saraceno shifts scale dramatically. Intricate spiderwebs from the \u2018Webs of At-tent(s)ion\u2019 series and the immersive installation \u2018Algo-R(h)i(y)thms\u2019 invite visitors into vibrational worlds usually inaccessible to humans. Here, the frequencies of orb-weaver spiders are presented alongside electromagnetic signals from distant galaxies, suggesting that every living system \u2014 from microscopic webs to cosmic space \u2014 operates through shared rhythms. Even a series of scent-based paintings created specifically for dogs challenges the dominance of human vision, encouraging visitors to imagine perception through other species.<\/p>\n

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The exhibition extends beyond the museum galleries. On the east terrace, \u2018Cloud Cities: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces\u2019 introduces twelve floating cloud-like chambers inspired by cumulonimbus formations. Conceived as living architecture, the suspended structures are designed not for people alone but as habitats for birds, insects, spiders, and other urban species, continuing Saraceno\u2019s long-running vision of cities shared between humans and non-humans.<\/p>\n

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Saraceno invites visitors to explore microscopic spider vibrations as an immersive soundscape<\/p>\n

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haus der kunst infrastructure becomes artwork<\/p>\n

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Around the museum, Haus der Kunst opens a new community garden while guided walks with researchers from the Max Planck Society explore the ecological landscape surrounding the Eisbach and the English Garden. Visitors will also participate in workshops to build a new \u2018Museo Aero Solar\u2019, with plans to launch the collaboratively assembled solar sculpture later this autumn.<\/p>\n

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Even the museum\u2019s infrastructure becomes part of the exhibition. \u2018Flashing Toilets\u2019 reconfigures the building\u2019s plumbing so water used for handwashing is reused for flushing, reducing annual consumption by an estimated one million litres. It is a modest intervention, but one that reflects Saraceno\u2019s broader proposition: environmental change begins not only through monumental gestures but also through redesigning everyday systems.<\/p>\n

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the museum\u2019s community garden and \u2018Cloud Cities: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces\u2019 on the east terrace<\/p>\n

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\u2018the future is already here\u2019 as guiding principle for show<\/p>\n

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Inspired by Brazilian Indigenous philosopher Ailton Krenak\u2019s proposition that \u2018the future is already here, woven into the landscape like a river,\u2019 Ancestral Futures ultimately positions architecture, science, art, and Indigenous knowledge as intertwined practices. Rather than imagining distant technological futures, Saraceno proposes that more equitable ecological futures already exist within the relationships between air, water, animals, landscapes, and the communities working to protect them.<\/p>\n

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Saraceno proposes that more equitable ecological futures already exist<\/p>\n