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until 21.12. | #2618ARTatBerlin | Esther Schipper presents from 16th November 2019 the exhibition ALGO-R(H)I(Y)THMS by the artist Tomás Saraceno.
Algo-r(h)i(y)thms transforms the exhibition space into a landscape of nets.
In Spanish “algo” means “something”. “Rhythm” comes from the Greek rhythmos, can be equated with “movement characterized by the regulated sequence of strong and weak elements, of opposing or different conditions”. Although rhythm is both biological and inherent, theorized as evolutionary instinctive, and linked in human history to the speed of the human heartbeat, gait, and affect, our contemporary moment operates at a tempo that is artificially imposed and not intuitively perceived. Algo-r(h)i(y)thms is thus an urgent invitation to tune into our sym(bio)poetic future, the radical reciprocity of all things, alive or not, through a language of vibrations.
Essentially blind, the weaving spider creates an image of the world through the vibrations it sends and receives through the web, which also serves as an organic and specialized instrument for transmitting these seismic signals. The spider/web is therefore seen as a material extension of the spider’s senses and, following some arguments, of its consciousness. By accessing this environment, the work stimulates the participants to see, touch, hear and exist for a moment in this web of networked perceptions and to direct consciousness to proximal worlds.
Each of the converging nodes within Algo-r(h)i(y)thms refers to the different reverberation frequencies of micro- and macroscopic phenomena. Of the 3.4 kilometers long and 1-2.5 millimeters thin black cords arranged in complex clusters, a network of 25 centimeters in diameter, 58-178 Hz (Argiope keyserlingi Courtship / Emitted Frequency), owes its name to the peak frequencies of the courtship signals generated by a spherical spider. Larger-diameter networks use the vibration rates of monumental matter, such as the 140-centimeter 0.61 GHz (RXCJ2003.5-2323 / Radio Halo) network – a halo generated by ultra-relativistic electrons surrounding this distant galaxy cloud.
In the words of the artist: “Organisms are not atomistic individuals, but hybrid assemblages…. Every body is a “nested ecology”, which is connected with others in a complex way. If we think this way, we might notice our attachment to other beings, other elements; how we can work together across species boundaries and how we can live and thrive together on a common planet.”
Tomás Saraceno, Algo-r(h)i(y)thms, 2018 / Exhibition view: ON AIR,
carte blanche exhibition to Tomás Saraceno, Palais de Tokyo,
Paris, 2018 / Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin Photo © Andrea Rossetti
A first iteration of the work, entitled Galaxies Forming along Filaments, like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider’s Web, was presented at the 53rd Venice Biennial, Fare Mondi – Making Worlds, Venezia, Italy, 2009, curated by Daniel Birnbaum. Bruno Latour described it as “a strong attempt to shape today’s political ecology-to address the human problem of forming viable communities through the expansion of former forces of nature. In 2018, the work was sonified as Algo-r(h)i(y)thms, conceived for the artist’s large solo exhibition, “ON AIR” Carte Blanche à Tomás Saraceno, curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. This third iteration is an invitation to play the web as a spider could, by touching, gliding and stridulating within a system of amplified strings: a proposal of practices of attunement to non-human worlds in the context of the sixth mass extinction.
The vibrating world of spiders can be further explored on Arachnophilia.net, a living archive of coexistences developed by Studio Tomás Saraceno and the Arachnophilia team, as well as through the Arachnomancy App.
Tomás Saraceno was born in 1973 in Tucuman, Argentina. He lives and works in Berlin.
Tomás Saraceno’s work was shown at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff. Further institutional exhibitions: ON AIR Carte Blanche to Tomás Saraceno, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018), curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel; A Thermodynamic Imaginary, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon (2018), curated by Pedro Gadanho; How to entangle the universe in a spider’s web, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires (2017), curated by Victoria Noorthoorn; Stillness in Motion – Cloud Cities, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2016), curated by Joseph Becker; Arachnid Orchestra. Jam Session, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore (2015); Becoming Aerosolar, 21er Haus, Vienna (2015); Aerocene, Solutions COP21, Grand Palais, Paris (2015); Cosmic Jive. Tomás Saraceno: The Spider Sessions, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genua (2014); In Orbit, K21, Düsseldorf (2013 – ongoing); Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City, Roof Garden Installation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012); On Space Time Foam, Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2012); and Cloud Cities, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2011). His works are represented in many international collections, including the Bauhaus Museum, Weimar; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Nationalgalerie and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.
Vernissage: Saturday, 16 November 2019, 4:00 – 8:00 pm
Ausstellungsdaten: Saturday, 16 November – Saturday, 21st December 2019
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Exhibition Tomás Saraceno – Esther Schipper | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
