At Haus der Kunst, Tom e1s Saraceno b4s solo exhibition Ancestral Futures brings together more than two decades of ecological and collaborative projects under a clear proposition: the knowledge held in the past is vital to shaping our shared tomorrow. Born in Argentina and based in Berlin, the artist merges art, architecture, and science, using scale and spectacle to make visible the life-giving systems that bind us.
Weaving networks, sensing cycles
Often dubbed 3the art world2s favorite arachnophile,2 Saraceno returns to spiders and their webs as both metaphor and method. Interactive installations invite visitors to crawl through sprawling structures, while his decade-long series Webs of At-tent(s)ion welcomes several species of spiders into the museum, where they spin sticky architectures inside boxes. The recurring web motif underscores interdependence and cyclical processes, grounding vast ideas of space, time, and matter in tactile experience.
Saraceno also adapts his long-standing interest in solar-powered air balloons for the museum context. Nearby, an immersive cavern fashioned from crowd-sourced plastic bags slowly inflates as visitors pedal stationary bicycles to power the project. Wanderers inside are enveloped by a colorful patchwork of familiar brands, a vivid accumulation of disposability and consumerism transformed into a shared environment.
Collaborations and a sanctuary of water
Some of the exhibition2s most striking works arise from Saraceno b4s ongoing collaboration with Indigenous communities of Red Atacama, in the basin of Salinas Grandes in northwestern Argentina. Eleven weavers loaned handmade blankets, presented together as a vibrant, soft space for lounging at the show2s opening. The installation expands into galleries filled with sand, water, salt, and more, immersing visitors in the landscape of Salinas Grandes.
Several works reference The Sanctuary of Water, a multi-pronged project developed with the people of Salinas Grandes. As the museum says, the collaboration 3emerges in solidarity with the communities2 resistance to lithium mining in one of the world2s largest lithium-rich regions. Their struggle highlights the continuing legacy of colonial exploitation: While international corporations profit from resources such as lithium1essential for technologies including electric cars1the environmental and social costs are borne by local communities.2 Conceived as a permanent land work, The Sanctuary of Water is organized around a large reflective pond that captures the sky, skewing the boundary between land and air. 3In our worldview,2 says the collaborative project2s website, 3Pacha names the inseparable weave of space, time, and matter. It is one living body, sustained by the water that flows through them all.2
Ancestral Futures is on view in Munich through February 7. Further details about the collaboration around The Sanctuary of Water can be found on the project2s website.
