By Tomás Saraceno

Artist Tomás Saraceno proposes speculative alternative ways of living, and suggests floating instead of flying in a new era he has called the “Aerocene”. The Aerocene is a future beyond the Anthropocene, which is understood as our current predicament where human activity is primarily responsible for changes in the climate and the environment. Aerocene is at once a sculpture and a mode of moving, living and being together. It is a new journey that removes our dependency on hydrocarbons, batteries and hydrogen. The Aerocene sculpture floats in the air, making the longest fossil‐free fuel journey around the world, day and night, buoyed up only by the heat from the sun and the infrared radiation from the surface of the earth. With Aerocene, Saraceno offers a space to shape a new narrative for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and for the future of our relationship with the planet.

Saraceno presents a large‐scale installation of Aerocene sculptures in the Gallery in the Congress Centre. Participants will be able to map the trajectory of their fossil fuel-free Aerocene journey using forecast wind data and visualisation developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Aerocene project also includes the Explorer, a tethered-flight starter kit, enabling communities around the world to launch their own Aerocene solar sculpture and start exploring the skies. Aerocene is initiated by Tomás Saraceno, developed by the Aerocene Foundation together with many collaborators.

Learn more at aerocene.org.