The Leeum Museum of Art will host “Aerocene Seoul,” as part of its public program ‘Idea Museum’, in collaboration with Tomás Saraceno and Aerocene Foundation, from June 25 to September 29.

Born in Argentina and based in Berlin, Tomás Saraceno (b. 1973) has been exploring the interaction between nature and humans, technology and the environment, creating new visual experiences for audiences. ‘Aerocene’ is an interdisciplinary community that brings together diverse artists, activists, geographers, philosophers, speculative scientists, balloonists, technologists, thinkers, and dreamers from around the world for collective performances towards eco-social justice.

Initiated by artist Tomás Saraceno and developed through a community-based approach towards eco-social justice, Aerocene is active in 126 cities across 43 countries and six continents. The Community activity began with the project ‘Museo Aero Solar’ in 2007 and the Aerocene foundation was established in 2015.

“Aerocene Seoul” aims to connect with the international Aerocene community in a movement for eco-social justice towards an era for all to live and breathe in. To share Aerocene’s visions and messages, the Leeum Museum of Art presents the “Aerocene Seoul,” a series of events featuring community activities such as Museo Aero Solar, Aerocene Backpack Workshop, and discursive programmes.

Museo Aero Solar is a campaign and workshop to create a museum made from reused plastic bags and powered by the sun, called ‘Museo Aero Solar.’ Since 2007, more than 50 communities in 25 countries have participated in the campaign, and this time in Seoul, various communities in the Yongsan-gu will collaborate to collect about 5,000 plastic bags from July 25 to August 4.

Workshops involving the patchwork assembly of collected bags, allowing participants to write and draw messages of care and change on the sculpture, will take place at the Leeum Museum of Art from August 10 – 23. This process transforms plastic bags, typically considered waste, into a medium of solidarity, capturing the community’s voices and raising them into the air.

Leeum will also launch an Aerocene Backpack Workshop in collaboration with regional art institutions. The Aerocene Backpack is a portable flight kit enclosing an aerosolar sculpture that floats only with the heat of the sun, without the use of fossil fuels.

This workshop also invites participants to make connections, coming together to decide on and write messages of care and eco-social justice on the solar sculptures prior to floating together, collaborating with prominent regional museums in Seoul, Gwangju, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Daejeon, Busan, Suwon, and Jeju.

In September, “Aerocene Seoul” will unfold with a panel discussion, a screening of the documentary Fly with Pacha, Into the Aerocene, and print publication of the newly translated Korean edition of Aerocene Newspapers I and II, serving as platforms for discussion and public discourse. This project acts as an invitation to collectively consider new ways of being on and with the air, beyond Anthropocentrism.

References

• 리움미술관 보도자료 (Leeum Museum of Art Press Release)