luminous spheres hover within tomás saraceno's floating exhibition

visitors drift in BOATS FOR ‘EVENT HORIZON’ EXHIBITION

tomás saraceno has taken his ambitious installations to a former water reservoir in copenhagen. cisternerne — part of the frederiksberg museums — is a subterranean art space and each year an internationally recognized artist or architect is invited to stage their exhibition. this year, among the vaulted concrete ceilings and brick columns, visitors are immersed in the semi-darkness of the cave and the astounding installations by the argentinian artist. saraceno has also flooded the venue with water, providing a unique experience that can only be navigated by boat.

with minimal light sources, the space is continually cold, damp, and dark. the installation, called ‘event horizon’, attracts visitors to discover the place with all their senses. they stay attuned to the sounds of the paddles in the water, their eyes try to adjust, and their movements slow down. all images courtesy of tomás saraceno

hoverING sculptures by tomás saraceno resemble constellations

visitors float through the old cisterns, crossing into illuminated spider webs and gleaming silver spheres. the suspended sculptural assemblages mimic the form of the moon and planets, while the webs reveal how living beings are closely connected with and dependent on the world around them. the immaterial spheres reflect on the water surface which is continually disturbed by the boat’s ripples. ‘event horizon’ stems from an astrophysical term that describes the boundary defining the region of space around a black hole where it is impossible for an object to escape.

‘event horizon refers to a region of spacetime that marks a point of no return when the gravitational pull makes any escape from a subsuming black hole impossible. as humans find themselves on the precipice of a point of no return on this planet, we should urgently learn to become, just like spider/webs, more sensitive to that which is at first glance unreadable and inaudible,’ said tomás saraceno.

‘the ocean’s waters have expanded, glaciers and ice sheets have melted due to this warming climate. sea levels have risen twenty-three centimeters since 1880, with almost half of that increase happening in the last twenty-five years. a thorough distribution of clean water is essential to a diverse assemblage of organisms and species. yet, the erratic spread of water is at odds with sustainable futures. in flooded areas, water is abundant—and yet it is not potable, cannot be drunk, the life-giving properties we believe to be so basic to its character stripped from its essence,’

adds the artist.

‘floodwaters are transformed into poison, leaving wreckage in their wake. in denmark, this threat is evidenced from multiple sources—not only from rising sea levels, estimated to rise up to seventy-five centimeters by 2100, but from heavy rains as well, which have caused flash floods, particularly in the country’s major cities. it is imperative that we find a way to change our actions to stop changing the climate.’