tomás saraceno suspends sundial for spatial echoes at aker brygge in oslo

tomás saraceno suspends sundial for spatial echoes at aker brygge, oslo
(above) ‘sundial for spatial echoes’ — permanent installation at aker brygge, oslo, norway 2015
commissioned by christen sveaas art collection
all images courtesy of tomás saraceno; esther schipper gallery, berlin, pinksummer contemporary art, genoa; tanya bonakdar gallery, new york; andersen’s contemporary, copenhagen.
© tomás saraceno, 2015

within the cavernous interior space at aker brygge central in olso, tomás saraceno suspends ‘sundial for spatial echoes’ as a modular cloudscape built into the architectural and intellectual fabric of the site. geometric, sculptural colonies of reflective orbs are nested into an intricate network of strings that attach to the inner building walls, mirroring the formation of moisture droplets trapped in a spider’s web. in dialogue directly with the site, the piece’s polygonal structures activate the angular composition of the surrounding atrium, refracting kaleidoscopic views in and around the space that open up towards the changing sky above.

the oslo work reflects saraceno’s longstanding fascination and investigation with the proposition of utopian living. these ideals have lead him to the notion of ‘cloud cities’ — airborne habitats that offer new possibilities of mobility, adaptability and innovation. previous installations, particularly the monumental work sited on roof garden at the metropolitan museum of art in 2012, were absorptive of light, using semi-transparent materials and covered by solar panels. ‘sundial for spatial echoes’ instead reflects illumination back onto the surrounding environment, utilizing mirrored building elements that result in a luminous intervention on the venue’s structural foundation. 

as they traverse the atrium and view the artwork from below, visitors experience constantly-changing reflections from the building that evolve both ‘sundial for spatial echoes’ and the interior space in varied shades and colorings. the work recalls forms found in chemistry, biology, physics, and cosmos, building upon the symbiotic relationship between spaces, places, objects and ideas. these aesthetic and experiential sources encapsulate the feeling of the interdependencies of the system as a whole — making small changes in one string, for example, reverberates through the entire composition of the piece.

sociologist bruno latour says of saraceno’s network pieces that identities ‘are made possible only through the double movement of connecting distant anchors and stitching together local nodes’, and therefore ‘no identities exist without relations with the rest of the world’. ultimately ‘sundial for spatial echoes’ leads visitors’ gaze to the crown of the building where it interacts with the sky, forming a connection between our own identity and the surrounding environment, both in oslo and around the world. saraceno’s piece brings an experiential and situational encounter to the bridge between contemporary art, terrestrial atmospheres and progressive urbanism today.