Tomás Saraceno
Argentina b. 1973

Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms 2022
15 Aerocene spheres, transparent and metallic mylar, tape, pump with overpressure release, polyester rope and kinetic system
Purchased 2022 with funds from the Neilson Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation

Tomás Saraceno’s constellation of soaring mirrored spheres evokes an atmospheric space of potential, invention and gently suspended flight.

Walking through the installation we might imagine ourselves as tiny particles drifting through the air, as if carried by a single breath, or as part of the motion of the universe. Saraceno speaks of stillness as illusory, and Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms 2022 ‘seeks to activate our awareness of this at micro, meso and macro scales’, he says, ‘increasing our sensitivity to the effects of our movement within the cosmos’.

The installation expands on Saraceno’s earlier works based on infrared radiation balloons launched into the upper reaches of the atmosphere by the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Paris, where he was artist‑in‑residence in 2012. The artist explains:

The sculptures, made of two different lightweight materials, are experimental models and chart a path towards sustainable human flight technologies. In the world, the mirrored section would reflect the Sun’s radiation, controlling the temperature inside, preventing overheating during the day. The transparent part helps to maintain the temperature inside the envelope during the night and hence its buoyancy. It holds the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface – the solar heat the planet accumulates over a day. Drawing just enough heat, but not too much, would enable a fluctuating trajectory, a floating choreography in the air, free from fossil fuels, powered only by the thermodynamics of the planet.