The Shed to Present TOMÁS SARACENO: PARTICULAR MATTER(S)

The Shed will present the largest exhibition in the US to date of works by artist and community activist Tomás Saraceno, producing a multisensory experience throughout the new arts center. On view from February 11 to April 17, 2022, Tomás Saraceno: Particular Matter(s) features Free the Air: How to hear the universe in a spider/web, a 95-foot-diameter installation commissioned by The Shed that will fill the soaring 17,000-square-foot McCourt space, and an expansive survey exhibition of the artist's works and projects in The Shed's Level 2 and Level 4 Galleries. Combined, the exhibition totals approximately 25,000 square feet. Through floating sculptures, interactive installations, and an artistic process that centers collaboration, Saraceno proposes a situated knowledge of climate justice informed by the various perspectives of human and nonhuman lifeforms that have been disregarded, such as the air, spiders and their webs, and communities impacted by inequitable environmental policies and practices.

"At the heart of Tomás Saraceno's work is a new way of inhabiting and experiencing the world, one that centers on an ecologically post-fossil fuels future. Tomás presents the necessity to reevaluate how we perceive and operate in the world and what to expect from it, which he achieves through interconnected, non-hierarchical collaborations across the human and nonhuman," said Emma Enderby, The Shed's Curator-at-Large. "The air and the particles that define it, spiders and their webs, and our visitors are all protagonists in Particular Matter(s) at The Shed."

In a call for environmental justice, Saraceno's artistic collaborations renew relationships with the terrestrial, atmospheric, and cosmic realms, particularly as part of his community projects, Aerocene and Arachnophilia. Particular Matter(s) brings this layered approach together, rethinking dominant threads of knowledge in the Capitalocene era, while celebrating the importance of all who make up this vibrating, dynamic ensemble.

"This will be Tomás Saraceno's first major survey exhibition in the United States, a multidisciplinary exhibition that showcases Saraceno's visionary, decades-long practice, dedicated to imagining sustainable futures amid our worsening global climate emergency," said Alex Poots, The Shed's Artistic Director and CEO. "Spanning three-quarters of our building, Saraceno's exhibition explores ways of witnessing the environment through ecology, interspecies communication, and environmental justice. We very much look forward to welcoming audiences to experience this new show."

For more than a decade, Saraceno has been imagining a world free from borders and fossil fuels, in collaboration with spiders and their webs, situated forms of knowledge, and the vibrant superorganism that is the cosmic web. In an era of climate emergency when ecosystems are at risk, Saraceno's work addresses environmental racism and justice, envisions alternative ways of engaging with Earth's atmosphere, and deepens an understanding of interspecies cohabitation and communication. Featuring new and recent work, Particular Matter(s) builds upon Saraceno's platforms and projects that invite visitors from around the globe to more deeply understand and celebrate the radical interconnectedness of all things, and to imagine a world that adapts to and survives the climate crisis.

The exhibition is organized by Emma Enderby, The Shed's Curator-at-Large with Alessandra Gómez and Adeze Wilford, Assistant Curators. The Shed's multidisciplinary commissioning program is conceived by Artistic Director and CEO Alex Poots with the senior program team, including Emma Enderby; Tamara McCaw, Chief Civic Program Officer; Madani Younis, Chief Executive Producer; and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Senior Program Advisor.

For more information visit: https://theshed.org/