Tomás Saraceno
Argentina
1973
Tomás Saraceno was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina in 1973 and lives and works in Berlin. After earning a degree in architecture from the University of Buenos Aires in 2001, he pursued postgraduate studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt under the mentorship of architect Peter Cook. His early architectural training, coupled with the experience of transnational migration, led his practice to shift toward gravity-defying installations that reconfigure the symbiotic relationship between humans and non-human species. This sustained cross-disciplinary exploration of physical boundaries and ecological inhabitation constitutes the deepest foundation of his artistic practice.
Saraceno's most distinctive works employ complex tensegrity structures to simulate the sensory networks of spider webs or the floating morphologies of clouds. He translates the vibrational frequencies of spider silk into sound, elevating microscopic biological behaviors into a macroscopic perspective on global ecosystems. His "Spider Web Scan" technique enables the three-dimensional modeling of spider webs for the first time, revealing the architectural complexity of these silken structures. In doing so, Saraceno challenges anthropocentric worldviews, transforming experiments with the extreme lightness of materials into a profound inquiry into how the "terrestrial community" might co-evolve and perceive together.
Saraceno has participated multiple times in the Venice Biennale (53rd, 2009; 58th, 2019) and the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale (2020). Major solo exhibitions include those at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2011); Serpentine Galleries, London (2023); The Shed, New York (2022); and Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing (2024).
His work is held in major public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Nationalgalerie, Berlin; SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen; Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing.
