New Taipei City Art Museum | Thomas Salacheno: Co-weaving the Universe

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"Weaving the Universe" is Tomás Saraceno's first major solo exhibition in Taiwan. The exhibition invites viewers to perceive the world through the "Web of Life," learning from air, spiders, clouds, spores, seeds, dark matter, soot and particulate matter, and the universe itself. In the immersive installations, the structure of spiders and their webs, along with a "flying museum" made from recycled materials, serve as vehicles for imagining multiple futures. Simultaneously, viewers will also witness the results of the artist's long-term collaboration with the indigenous communities of the Salinas Grandes in northern Argentina.

This collaboration, centered on eco-social justice, draws upon ancestral knowledge and combats the socio-political and economic structures underlying the global majority and minority forces driving ecological crises and resource exploitation. Within this context, "sustainability" is no longer merely an abstract ideal, but a coexistence issue requiring continuous questioning, reflection, and practice.

The environmental movement that emerged in the 1970s was strongly driven by a desire for redemption, viewing "nature" as something in need of protection and restoration, and attempting to return the world to its pre-industrial, pristine state. However, in the 21st century, humanities and social science scholars proposed the concept of the "Anthropocene," arguing that humans are no longer merely influencing the environment, but have become a geological force altering the planet. Climate, oceans, land, and life are now inextricably intertwined with human history and actions. Therefore, environmental issues have shifted from prevention and remediation to a more fundamental question: when we cannot return to an unpolluted world, how can we coexist with this world and with other life forms?

Some scholars argue that the contemporary world should be called the "Capitalocene." This concept emphasizes that the current global crisis does not stem from "all of humanity," but is closely related to the capitalist system's relentless pursuit of profit, growth, and resource extraction—leading to climate change, mass extinctions, and pollution. This critique also challenges the notion of "primitive nature," pointing out that this view has long neglected the worldview of indigenous peoples, which recognizes that humanity and nature have never been separate but have always been interdependent.

Throughout the exhibition, visitors will traverse between microscopic and planetary scales—from the spatial perception of spiders to the thermodynamic movements of the atmosphere—experiencing the invisible threads that connect our shared existence. Salaceno proposes a shift in perspective: from a capital-centric understanding to a state of perception of the "Aero(s)cenic"—a way of seeing the atmosphere and all that it intertwines with (both living and non-living things).

The exhibition invites visitors into a relational space, where art, sensory experience, and collective imagination prompt us to rethink how we interact with the world, with other life forms, and with matter itself. It encourages us to reflect on how every action and "response-ability" shapes the future of our planet and guides us to learn from diverse knowledge towards a more just, ecologically conscious, and interconnected way of coexisting like planets.