Aerocene

14/02/2026

A todxs lxs amigxs

Con profundo dolor y lágrimas en los ojos queremos compartirles una tristísima noticia.
El miércoles 11 de Febrero falleció en Buenos Aires nuestra querida pilota y amiga Leticia Noemí Marqués.
Leti se elevó hacia al cielo con ese coraje que pocos tienen y la generosidad de saber que portaba un mensaje de lucha escrito por las comunidades indígenas de Salinas Grandes y Laguna de Guayatayoc que decía: “El agua y la vida valen más que el litio”.
El vuelo de Leticia quedó inscripto en las páginas de la historia de la aviación mundial, con la homologación de 32 récords certificados por la Federación Aeronáutica Internacional (FAI).
Una gran pérdida para toda la comunidad de Aerocene y la familia de globeros.
Acompañamos a Carlos Niebuhr, su compañero de vida y abrazamos a su familia y amigxs en este difícil momento.
Vas a estar siempre en nuestro corazón Leti querida y no te vamos a olvidar nunca.
Vuela muy alto amiga!

De lxs amigxs Aerocene

04/02/2026

Years before its formal founding, Aerocene has grown in parallel with Museo Aero Solar: an open and growing collection of floating museums and aerosolar sculptures around the world that unfolds through simple acts of cooperation, conversation, and imagination. 

Museo Aero Solar unfolds between a planetary plastic crisis and grassroot attempts to reimagine material futures. As governments negotiate global plastics treaties to address production, design and disposal, plastic continues to accumulate in ocean gyres, and in micro and nano form within soil, bloodstreams and—more recently—clouds themselves. 

Each Museo is collectively assembled from reused and repurposed plastic bags, of any size, thickness, and color. Through acts of reclamation and care, these once-discarded membranes are washed, dried, and transformed from remnants of an unsustainable epoch into a living archive that is both a social sculpture and an embodied collective journey.

As Museo Aero Solar travels from village to village, from continent to continent, growing with solar and human energy, becoming a floating canvas that expands with every new lift and landing. A Museo’s dimension, shape, and meaning are in constant mutation, sustained by the generosity of its participants and by the energy of the Sun, gathering not only material but also the stories, drawings, and names of those who contribute.

Museo Aero Solar is both a flying sculpture and a shared interior space. When inflated, it hosts concerts, university classes, workshops, and moments of rest and reflection. Each Museo is collectively built from reused plastic bags by volunteers of all ages and backgrounds—children and teenagers, students and educators, collective recyclers, retirees, artists and activists, prisoners, migrants, and neighbors who may never have met before.

Through workshops and social gatherings in more than 160 locations across 44 countries, nearly half a million plastic bags have been reclaimed and transformed into aerosolar sculptures that move through the air using only the power of the Sun. 

Museo Aero Solar was initiated in 2007 through conversations between Tomás Saraceno and Alberto Pesavento.

03/01/2026

19/11/2025

Hoy recordamos los vuelos de Aerocene en Tecnópolis en 2017.

En el marco del programa de Talleres para artistas de Argentina organizado por el CCK, se realizaron una serie de vuelos y actividades Aerocene durante una tarde de invierno.

Primero, con la participación del público que visitaba la feria, se volaron dos esculturas aerosolares cautivas. Aunque estaba un poco ventoso, en un momento en que las rachas bajaron la escultura logró elevarse varios metros, demostrando su capacidad de flotar gracias al diferencial de temperaturas.

Luego, Tomás Saraceno realizó una presentación junto al desarrollador alemán y colaborador de Aerocene desde sus inicios, Sven Steudte. Tomás compartió sus experiencias sobre los vuelos libres sin combustibles fósiles y las predicciones de trayectorias con el software HubHab, mientras que Sven presentó el proyecto Pecan Pico, que permite el seguimiento de vuelos aerosolares libres mediante una red global de radioaficionados y el protocolo APRS.

Antes de la puesta de sol, el grupo decidió salir a uno de los estacionamientos de Tecnópolis para cerrar el día con un vuelo al atardecer.

Gracias a todxs lxs que estuvieron presentes y hicieron posible este taller!

Gaby Urtiaga , Sabrina Martinez Zunni , Guido Poloni, Sofia Petit de Meurville, Laura Daldin, Laura Nieves, Magdalena Molinari , Analia Laura Palavecino , Yisell Sarasua , Mauricio Florentino , Martín Bonadeo .art, Pablo La Padula , Maximiliano Bellmann , Mateo Amaral , Hernán Soriano , Alfio Demestre , Mariano Giraud , Daniela Gutierrez , Patricia Saragueta , Erica Bohm , Guadalupe Pardo guadalupe_pardo, Oliverio Duhalde , Santiago Orti .orti, Joaquín Ezcurra .ez, Guido Ignatti , Juan Muiño .muynio, Agustina de Ganay

31/10/2025

In June 2025, the Aerocene Backpack built by Yunting Zhang and Shuo Wang in Beijing rose into the air for the first time. The flight took place above Xique Ridge (喜鹊梁), also known as Magpie Ridge, in Hebei Province, around three hours northwest of Beijing.

Xique Ridge extends for about six kilometers between 1,700 and 2,100 meters above sea level, in the transition zone between the North China Plain and the Inner Mongolian Plateau. 
A line of rubbles traces along the ridge, marking the ruins of the ancient Great Wall dating back some 1,500 years. Its rounded valleys were shaped by ancient glaciers, and its slopes are now covered with alpine meadows where over four hundred species of wild plants bloom from June to August. Among them are asters, daylilies, and the striking Wolf Poison (Stellera chamaejasme), a native plant whose spread often signals changes in the grassland’s ecological balance.

Choosing this place for the first Aerocene flight in China was no coincidence. During the pandemic, Yunting and Shuo had spent time in the Hengduan Mountains, where observing native flora led to reflections on coexistence and resilience in times of transformation. At Xique Ridge, those reflections came alive: before the flight, they met a horse herder from a nearby village, who spoke about the ridge’s local name, zhualawa’bata, likely of Mongolian origin. They shared stories about the land and the winds that shape daily life there.

When the Aerocene Backpack finally lifted, it did so silently, carried only by sunlight, without helium, fossil fuels, or engines. Against the backdrop of flowering meadows and ancient stones, the sculpture’s ascent felt like part of the same rhythm that moves the grass and clouds above.

Through this flight, Aerocene continues to grow as a community of people exploring together new ways of perceiving, relating to, and inhabiting the atmosphere.

—
Yunting Zhang is a writer and co-editor of DEMO magazine, based in Beijing, China. Shuo Wang .shuo is a field researcher and nomadic practitioner.

25/09/2025

We are honored that the exhibition and publication project ‘Utopia: The Right to Hope’, includes several works by Aerocene.

Opening this Friday, 26.09.2025 at 7pm and on until 11.1. 2026 visit to experience the message, film, and journey around the sun with Pachamama ‘Fly with Pacha, into the Aerocene’ directed by Maximiliano Laina () and Tomás Saraceno; pick up your own copy of the community produced ‘Aerocene Newspaper II’; find out about the Do-It-Together (DIT) ethos fostered by the Aerocene community’s portable flight-starter-kit the ‘Aerocene Backpack’, and view a triptych of Aerocene’s thermographic prints embracing interconnectivity and imagining possible futures free from pollution and fossil fuels.
  
Curated by Andreas Beitin, Sebastian Mühl and Dino Steinhof with Veronika Mehlhart the group exhibition aims to give a sign of hope and confidence that a better and fairer life can be achieved for everyone on this planet. The aim is not to create a new grand design for the world, but rather to focus on a variety of micro-utopias that, when combined, can achieve something positive. In a time of global crisis, more than 60 international artists and collectives, including Aerocene, invite visitors to discover new perspectives for a more just, solidarity-based, and sustainable coexistence.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a transdisciplinary publication with texts from several Aerocene friends including Friedrich von Borries, Wolfgang Kaleck, and Maristella Svampa !

Not in Wolfsburg? Stream ‘Fly with Pacha, into the Aerocene’, read the ‘Aerocene Newspaper’, build your own ‘Aerocene Backpack’ and join the era of the Aerocene at aerocene.org.

08/09/2025

Today we look back to one year ago, when an extraordinary Museo Aero Solar came to life in Seoul, South Korea, weaving together ecosocial and political imaginaries from Argentina, Thailand, and Korea into a shared canvas of hope and resistance.

Notes and drawings supporting the fight for democracy and free public education have been carried from the Museo built by students at the Cátedra Goldenstein, Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Escuela Puerta Abierta , Argentina. From the Chiang Rai Biennale in Thailand , ideas towards more just political structures have been shared.

And, in collaboration with various communities in Yongsan-gu, organized by Leeum Museum messages of care and change reflecting environmental concerns have been depicted across the Museo, composed of more than 5,000 plastic bags that were collected in Seoul this past summer.

Through more than 40 workshops, participants engaged in assembling these diverse stories into a growing patchwork that currently measures more than 1200 square metres. An enduring process, this canvas will continue to expand with each community that comes into contact with it, and each reused plastic bag joined, moving towards resilient possible futures.

In the reusing of plastic bags to collectively produce an aerosolar sculpture, capable of moving on air, using only the power of the Sun; through encouraging sensitivity and care to the environment—each manifestation of Museo Aero Solar raises questions of other possible material futures. The individual, salvaged components of Museo reflect on how we may renew a more relational understanding of the environment, our embedment within it, and of more reciprocal modes of living together.

12/08/2025

On June 17th, the skies above Utrecht in the Netherlands filled with aerosolar joy, as students from University College Utrecht launched an Aerocene sculpture as part of their final symposium.

Having received remote training from the Aerocene team and picked up a Backpack in Berlin, the students explored the intersection of art, science, and climate action; flying with the sun, the air, and the earth.

“The flight went amazing,” said Zofia, one of the participants. “We did it as part of our project’s final symposium and everyone loved it! The flying sculpture attracted a lot of people and we had so much fun!”

This student-led seminar focused on how artistic and scientific practices can unite to address today’s challenges. The Aerocene community was proud to support their journey from theory to floating practice.

Thank you to Loes, Mihael, Giulio, Hennie, Max, Pawel, Nini, Marcjanna, Pepijn, and Zofia for lifting the message of a planet free from fossil fuels and borders.

07/08/2025

The Aerocene Backpack is a portable kit that allows anyone to launch a floating sculpture, lifted only by the sun—without fossil fuels, helium, hydrogen, solar panels, or batteries. Until now, Backpacks had been made in Germany , the United States , and Italy .lorenzoi. In 2025, we celebrate the first one created in China!

This new Backpack was constructed in Beijing by Shuo Wang and Yunting Zhang, who shared:
“It all started from the moment we watched the documentary of the Aerocene project at Red Brick Art Museum, during the solo exhibition of artist Tomás Saraceno. Both of us were deeply moved by the romantic flying process, and the revelation of another possibility for human history and all human communities.”

Shuo and Yunting had spent time during the pandemic in the Hengduan Mountains, where they reflected on the role of nature in shaping ways of living. “On a patch of grassland less than a square meter, you might find dozens of plant species growing in cohabitation,” they noted. “We came to understand that modern society often neglects the importance of experiencing the process itself.”

After encountering Aerocene at Red Brick Art Museum , they felt drawn to begin a process of making; not to seek a fixed outcome, but to reconnect with shared values.
“Almost simultaneously, we both felt certain that feeling the process of making and flying was what we wanted to do at this moment.”

The Backpack construction is now complete. The next step is flight. “During the making, we already experienced the huge support within the Aerocene community. At a time when the world moves increasingly towards boundaries, being part of a community rooted in sharing has given us strength and joy.”

We thank Shuo and Yunting for bringing Aerocene into new skies, and for continuing to open spaces for reflection and action.

—

Shuo Wang .shuo is a field researcher and nomadic practitioner.
Yunting Zhang is a writer and co-editor of DEMO magazine.

Both are based in Beijing, China.

23/05/2025

Earlier this month, the Aerocene Foundation was joined by friends, colleagues, and special guests Verónica Chavez (activist and member of the Kolla Aboriginal Community Santuario Tres Pozos in Salinas Grandes), Ñushpi Quilla Mayhuay Alancay (indigenous lawyer of Kolla-Quechua identity from the province of Mendoza), and Gabriela Villalba Alvarez (environmentalist — Amigxs de la Tierra Dinamarca), at Studio Tomás Saraceno in Berlin-Rummelsburg.

Conversation around collaborations in Argentina, in particular community-led actions resisting lithium extraction in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc region, punctuated the evening, followed by wider discussions around eco-social justice in the context of the Global North’s energy transition.

This talk followed a crucial meeting in Berlin between various NGOs, including , , , , , , , and , in which the concerns of several communities facing neo-colonial extractivist models were raised.

We are always so honoured to be working alongside the indigenous communities in Jujuy and Argentina, who tirelessly defend their ancestral lands, and whose deep knowledge and wisdom continues to resonate with us and inspire new collaborations.

26/03/2025

SOMOS AMOR, PUEBLO Y LUCHA
SOMOS 30.000

24 de Marzo
A 49 años: MEMORIA; VERDAD Y JUSTICIA - ¡NUNCA MÁS! ¡SON 30.000!

Publicado por la Universidad Nacional Guillermo Brown de Adrogué.
La dictadura militar en algunos números:

Duró 2818 días.
Hubo 4 Presidentes: Videla, Viola, Galtieri y Bignone.
Pasaron 2 mundiales, 2 juegos olímpicos y 3 Papas.
Se cerraron 20.000 fábricas.
Se abrieron 340 centros clandestinos de detención.
La deuda externa se multiplicó por 6.
La inflación acumulada durante el período 1976 a 1983 fue de 517.000%.
El mundial de 1978 costó U$S 500.000.000. Mientras se desarrollaba, desaparecieron 69 personas.
Se prohibieron más de 200 canciones de artistas argentinos y extranjeros.
Más de 600 libros fueron prohibidos, entre ellos, muchos infantiles.
Se prohibieron más de 200 películas extranjeras y 130 argentinas. Se cortaron o censuraron partes a cientos más.
Aumento de la Pobreza, del 4,4% en 1975 al 37,4% en 1983.
Se enviaron 14.000 hombres a la Guerra de Malvinas. Murieron 649 soldados y se suicidaron 350 veteranos una vez finalizado el conflicto armado.
La dictadura disolvió el Congreso, prohibió los sindicatos y cercenó la actividad de los partidos políticos.
Se secuestró, torturó y desapareció a 30.000 personas. 9.000 casos fueron denunciados ante la Conadep.
490 personas nacieron en cautiverio durante la dictadura militar. Al día de hoy sólo 139 fueron recuperados.
Se calcula que 500.000 argentinos se exiliaron voluntariamente o forzosamente durante la dictadura.
Primer Estado en reconocer a Rafael Videla como Presidente: EEUU.
El FMI aprobó un Crédito Internacional de 110 millones de dólares el mismo día del Golpe Militar, aun cuando las nuevas autoridades no habían sido reconocidas por ningún país en el mundo.
Se estatizó la deuda privada de más de 70 grandes empresas. Entre ellas el Grupo Macri, Techint, Fiat, Ford, City Bank, IBM, Banco Francés, etc. El monto, alrededor de 22 mil millones de dólares. Casi la mitad de la de Deuda que generó la dictadura.

Cualquier similitud con la realidad actual Argentina NO es pura coincidencia…