Tomas Saraceno, Flying Green House

June 14 / September 21, 2008

Sonsbeek 2008, Arnhem

Tomas Saraceno was trained as an architect, but his utopian ideas brought him naturally into the realm of art. Saraceno dreams of a world in which people no longer needs passports and since this cannot as yet be realized on the ground he is looking to the sky.
He is now working with a team of architects, artists and technicians on large balloon constuctions which are meant to enable the free movement of people and goods across the whole planet. But as architect he also tackles the problems that go with overpopulation and poverty, having designed a flying hospital for Africa, for example.
Sonsbeek 2008 offered him the oppotunity to carry out an important experiment: the construction of a Flying Green House. The greenhouse consists of a cloud of 32 helium-filled, transparant balloons, one large one with 31 smaller ones around it, held together by a special net. Plants can grow in the lage balloon, while the smaller ones ensure that the temperature remains constant. The Flying Green House has a diameter totaling 10 metres and hangs between the trees in Sonsbeek Park. Visitors can climb a ladder to take a look inside.

Sonsbeek 2008

The 10th international Sonsbeek sculpture exhibition presents 28 leading artists from 14 countries under the title Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur.
Sonsbeek 2008 is the 10th sculpture exhibition in a series that has built up an almost legendary reputation since 1949.
Artistic director Anna Tilroe has selected 28 international artists to give meaning to the theme of ‘Grandeur'. Specially for Sonsbeek 2008 they are making a piece of sculpture or an installation that reflects a point of view that is very much their own and at the same time represents the aspiration for human greatness.