b. 1973 in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
An artist trained as an architect, Tomás Saraceno deploys insights from engineering, physics, chemistry, aeronautics and materials science in his work.
Inspired by the tradition of twentieth-century utopian architecture, he creates inflatabale and airborne biospheres, which come from a desire to create low-impact aerial structures that are inhabitable and energy self-sufficient.
Saraceno, who describes himself as someone who "lives in and beyond the planet Earth", takes inspiration primarily from the idea of breaking down geographical, physical, behavioural and social barriers. But also, from the idea of life that is sustainable for man and planet, from the encounter and interaction between different disciplines and forms of understanding.
The artist's polyhedral constructions are related to his ongoing “Air-Port-City/Cloud City” project. This visionary project for a sustainable flying city includes works based on the morphology of soap bubbles, spider webs, cellular structures and astronomical diagrams and often made from a combination of readily available and highly specialized materials (iridescent foil, flexible solar panels, high-density polyethylene sheeting, polyester cords, but also plywood, mirrors, fishing line and aluminium).
Among his many exhibitions since the late 1990s, Saraceno’s important solo exhibitions include those at EXPO2025, Osaka, Japan (2025), Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (2024), Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2024), Serpentine Galleries, London, UK (2023), The Shed, New York (2022), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy (2020), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2019), Fosun Foundation Shanghai, China (2019), Museo de Arte Moderno Buenos Aires, Argentina (2017), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California (2016), Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy (2014), HfG Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany (2014), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K2, Düsseldorf (2013), Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2012-13), Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Louis (2011-12), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2011-12), Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2010), which traveled to BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2011), and the Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, which traveled to the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Texas (2009-10). Saraceno also was commissioned to create a site-specific installation for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012), and he was included in the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, curated by Ralph Rugoff, as well as in the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, curated by Daniel Birnbaum.
Palais de Tokyo has invited Tomás Saraceno to take over the entirety of the 13,000 sqm of its exhibition spaces, for the fourth edition of its Cartes Blanches. Tomas Saraceno's research sits at the crossroads of art, science and architecture. This Carte Blanche will be his largest project to date, bringing a selection of his major works together with ambitious new productions that will transform Palais de Tokyo into a unique sensory experience (October 15, 2018 – January 6, 2019).
Saraceno's work is presently represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Perez Art Museum in Miami, Dallas Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxembourg, Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Canada, among others.