Alex Flemming's Planetary System Installation Revisits Galileo's Legacy

Alex Flemming's installation 'Sistema Uniplanetário – In Memorian Galileu Galilei' debuted in 2008 at Berlin's St. Johannes Evangelist church ruins. The work features 50 school globes rotating on turntables, proposing an inversion of heliocentrism. Flemming, a Brazilian artist based in Germany since the 1990s, described it as portraying an ideal, utopian world where individuals exist in harmonious yet distinct orbits. The installation was later presented in 2010 at São Paulo's Pinacoteca do Estado as part of the Projeto Octágono Arte Contemporânea, curated by Ivo Mesquita. Flemming's practice often incorporates travel diaries and engages with historical and political themes, from the Inquisition's persecution of Galileo to contemporary conflicts. His earlier work includes the 1978 series 'Natureza Morta,' which depicted torture during Brazil's military dictatorship, and the 1990 installation 'Tauromaquia – Ex-Touros' at Museu de Arte de São Paulo. His pieces are held in major Brazilian museums.