From June 16th to June 22nd, 2025, Basel Art Week 2025 unfolds as a city-wide constellation of art and culture, bringing together an array of established and emerging fairs, museum exhibitions, outdoor installations, and conferences. Anchored by Art Basel’s flagship fair, with 289 participating galleries and a riotous takeover of Messeplatz by Katharina Grosse, the week extends into alternative spaces, historic buildings, and the urban fabric itself.

From Liste Art Fair’s pulse on emerging talent to the site-specific programming of Basel Social Club, the return of Digital Art Mile, and MAZE’s inaugural design salon, there’s something for all kinds of creative professionals and enthusiasts alike. Meanwhile, new exhibitions and activations are taking place across the Swiss city’s major art institutions, from Fondation Beyeler, to Kunsthalle Basel and the Schaulager. To help you navigate Basel’s busiest week, designboom’s guide charts the layers of exhibitions, interventions, and events, in and out of the fairs – see all the highlights below.

image courtesy of Art Basel

THE FAIRS

art basel 2025

Art Basel unveils its 2025 edition with a program that expands beyond the fair halls. From June 19 to 22, the city of Basel transforms into a vibrant, multilayered exhibition space with 289 leading galleries from 42 countries and territories presenting works across every medium. Renowned German artist Katharina Grosse leads this year’s standout interventions by turning the Messeplatz into a swirling chromatic environment, curated by Natalia Grabowska of Serpentine. Meanwhile, Unlimited returns under the direction of Giovanni Carmine with 67 monumental projects pushing scale, subject, and format, making it the largest edition of the sector to date.

The Premiere sector debuts this year, offering a focused look at recent works that capture urgent themes and fresh artistic voices. The show also marks the return of Kabinett, featuring 24 curated highlights within gallery booths, and introduce the Art Basel Awards Summit, which celebrates 36 visionaries shaping the art world. The Parcours public art sector, curated once again by Stefanie Hessler, animates the city with over 20 site-specific works responding to the theme of Second Nature. Stretching from Clarastrasse to the Rhine, including interventions at the historic Hotel Merian and Münsterplatz, Parcours transforms Basel’s architecture into a narrative of nature, artifice, and hybridity. 

Basel Art Week 2025 unfolds as a city-wide constellation of creativity | image courtesy of Art Basel

messeplatz

Katharina Grosse brings her radical approach to painting into the heart of Basel as she takes over Messeplatz with CHOIR, a monumental site-specific intervention. Armed with her signature spray gun, the artist drenches the urban square and its surrounding structures in layers of vivid pigment, creating an immersive environment that disrupts the routine flow of public space. Curated by Natalia Grabowska, curator at large for architecture and site-specific projects at Serpentine, London, the work stands as one of the fair’s most anticipated highlights.

Katharina Grosse CHOIR, 2025 Messeplatz project, Art Basel Courtesy of the artist (c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025 Photography by Jens Ziehe

BMW presents Simply, 2025 by Alvaro Barrington

Alvaro Barrington collaborates with BMW for Art Basel 2025 to present Simply, 2025, a fusion of cutting-edge technology and cultural storytelling. Marking BMW’s 50 years of Art Cars, this latest project reimagines the BMW iX5 Hydrogen through Barrington’s signature colorful lens. Guided by insights from BMW’s hydrogen engineers and inspired by trailblazers like Richard Hamilton, Henri Matisse, David Hockney, and Tina Turner, the artist’s concept bridges past, present, and future, redefining what an Art Car can be in an era of sustainability and cultural reinvention.

image via @bmwgroupculture

liste art fair basel 2025

Liste Art Fair Basel is back for its landmark 30th edition from June 16–22, 2025, a launchpad for fresh voices in contemporary art. Founded in 1996 by a group of young gallerists, Liste has grown into a global hotspot where 99 galleries from 31 countries, with nearly half of them debutants, gather to spotlight emerging talents. Under the leadership of Nikola Dietrich, known for her sharp curatorial eye at Portikus and Kunstmuseum Basel, Liste returns as a platform for critical conversations through its program of performances, talks, workshops, and exhibitions. This year, the fair’s commitment to supporting pioneering practices is amplified by targeted production grants for 11 galleries.

What makes Liste pulse with energy is its embrace of diversity – from galleries presenting playful cultural mashups and political installations to sculptural works that weave sound and history, the fair reads like a global map of artistic exploration. Returning favorites like Cologne’s Drei and Zurich’s Blue Velvet share space with newcomers from Seoul, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and beyond, each offering fresh perspectives on identity, urban life, myth, and ecology.

Innuteq Storch, soon will summer be over, 2023, Wilson Sapplana | image via @liste_art_fair_basel

basel social club

The fourth edition of Basel Social Club, running from June 15th to June 21st, 2025, is moving into the marble-and-vaulted interior of a former private bank in the heart of Grossbasel. More than 100 rooms of the historic Vontobel building will be activated for the first time, opening to the public and marking the launch of FOR ART, Klaus Littmann’s long-term cultural initiative for the site. The 2025 program riffs on the financial legacy of the establishment, reworking its language and architecture to question systems of value, luxury, care, and exchange through a series of site-specific installations, performances, and food encounters.

Inside, expect anything but the typical art fair: a blood bank coexists with wellness suites, jewelry salons, beauty rituals, games, and durational performances. Each room becomes its own world, where spectators turn into participants and conventional hierarchies collapse. 

image via @basel.social.club

the digital art mile

The Digital Art Mile returns to Basel from June 16th to June 22nd, 2025, recharging the city’s art week with digital art as its focal point. Organized by ArtMeta and spread across three distinctive venues, Space25, the 4th Floor, and Kult.Kino Cinema, the fair reclaims Rebgasse as a cultural corridor for digital-native creativity. From generative art and autonomous robots to blockchain-based exhibitions and AI-collaborative works, the week-long programme repositions digital media as an essential thread in contemporary art history. Anchored by the landmark Paintboxed exhibition and a robust two-day conference series, the event bridges past innovation (like the 1980s Quantel Paintbox) with present-day pioneers including Justin Aversano, Ivona Tau, and Simon Denny. Notable sessions include Digital Art in Museums featuring Christiane Paul and Ian Charles Stewart, and Digital Art in Corporations, moderated by designboom, with insights from BMW’s Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst and UBS Digital Art Museum’s Ulrich Schrauth.

image courtesy of ArtMeta

MAZE

MAZE Design Basel, running on June 16th and June 17th, 2025, fills the void left by Design Miami/Basel with an intimate, high-caliber design salon. Set in the neo-Gothic Offene Kirche Elisabethen, the two-day event brings together 11 leading galleries, including Galerie Kreo, Salon 94, and Pierre-Marie Giraud, for a focused showcase of collectible design from the 1950s to today. Historic works by Jacques Adnet and François-Xavier Lalanne appear alongside contemporary pieces by Herzog & de Meuron and the Bouroullec brothers. 

Offene Kirche Elisabethen | image courtesy of MAZE

June Art Fair

Since its launch in 2019, June Art Fair has been carving out a niche as the indie antidote to the usual art fair frenzy. Set inside a raw concrete bunker reimagined by Herzog & de Meuron just a stone’s throw from Messeplatz, June offers a program where community, dialogue, and cross-generational exchange come together.

With a roster including galleries like VI, VII (Oslo), Christian Andersen (Copenhagen), and Galerie Fabian Lang (Zurich), the fair fosters an atmosphere of calm and connection, amplified by its leafy neighbor, the Landhof Community Garden, a green oasis perfectly matching June’s ethos of housing high-caliber art inside a thoughtful space. Special projects like People’s Soup and The Garden Cinema deepen this spirit of collaboration, making June a key chill spot to discover fresh voices during Basel Art Week, running June 16th – 22nd, 2025.

image courtesy of June Art Fair

MUSEUMS, EXHIBITIONS, AND EVENTS

swiss design awards

Running parallel to Art Basel, the Swiss Design Awards take place from June 17th until June 22nd, 2025, spotlighting the most compelling design talent working in and from Switzerland today. Held in Hall 1.1 of Messe Basel, the exhibition showcases 53 finalist projects selected by a jury of the Federal Design Commission and invited experts, culminating in the announcement of 17 prize winners. 

This year’s edition unfolds in a high-stakes, two-round jury process, with a physical exhibition functioning as the final stage of judging. Alongside the finalist presentations, visitors can engage with video portraits and a new publication dedicated to the Swiss Grand Prix Design laureates, offering rare, unpublished insights into their practices. 

chair design by Guy Meldem | image via @swissdesignawards

Schaulager

Twelve years after his landmark exhibition at Schaulager, Steve McQueen returns to the Basel institution with Bass (2024). Known for his powerful films and deeply sensory installations, the Turner Prize–winning artist and Oscar-winning filmmaker now presents his most abstract work to date, a spatial composition of light, color, and sound that stretches perception to its limits. Site-specifically conceived for Schaulager’s unique architecture, Bass invites visitors into an immersive environment where form dissolves and sensation takes over, exploring how immaterial elements can shape our understanding of time and space.

In typical McQueen fashion, the work bypasses narrative in favor of pure atmospheric impact. ‘Light and sound… can sneak into any nook and cranny,’ he reflects, and Bass does exactly that, filling the building like vapor or scent. 

Steve McQueen, Bass, 2024, LED Light and Sound, Courtesy the artist, Co-commissioned work by Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel and Dia Art Foundation, 15 June – 16 November 2025, Schaulager® Münchenstein/Basel (Installation view), Photo: Pati Grabowicz, © Steve McQueen

Fondation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler presents a convergence of three distinct artistic visions under one roof. From June 15th to September 21st, 2025, it hosts the most comprehensive European survey in nearly two decades of Vija Celmins, whose meticulous renderings of night skies, spider webs, and ocean surfaces invite a quiet, immersive gaze. Tracing her journey from war-inflected early works to the spatial poetics of her recent pieces, the show reveals how Celmins’ practice bridges the personal and the cosmic, the intimate and the infinite. Sculptures, which she calls ‘three-dimensional paintings,’ round out a body of work that transforms the act of looking into an act of deep attention.

Running concurrently is ‘There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red’, a rehang of the Beyeler’s painting collection. This bold display draws unexpected parallels between icons like Picasso, Basquiat, Dumas, and Rothko, and introduces the museum debut of Gerhard Richter’s digital projection Moving Picture (946-3), Kyoto Version. Meanwhile, Jordan Wolfson’s Little Room uses VR to dissolve the boundaries between bodies, minds, and identities. In this disorienting, uncanny duet between self and other, Wolfson stretches the emotional and perceptual capacities of virtual space – turning visitors into both subject and mirror in a speculative dance of recognition.

Vija Celmins, Clouds, 1968, Graphite on paper, 34.9 x 47 cm, Collection Ayea + Mikey Sohn, Los Angeles © Vija Celmins, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery | image by McKee Gallery, New York

Kunstmuseum Basel

Kunstmuseum Basel NEUBAU shines a long-overdue spotlight on one of sculpture’s most radical innovators with Medardo Rosso: Inventing Modern Sculpture. Co-curated by Heike Eipeldauer and Elena Filipovic in collaboration with mumok Vienna, the retrospective brings together around fifty of Rosso’s fragile, light-sensitive sculptures and an expansive archive of 250 photographs and drawings, illuminating his deeply experimental approach to form, media, and artistic identity. Often cast in wax or plaster and shown under shifting light conditions, Rosso’s works resist fixity, hovering between presence and dissolution.

A contemporary of Rodin and a precursor to artists like Brâncuși and Hesse, Rosso challenged the very definition of sculpture. He photographed his own works obsessively, staged them in carefully curated installations, and blurred boundaries between object, image, and illusion. This exhibition not only traces Rosso’s contributions to the avant-garde circles of turn-of-the-century Milan and Paris, but repositions him as a central figure in the story of modern sculpture.

Dialogues with over sixty artists, including Lynda Benglis, Edgar Degas, David Hammons, Meret Oppenheim, and Alina Szapocznikow, underscore the enduring relevance of Rosso’s practice, which continues to echo across conceptual, feminist, and post-minimalist traditions.

Bambino malato, Medardo Rosso, 1895 Plaster, 17.5 × 20 × 19.3 cm Object ID: 86100 Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter

Kunsthalle Basel

At Kunsthalle Basel Marie Matusz’s Canons and Continents transforms the back wall of the institution into a field of mirrored vitrines that both obscure and reflect, exploring the porosity of cultural canons and geopolitical borders through sculptural precision and conceptual opacity. Inside the museum, Dala Nasser’s debut exhibition in Switzerland turns to abstraction as a means of resistance and reclamation, using cyanotype-treated fabrics and earth-indexed surfaces to evoke a landscape marked by erasure, infrastructural decay, and histories left unspoken, most poignantly through the imagined reconstruction of a lost Byzantine church in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Ser Serpas stages a raw convergence of performance, painting, and sculpture, deconstructing corporeal forms and temporalities in collaboration with the Margo Korableva Performance Theatre. 

Canons and Continents by Marie Matusz | image courtesy of Kunsthalle Basel

Kunsthaus Baselland

At Kunsthaus Baselland, the group exhibition Whispers from Tides and Forests, on view until August 17th 2025, invites viewers into a space of quiet urgency, where delicate gestures echo loud shifts in global ecologies and social narratives. Featuring works by Caroline Bachmann, Johanna Calle, Lena Laguna Diel, Abi Palmer, Nohemí Pérez, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Belén Rodríguez, Ana Silva, Julia Steiner, Surma, and Liu Yujia, the show foregrounds subtle yet potent responses to planetary crisis, forced migration, and the fragility of shared landscapes.

Moving between continents and media, the exhibition resists grand declarations, instead offering tender, tactile stories that reimagine the human relationship to time, space, and nature. From forest canopies to riverbeds, from whispered grief to acts of resilience, these works resonate with what anthropologist Anna Tsing calls ‘the end of the old stories’, leaving space instead for new, uncertain, and care-driven futures.

Lena Laguna Diel: De quien sembramos las semillas (From whom we sow the seeds), 2025. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view Kunsthaus Baselland 2025 | image by Gina Folly

Museum Tinguely

At Museum Tinguely, three exhibitions explore power, fluidity, and collective memory through radically different lenses. In De tu puño y letra (By Your Own Hand), Suzanne Lacy confronts viewers with a chilling yet crucial spatial encounter: male-presenting participants read letters detailing gender-based violence written by women-identifying survivors. Filmed in a bullfighting arena in Quito, symbolically charged with dominance and violence, the circular projection places visitors at the center of a social reckoning. 

Running concurrently, Midnight Zone dives into the elemental depths with Julian Charrière’s multi-floor solo exhibition. Here, water is not backdrop but protagonist, a living medium of climate, crisis, and collective history. Through film, photography, sculpture, and newly commissioned works, Charrière renders the invisible circulations of the Earth as immersive, affective worlds. Between these two, Scream Machines – Art Ghost Train turns up the surreal with a kinetic homage to Jean Tinguely’s 1977 Crocrodrome. Artists Rebecca Moss and Augustin Rebetez reanimate a vintage ghost train with absurd sculptures, eerie mechanics, and chaotic humor. 

Julian Charrière, The Blue Fossil Entropic Stories III, 2013. Copyright: © 2025 ProLitteris, Zürich; Copyright the Artist

HEK (house of electronic arts)

During Art Basel Week, HEK (House of Electronic Arts) becomes a nucleus of expanded digital vision, presenting a dense program that spans AI, virtual worlds, and pan-Asian perspectives. The current exhibition Other Intelligences investigates how machine learning reshapes concepts of cognition, agency, and empathy, pushing the boundaries of what constitutes intelligence in contemporary culture. 

In parallel, HEK hosts the 6th VH AWARD, a prestigious initiative by Hyundai Motor Group spotlighting emerging digital artists from Asia. From June 16th–22nd, works by finalists Lena Bui, Huda x Mungomery, Tianyi Sun & Fiel Guhit, Wendi Yan, and Inhwa Yeom are shown on a large-scale LED screen on HEK’s outdoor platform, culminating in a panel discussion and award ceremony on June 17th. Expanding beyond the museum walls, the ARTour, curated by HEK director Sabine Himmelsbach—, ctivates public space with augmented reality artworks across Basel, while ArtMeta’s Digital Art Mile along the Kleinbasel Rhine embankment hosts a surge of exhibitions and events that trace the pulse of the global digital art scene.

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Vitra Design Museum

The Vitra Design Museum dives into the enduring legacy of the shakers with The Shakers: A World in the Making, an exhibition that brings together a collection of finely crafted shaker furniture, architectural fragments, tools, and commercial objects. Curated alongside fresh commissions by contemporary artists and designers, the show unpacks the complex social, spiritual, and material fabric behind the iconic shaker style, an aesthetic rooted in community values and functionality that still resonates today. 

Installation view, The Shakers: A World in the Making, © Vitra Design Museum | image by Bernhard Strauss

Vitra Schaudepot

Vitra Design Museum explores the evolving dialogue between science fiction and design in Science fiction design: from space age to metaverse, on view at Vitra Schaudepot until May 10th, 2026. Featuring over 100 objects from the collection of the museum, the exhibition traces how science fiction has shaped – and been shaped by – design, from early 20th-century visions and space-age aesthetics to digital objects made for the metaverse.

Staged in a futuristic scenography by Argentine artist and designer Andrés Reisinger, the show brings together iconic pieces by Gae Aulenti, Joe Colombo, Verner Panton, and Joris Laarman alongside furniture from classic sci-fi films and Reisinger’s own NFT-born creations. 

Anouk Wipprecht Audi A4 Dress | image courtesy of Vitra Design Museum

maison CLEARING

As Art Basel 2025 unfolds, CLEARING Gallery marks its 15th anniversary with Maison CLEARING, a distinctive off-site exhibition, housed in a historic four-story villa just steps from Messeplatz and the Rhine. Inside the refined rooms of the villa and throughout its lush 1,000-square-meter garden, over 50 international artists, including Violet Dennison, Kayode Ojo, Tomasz Kowalski, Marina Pinsky, and Sara Flores, present works across painting, sculpture, installation, and video. Deliberately slowing the pace of the fair, Maison CLEARING invites visitors to linger, talk, and connect, proposing an alternative to the transactional atmosphere of the main halls. 

image courtesy of CLEARING

project info:

event: Basel Art Week 2025

location: Basel, Switzerland

dates: June 16th – June 22nd, 2025

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Returning for its third edition, Osaka Art & Design transforms the city into an urban-scale showcase of creativity from May 28 to June 24, 2025. Expanding its footprint to around 60 venues, the event connects a rich network of art, design, and architecture across Umeda, Nakanoshima, Shinsaibashi, Namba, and the newly added Abeno district, turning Osaka into a walkable museum of contemporary culture. Visitors can encounter a broad range of artworks, design objects, and fashion pieces, with several works available for purchase across galleries, department stores, and public spaces.

Taking place alongside EXPO 2025 Osaka, OAD 2025  positions the city as a dynamic stage for global cultural dialogue. Under the theme ‘Overlaps —Where Passions Encounter,’ the program unites emerging and established talents from Japan and abroad through large-scale installations, exhibitions, and cross-disciplinary showcases. Highlights include a collaborative installation by Sayaka Miyata and Mirodi Hirota, spanning the north-to-south concourse of Osaka Umeda Twin Towers North and the windows of Hankyu Department Store, as well as a special presentation by fashion designer Joanna Hawrot, organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute of Poland.

Osaka Art & Design 2025 key visual | all images courtesy of Osaka Art & Design

YOKAI UNITY

Blending folklore with playful urban interventions, this installation reimagines yokai — traditional Japanese spirits — through a colorful, pop-inspired lens. Emerging unexpectedly from city gaps, the creatures animate Osaka’s streets with humor and mystery, while a sculptural form based on the Hokkai Jo-in mudra adds a contemplative layer of compassion and coexistence.

exhibition period: May 28 – June 10, 2025

location: Nankai Namba Station 2F Concourse

participating creators: Maki Takato

Yokai Unity by Maki Takato

HAWROT: WEARABLE ART – UNSEEN THREADS

Joanna Hawrot’s Unseen Threads exhibition explores womanhood through wearable art, blending Polish textile traditions with Japanese kimono culture. Presented alongside portraits by photographer Zuza Krajewska, the works spotlight Japanese and Polish women wearing Hawrot’s designs, weaving personal stories into a cross-cultural celebration of identity, diversity, and contemporary femininity.

exhibition period: May 31 – June 24, 2025

location: Daimaru Shinsaibashi

participating creators: Joanna Hawrot

HAWROT: Wearable Art – Unseen Threads by Joanna Hawrot | image © Zuza Krajewska

THE NEW MUSEUM OF WONDER: THE GENE OF CURIOSITY

Inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations and global textile motifs, artist Sayaka Miyata embroiders a poetic fusion of natural science and art. In collaboration with designer Midori Hirota, she unveils a large-scale installation across Osaka Umeda Twin Towers North, merging handcraft and AI to spark curiosity and evoke the atmosphere of a museum of wonder.

exhibition period: May 8 – June 23, 2025

location: Osaka Umeda Twin Towers North 1F Concourse

participating creators: Sayaka Miyata and Midori Hirota

The New Museum of Wonder: The Gene of Curiosity by Sayaka Miyata and Midori Hirota

NEW COLLECTION

Charlotte Perriand designed the Indochine Chaise Longue in 1943 while serving as Director of Crafts in Vietnam. Confined to bed late in her pregnancy, she created a rattan chaise longue with armrests to continue reading, writing, and designing despite wartime steel shortages. Since 2004, Cassina has expanded the Charlotte Perriand collection in close collaboration with Perriand’s daughter, Pernette Perriand-Barsac. To mark the collection’s 20th anniversary in 2024, Cassina will introduce a newly industrialized model, celebrating Perriand’s enduring creative legacy.

exhibition period: May 28 – June 24, 2025

location: Cassina ixc. Osaka shop

participating creators: Cassina

New Collection by Cassina

ONE MILLION PEOPLE’S CANDLE NIGHT

‘One Million People’s Candle Night in Osaka City: Chayamachi Slow Day’ softly illuminates the Umeda district each summer with candlelight art and quiet charm. In 2025, under the theme “Miracle,” installations, candle-lined streets, and artist-made works invite visitors to reflect, connect, and wander through a glowing cityscape. Highlights include the Candle Market, live music at select venues, and a collective lights-off moment from 8 to 10 p.m., offering a peaceful pause from everyday life.

exhibition period: June 5, 2025

location: the entire Chayamachi area, Umeda

One Million People’s Candle Night in Osaka City: Chayamachi Slow Day

SENSE OF WONDER

At Marco Gallery, Joe Takahashi presents a solo exhibition titled Sense of Wonder – Yugen, offering a sculptural exploration of gravity as a timeless, universal force. Centering his practice on themes such as plant life, rotation, horizons, and light, Takahashi creates spatial compositions that subtly distort perception. His works invite contemplation of natural phenomena through abstract forms, drawing viewers into a nuanced interplay between material presence and conceptual depth.

exhibition period: May 31 – June 29, 2025

location: Marco Gallery

participating creators: Joe Takahashi

Sense of Wonder by Joe Takahashi

THE GLITCH

Akira Terada, the first fully digital artist to win the Gallery Seek Award at the 3rd ARTIST NEW GATE, presents a solo exhibition showcasing his distinctive visual language. Without using any physical tools, Terada transforms everyday landscapes by flipping and rotating photographs, creating unexpected, imaginative scenes that challenge conventional perspectives.

exhibition period: June 4 – June 10, 2025

location: Kintetsu Main Store Abeno Harukas

participating creators: Akira Terada

Holographic Divers(c)ity-4 | image © Akira Terada

THE SOUND OF BEGINNING, THE SOUND OF ENDING. – ILLUSTRATED ALPHABET

Inspired by the question, ‘What would letters look like if they started to dance?,’ this work captures a single hiragana character spinning rapidly in 360 degrees. The result is a striking visual that gives motion, depth, and delicate form to a flat symbol, expanding the expressive potential of written language.

exhibition period: June 11 – June 24, 2025

location: Osaka Takashimaya Department Store

participating creators: Katsunari Shishido

The sound of beginning, the sound of ending. – Illustrated alphabet by Katsunari Shishido

project info: 

name: Osaka Art & Design 2025:  Overlaps —Where Passions Encounter
areas: Umeda, Dojima, Nakanoshima, Kyomachibori, Honmachi, Shinsaibashi, Namba, Abeno, and other areas in Osaka
dates: May 28 – June 24, 2025

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Held alongside the 2025 World Expo in Japan, the ‘Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival’ returns for its fourth edition with a citywide program themed around social impact. From April 11 to October 13, 2025, visitors encounter a curated selection of exhibitions, public installations, and creative dialogues spanning six venues across Osaka. These include major landmarks designed by Tadao Ando and Kisho Kurokawa, as well as culturally vibrant neighborhoods like Nishinari and Semba. The 2025 edition brings together 65 artists and 6 curators from 20 countries and regions, positioning art as a medium for social reflection and community transformation. As media partner, designboom follows the festival’s unfolding narrative and its contribution to shaping a future-focused cultural scene.

banner & above: OKUNAKA Akihito, INTER-WORLD/Cocooner: Apparent motion of celestial bodies, 2025
all images courtesy of Osaka Kansai International Art Festival

OSAKA KANSAI INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL 2025 PROGRAM

Within the ‘Future Society Showcase Project Art Expo Public Art’ at the Expo site on Yumeshima Island, large-scale works from international artists populate the grounds, inviting visitors to engage with the theme of ‘Designing a Future Society for Life’ through visual storytelling and public interaction.

KANEUJI Teppei, Hard Boiled Daydream(Sculpture/Spook/Osaka), 2025

In Osaka Culturarium Tempozan, originally designed by Tadao Ando as the Suntory Museum, the exhibition ‘Reshaped Reality’ offers hyperrealistic human sculptures that challenge the boundaries between illusion and corporeal form. Curated by Maximilian Lecce and Lena Pohlmann, the show features works by Maurizio Cattelan, Ron Mueck, Patricia Piccinini, and Evan Penny, among others, questioning the meaning of humanity in the age of technological transformation.

Kazu Hiro, Andy Warhol 2013, Platinum cured silicone, human hair, resin, chrome plate, 213,0 x 91,0 x 91,0 cm, Collection of the artist

In the Kita area, Hiroshi Sakuma curates ‘Speculative Music / Narrative School,’ a continuation of past festivals exploring the role of music, storytelling, and internet culture in shaping behavioral change. Artists such as Sekai, Niru Fruit, and x0o0x_ present new works that speculate on the evolving relationship between culture and future societies.

Shinsyu no ImmigrationsB

In the Nishinari district, the festival deepens its engagement with local communities, featuring collaborative practices involving the Kamagasaki University of the Arts, Cocoroom, and the fashion label Nishinarii Yoshio. Art spaces such as the Kioku Handicraft Museum and the 100-year-old Sanno Harmonica Tenement House host installations, poetry, and a pop-up café curated by Production Zomia, becoming sites for reflection on memory, change, and transnational exchange.

Karakuri Doctor, Takoyaki Taro, Exhibited Work: Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 / Cafe Atariya

The Semba area stages ‘Re: Human – The New Human Condition,’ curated by Mitsuhiro Kishimoto. Through sculpture, photography, and installation, artists like Tomoki Ishihara, Teppei Kaneuji, and Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver consider what it means to be human amid rapid globalization and shifting values, bridging the past visions of future societies with new ethical questions.

Kamagasaki University of Arts

Finally, the Osaka International Convention Center (Grand Cube Osaka), designed by Kisho Kurokawa, hosts ‘Study × PLAS: Asia Arts Fair.’ Co-organized by Artlogue and Plastic Art Seoul, this joint Korea–Japan fair celebrates 60 years of diplomatic relations and showcases contemporary Asian art. Alongside exhibitions, the event will feature creative economy startup contests (StARTs UPs) and symposiums (Study Meeting), further embedding art in the region’s economic and cultural development.

key visual Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025

DONECY, Where I Vanish — Reflections at the Edge of Reality, 2015

YOSHIDA Momoko, Ee.p. Ecume sharing 3, 2004. Acrylic on canvas, 227.3 × 181.8 cm, image by kabo

project info: 

name: Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival | @study_okiaf

dates: April 11 – October 13 2025

venues: Osaka-Kansai Expo Venue / Osaka Culturarium Tempozan (formerly Suntory Museum) / Nakanoshima area (Osaka Prefectural International Conference Center), Semba area / Nishinari area / Osaka Kita area / National Museum of Ethnology (Expo Commemoration Park where the 1970 Expo was held) / Seaside Studio CASO / Matsubara City, and more

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On the evening of Saturday, March 22, designboom had the privilege of attending the Design Trust Charity Benefit 2025, proudly serving as its international media partner. Under the theme of ‘The Art of Transformation,’ the fundraising event marked the official launch of the Design Trust Futures Festival 2025 – a three-month program dedicated to exploring sustainability, culture, and heritage in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Transforming the iconic Murray House into a hub of creativity, the festival opens to the public from March 29 until June 18, 2025, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong’s architecture and design-focused cultural programs.

Design Trust opens Futures Festival 2025 during Art Basel Hong Kong | all images courtesy of Design Trust

AWARD CELEBRATION HONORS DESIGNERS AT CHARITY BENEFIT 2025

Prior to the Futures Festival’s opening, at the evening of the Design Trust Charity Benefit 2025, three esteemed designers were honored for their contributions to the design world. Elizabeth Diller, Co-Founding Partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, received the Design Trust Legacy Award. Kai-Yin Lo was awarded the Heritage Innovator Award and Gary Chang, known for his ‘Domestic Transformer’ design, was recognized with the Design Trust Arts Prize.

The night also featured a live auction curated by Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust, showcasing a carefully selected array of 21 site-specific artworks, furniture, and installations, all of which are part of the Design Trust Charity Exhibition 2025: ‘Transformational Exceptions,’ displayed at the Futures Festival 2025. Proceeds from the auction directly support the organization’s ongoing design development, education, and research initiatives. Join Design Trust’s Patron Community – here.

Design Trust Charity Exhibition 2025: Transformational Exceptions

TURNING HONG KONG’S MURRAY HOUSE INTO A HUB OF CREATIVITY

Bringing together over 60 designers, architects, and artists from Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, the Futures Festival 2025 engages with themes of environmental responsibility, social innovation, and cultural heritage, all set within the historic architecture of Murray House at Stanley Plaza. As the cultural partner of Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, Design Trust offers a dynamic program of exhibitions, public installations, and cultural tours.

A highlight of the festival is the ‘Sea Garden: Design Trust Ideas Lounge,’ featuring five site-specific and interactive installations. Former recipients of the 2024 Design Trust Awards, including Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando, Island Lights, Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami of A.A.Murakami, Chaklam Ng, and Wang Xin, transform the remnants of an old restaurant into an engaging and playful space, encouraging visitors to explore ideas of transformation.

Hamster Wheel, part of Sea Garden: Design Trust Ideas Lounge

Additionally, the ‘Design Trust Curatorial Survey Show: Hong Kong Islands & Material Ecologies’ showcases research and speculative projects focused on sustainability, oceanic pursuits, community, and cultural heritage. The works, which include contributions from MAP Office, Island Lights, and the Island Studies Network, offer critical reflections on urbanism, tourism, and the future of Hong Kong’s island communities.

Advocating for the value of design as a process of debate and creative exchange, the Design Trust Collaborative Space, titled ‘Transformational Exceptions,’ hosts cultural tours, workshops, and talks. This multi-functional area, adorned with an illustrated map of Murray House and Stanley by Connie Maoshan, also serves as a workshop space for the Design Trust Futures Studio Special project, led by Elaine Yan Ling Ng and Julie Progin & Jesse Mc Lin. Their community-participatory work unveils in May-June 2025.

the Lounge features five site-specific and interactive installation

the remnants of an old restaurant are transformed into an engaging and playful space

the Futures Festival 2025 deals with themes of environmental responsibility and cultural heritage

Map Of Stanley and Murray House: Past Present Future

Design Trust Curatorial Survey Show: Hong Kong Islands & Material Ecologies

the festival is set within the historic architecture of Murray House at Stanley Plaza, Hong Kong

project info: 

name: Design Trust Futures Festival 2025

theme: The Art of Transformation

organizer: Design Trust | @designtrust

location: Murray House at Stanley Plaza, Hong Kong

dates: March 29 until June 18, 2025

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Art Paris, the leading spring event for modern and contemporary art is making a grand return! From 3-6 april, 2025, the 27th edition is reclaiming Paris‘ iconic Grand Palais, originally built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, is brought to its former glory after a four-year renovation. The architectural masterpiece of the Belle Époque once again welcomes 170 leading French and international galleries, expanding the art fair’s reach and ambition. With a focus on artistic discovery and innovation, Art Paris 2025 promises an exceptional lineup of curated exhibitions, thematic tours, and prestigious awards that celebrate both established and emerging talent within the global art scene.

Art Paris is an inclusive art fair that is open to all mediums, launching in 2025 the French Design Art Edition a sector focusing on design and the contemporary decorative arts. Get your tickets here! 

for its 27th edition, Art Paris 2025 makes a triumphant return to the Grand Palais from April 3-6 | all images courtesy of Art Paris

modern and contemporary art fill up the iconic Grand Palais

Art Paris has long been recognized as a key event that bridges regional and international artistic expressions. With 60% of exhibitors from France and 40% from abroad, the fair maintains its distinct identity as both a hub for the French gallery ecosystem and a window into the global art landscape. The 2025 edition introduces significant new initiatives, including the return of ‘Immortal,’ a thematic exhibition dedicated to figurative painting in France, curated by art historian Amélie Adamo and MO.CO. director Numa Hambursin. Simultaneously, ‘Out of Bounds,’ led by independent curator Simon Lamunière, explores the hybridization of contemporary artistic practices, emphasizing issues of identity, culture, and geography.

after a four-year renovation, this architectural masterpiece of the Belle Époque once again welcomes 170 leading French and international galleries

Figurative painting & contemporary hybridization

‘Immortal: A Focus on Figurative Painting in France’ expands on its 2023 edition by showcasing 30 artists across multiple generations, linking historical influences with contemporary expressions. The selection highlights the continued evolution of figurative painting in a digital and abstract-dominated era, reaffirming its relevance and dynamism in the European art scene. Meanwhile, ‘Out of Bounds’ presents a diverse international lineup of artists, addressing themes of displacement, belonging, and the merging of artistic disciplines through a carefully curated thematic journey.

Art Paris 2025 also sees an expansion of the ‘Promises’ sector, occupying the Grand Palais’ balconies and featuring 25 young galleries established less than a decade ago. This initiative encourages emerging talent while maintaining affordability for exhibitors. Additionally, Art Paris continues its commitment to solo presentations, offering 26 monographic exhibitions that allow in-depth exploration of individual artists’ work.

Art Paris 2025 promises an exceptional lineup of curated exhibitions, thematic tours, and prestigious awards that celebrate both established and emerging talent within the global art scene | © Marguo

Two prestigious prizes further elevate the fair’s dedication to artistic excellence. The BNP Paribas Banque Privée Prize, with a €40,000 award, honors an artist from the ‘Immortal’ selection, while the newly launched ‘Her Art Prize,’ created in partnership with Marie Claire and Boucheron, awards €30,000 to a woman artist whose work challenges artistic boundaries. These initiatives reinforce Art Paris’ role in supporting both contemporary and historically underrepresented voices.

Beyond the fair itself, Art Paris 2025 integrates a city-wide VIP program, featuring exclusive access to 31 cultural events and exhibitions at major Parisian institutions. With a growing commitment to sustainability, Art Paris continues its pioneering approach by applying life cycle analysis (LCA) to reduce its environmental impact. As Paris undergoes a cultural renaissance, this year’s edition of Art Paris solidifies its reputation as a leading force in contemporary art, offering visitors an unparalleled experience at the intersection of heritage and artistic innovation.

the fair has long been recognized as a key event that bridges regional and international artistic expressions | © Claude Bernard

the 2025 edition introduces significant new initiatives | © Lara Sedbon

Art Paris continues its commitment to solo presentations, offering 26 monographic exhibitions | © Claude Bernard

the event features 60% of exhibitors from France and 40% from abroad | © Lahumière

the fair maintains its distinct identity as both a hub for the French gallery ecosystem and a window into the global art landscape | © Esther Schipper

Art Paris is reclaiming Paris‘ iconic Grand Palais, originally built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition

© Richard Saltoun

© Anne-Laure Buffard

© Capazza

beyond the fair itself, Art Paris 2025 integrates a city-wide VIP program, featuring exclusive access to 31 cultural events

as Paris undergoes a cultural renaissance, the 27th edition of Art Paris solidifies its reputation as a leading force in contemporary art

project info:

name: Art Paris 2025 | @artparisartfair

location: Grand Palais, Paris, France

dates: April 3-6, 2025

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India Art Fair (IAF) returned to New Delhi this February (2025) with its most ambitious edition yet, solidifying its position as a key event on the global art scene. Held from February 6th to 9th, the 16th IAF brought together a diverse range of galleries, collectors, institutions, artists, and designers, celebrating the dynamism of South Asian art while also attracting prominent international voices. A record 120 exhibitors participated, including 78 leading Indian and international galleries, alongside significant regional and global art institutions. This varied and carefully curated selection offered a wealth of discovery, showcasing a compelling mix of emerging and established talent from both the region and abroad. ‘India Art Fair 2025 was a particularly dynamic edition, with ambitious gallery presentations and rare offerings for the strong group of visiting collectors,’ notes Jaya Asokan, India Art Fair director. ‘We have hosted celebrated artists, gallerists and representatives from leading museums and institutions from across the world at the fair this year.’

IAF 2025 provided a platform for both established and emerging artists. Global art powerhouses like Galleria Continua presented works by major figures such as Anish Kapoor, Ai Weiwei, and Julio Le Parc. David Zwirner’s booth offered a diverse selection, including new and recent pieces by Huma Bhabha and Oscar Murillo, alongside historic works on paper by Paul Klee, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Box, and an installation by Dan Flavin. Carpenters Workshop Gallery returned for its second year, showcasing design pieces by Nacho Carbonell, Maarten Baas, DRIFT, Vincenzo De Cotiis, and others. With 64 of the 78 participating galleries based in India, the fair emphasized its commitment to being a leading venue for discovering art and culture within the region. Mumbai’s Method gallery championed experimental and emerging artists from India and beyond, including the paintings of Indian-Australian artist Sid Pattni and Kunel Gaur’s stainless steel-framed works. New Delhi’s PHOTOINK highlighted works by prominent photographers, including Rajesh Vora’s Everyday Baroque series, which captures the everyday sculptural adornments of Punjab’s rooftop homes.

As a guest of BMW India, the fair’s long-term presenting partner, designboom had the opportunity to experience firsthand the range of modern and contemporary art from India and South Asia, as well as the fair’s rich program of special projects, curated sections, and international talks. Read on as we unpack some of the highlights from IAF’s 16th edition.

visitor at Chemould CoLab at India Art Fair 2025; above: IAF 2025 Facade | images courtesy of India Art Fair unless stated otherwise

visitors at Lisson Gallery’s booth

A VIBRANT DISPLAY OF OUTDOOR ART PROJECTS AT IAF 2025

India Art Fair 2025 featured a dynamic selection of outdoor art projects, showcasing large-scale works by a range of contemporary artists and designers. Among the more ambitious projects is a site-specific LED installation by the conceptual artist duo Claire Fontaine. Inspired by their acclaimed Foreigners Everywhere series, this new work, curated by Andrea Anastasio and produced by the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, featured multilingual neon sculptures weaving South Asian influences across multiple locations in New Delhi. On the fairgrounds, Indian artist Asim Waqif repurposed a second-hand cement truck in MAKE-SHIFT, an interactive installation exploring improvisation, materiality, and industrial detritus. Supported by MASH, New Delhi artist Ayesha Singh designed the IAF Facade, drawing inspiration from women’s contributions to Indian architecture, from patronage in 1000 AD to contemporary female architects.

Asim Waqif’s MAKE-SHIFT installation | image © designboom

‘The Future is Born of Art’ BY presenting partner BMW india

As the long-term presenting partner of the India Art Fair, BMW India presented The Future is Born of Art, an annual commission designed to platform a promising young Indian artist on a global stage. For its fourth edition, the commission invited emerging artists to propose an immersive installation centered around the BMW iX1 LWB, MINI Countryman Electric, and BMW Motorrad CE 02 and CE 04, reflecting on the theme of ‘Ecocentrism.’ The winning project, Biolume by Non-Linear (Dennis Peter) and Cursorama (Yash Chandak), unveiled a 180-degree multimedia experience inspired by bioluminescent organisms. ‘Bioluminescence is nature’s sci-fi—a glowing, electric language that exists in harmony with its surroundings,’ explains Dennis Peter of Non-Linear. Biolume integrates generative design and biomimicry to immerse visitors in a dark environment of interactive screens that respond to their movements.

‘We take immense pride in our creative collaboration with the India Art Fair, as it continues to champion India’s diverse and thriving contemporary arts landscape,’ says Vikram Pawah, President and CEO of BMW Group India. ‘Our shared vision for a future that is both creative and sustainable is perfectly encapsulated by the latest edition of ‘The Future is Born of Art’ Commission. This groundbreaking initiative explores how the harmonious integration of ecological and technological thinking can create a more sustainable, balanced, and regenerative world – all through the captivating lens of an artist’s vision.’

Dennis Peter and Yash Chandak with Jaya Asokan, India Art Fair director, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst, Head of Cultural Engagement, BMW Group | image courtesy BMW AG and India Art Fair

inside Biolume | image courtesy BMW AG and India Art Fair

THE SECOND YEAR OF India Art Fair’s Design section

The Design section returned for its second year with increased prominence, building on the success of its inaugural showcase at IAF 2024. Highlighting the thriving design scene in South Asia, eleven studios exhibited at the fair, while Shifting Horizons, a special presentation curated by Alaiia Gujral, featured seventeen emerging Indian designers.

Rajasthan-based Studio Raw Material, whose work was also recently on view at Friedman Benda (see here), presented compositions of stacked marble offcuts from the local stone industry in the form of chairs, consoles, and desks. In CONTINUUM, Gunjan Gupta collaborated with craft connoisseur Lekha Poddar to create functional objects in partnership with India’s master craftsmen and ateliers. Mumbai-based Studio Nyn unveiled a collection of collectible design pieces with artists Thamshangpa (Merci) Maku and Anikesa Dhing, blurring the lines between form and imagination.

Gunjan Gupta | image courtesy of Gunjan Gupta

Visitor at Studio Raw Material at India Art Fair 2025

A RICH TALKS PROGRAM and India’s first craft prize announced

IAF’s ambitious talks program, Growing Focus, supported by JSW, featured an impressive roster of speakers curated by independent researcher and curator Shaleen Wadhwana. Leading artists, designers, gallerists, global museum directors, patrons, and market specialists from around the world convened to examine the growing prominence of South Asia in contemporary art, design, and culture. Across three days, the fair hosted 17 talks, with speakers including Claire Fontaine, Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director at the Serpentine Galleries), and Ute Meta Bauer (Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore), among many others.

‘This is a real opportunity to start thinking about new connections, new networks; really building more links between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia and thinking about how we can show the world what a collective humanity looks like, moving away from those colonial narratives that we are all trying to sidestep, to really shape a new narrative,’ mentions Azu Nwagbogu, founder and director of African Artists’ Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival. Nwagbogu participated in Museums as Incubators, a panel discussion with Naomi Beckwith (Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Artistic Director, Documenta 16), Tasneem Zakaria Mehta (Managing Trustee and Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum), and Ferran Barenblit (Independent Curator, Former Director, MACBA and CA2M, Spain). Moderated by Kamini Sawhney (Independent Curator and Board Member, CIMAM), the panel explored how intergenerational support in museums fosters conscious cultural leadership, bolsters marginalized narratives beyond tokenistic representation, and provides a realistic perspective on the work that remains to be done.

Renowned artists Shirazeh Houshiary, Bharti Kher, and Pushpamala N. participated in BMW’s Art Talk, From Introspection to Impact: Artists Shaping the World, moderated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Girst, Head of Cultural Engagement, BMW Group. The conversation explored how artists, in an increasingly polarized world, can encourage deeper thought and challenge conventional perspectives, fostering kinship and solidarity across borders and generations. The panelists discussed how artists reflect the world’s evolution through their work, bridging cultural ecosystems—a role that aligns with BMW’s ongoing commitment to art and culture.

Artists Shirazeh Houshiary, Bharti Kher and Pushpamala N. with moderator Prof. Dr Thomas Girst at the BMW Art Talk | image courtesy BMW AG and India Art Fair

During the fair, the Swali Craft Prize, India’s first grant recognizing contemporary craft innovation, was also launched, marking a transformative moment in the country’s interdisciplinary artistic landscape. Founded by Karishma Swali and the Chanakya Foundation in partnership with the India Art Fair, the Craft Prize is an ode to exceptional craftsmanship that bridges heritage with contemporary expression. The winning artist will co-create an ambitious installation with the Chanakya School of Craft, to be unveiled at India Art Fair 2026.

Floor Lamp Concrete Base 7 by Nacho Carbonell, on view at Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s booth | image courtesy of the gallery

Visitor at GALLERYSKE

inside the BMW Collectors’ Lounge | image courtesy BMW AG and India Art Fair

Julio Le Parc at Galleria Continua

Weeping Ancestors by Atul Dodiya at Vadehra Art Gallery

Visitors at 1X1 Art Gallery

Kunel Gaur’s stainless steel-framed works at Method gallery | image © designboom

project info:

name: India Art Fair 2025 | @indiaartfair

presenting partner: BMW India | @bmwindia_official

dates: 6-9 February 2025

location: NSIC Exhibition Grounds, New Delhi

The 17th edition of India Art Fair will take place at NSIC Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi from 5-8 February 2026.

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Brazilian sculptor Henrique Oliveira displayed his large-scale sculptures at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 with his latest installation, presented in collaboration with Maison Ruinart at the Ruinart Lounge. The pieces, three monumental freestanding sculptures made from recycled plywood and papier-mâché, are part of Ruinart’s 2024 Carte Blanche initiative, Conversations with Nature, which celebrates a decade of intertwining art and sustainability.

This year, Ruinart invited six international artists to interpret the relationship between humanity and nature, each offering a unique perspective on the theme. The team at Ruinart notes that Oliveira’s work evokes the labyrinthine chalk caves of the Champagne region, where the brand ages its champagne, drawing a thoughtful connection between natural history and craftsmanship. designboom met with the artist at Art Basel Miami Beach to experience the Ruinart Lounge and learn about his artistic process — see the full guide to Miami Art & Design Week 2024 here.

images courtesy Maison Ruinart

sculpting the natural forms of maison ruinart

Artist Henrique Oliveira’s sculptures for Maison Ruinart, towering with vine- and branch-like structures, reflects his ongoing fascination with nature’s forms. Its twisting and expansive design evokes the underground chalk pits of Reims, which have shaped the Champagne region’s legacy. ‘I have always worked with these tangled branches and vine-like forms. Even before creating sculptures, these shapes were present in my paintings,’ the artist tells designboom.

The materials, sourced from construction waste and discarded wood, emphasize the artist’s commitment to sustainability. ‘The plywood and bark I use were once part of trees, cut and transformed into industrial products, then discarded. I recover these materials and give them a second life. For this piece, I created a skeleton from flexible plywood, applied papier-mâché, and layered bark on top to mimic natural textures,’ he explains.

Henrique Oliveira presented monumental sculptures at Art Basel Miami Beach with Maison Ruinart

the artist’s process of three dimensional collage

Displayed at the Ruinart Lounge, Henrique Oliveira’s work mirrors contemporary struggles with environmental stewardship. ‘Nature used to be something humans feared—wild forests and dangerous animals. Now, it’s disappearing under the weight of human occupation,’ he said. ‘We put so much effort into recreating something that looks like nature. The process is like a puzzle, piecing together discarded parts to create something that appears effortless but is anything but.’

The sculptures’ undulating forms suggest both organic growth and surreal interpretations. ‘In nature, it’s rare to find a vine or tree this size, yet the movement hints at something animal-like, perhaps a lizard or snake. There’s a sense of infinite growth and recycling — an echo of the cycles within nature itself,’ Oliveira adds.

A painter by training, Oliveira sees his sculptures as three-dimensional extensions of his pictorial practice. ‘My background is in painting, and the textures and layering in my sculptures are deeply tied to that,’ he notes. His journey from two-dimensional work on plywood to large-scale, site-specific sculptures reflects an organic evolution. ‘The scratches on plywood once reminded me of brushstrokes. Eventually, I began building three-dimensional works that interacted with architecture, evolving my practice into what it is today.’

the sculptures are made from recycled plywood, bark, and papier-mâché

twisting vine-like forms reflect Oliveira’s fascination with nature’s shapes and organic growth

materials are sourced from discarded wood and construction waste

Oliveira’s process involves creating a skeleton, applying papier-mâché, and layering bark for natural textures

the sculptures explore humanity’s shifting relationship with nature and environmental stewardship

the forms suggest both surreal interpretations and echoes of nature’s cycles of growth and decay

project info:

artist: Henrique Oliveira | @henriqueoliveira.studio

location: Ruinart Lounge, Art Basel Miami Beach | @artbasel

collaborator: Maison Ruinart | @ruinart

on view: December 6th — 8th, 2024

photography: courtesy Maison Ruinart

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For the 2024 edition of Art Basel Paris, the culinary studio We Are Ona partners with renowned artist Carsten Höller to create a striking monochromatic pop-up dining experience. Set in a historic Parisian train station, the exhibition-like project promises a fully immersive, black-and-white scenography—except for the food and drinks, which provide a vibrant contrast. The unique event is inspired by Höller’s Brutalist Kitchen Manifesto and is developed in collaboration with his restaurant, Brutalisten. Chefs Coen Dieleman and Stefan Eriksson bring the concept to life from October 14th to 20th. 

To learn more about this creative culinary collaboration, including the design, scenography, materiality, and overall concept of the pop-up, designboom spoke with Luca Pronzato, Founder and Creative Culinary Director of We Are Ona. ‘The entire restaurant will be designed in black and white,’ Pronzato explains. ‘The only colors will come from the food, the wine, and, of course, the guests themselves.’ Read on for a deeper dive into the project and Pronzato’s insights.

all images by Benoit Florençon, unless stated otherwise

a unicolor culinary experience at art basel paris

Coinciding with the 2024 Art Basel Paris fair, the pop-up takes place inside an iconic Parisian train station, where the Stockholm-based restaurant Brutalisten and culinary studio We Are Ona have crafted a striking unicolor experience. The immersive scenography is presented in black and white, with the only splashes of color coming from the food and drinks. The space features black chairs, gray napkins, gray uniforms, and white plates. Lighting experts from Flos have designed a stunning installation that enhances the atmosphere, while even the station’s windows are coated with special paint to maintain the monochrome aesthetic, as Pronzato explains. Chefs Coen Dieleman and Stefan Eriksson will present a six-course tasting menu for lunch and an eight-course menu for dinner, accompanied by a carefully curated beverage selection by Brutalisten and Luca Pronzato.

We Are Ona partners with Carsten Höller to create a monochromatic pop-up dining experience

interview with Luca Pronzato

designboom (DB): Can you share a bit about this collaboration with Carsten Höller? How did the idea for it come about? 

Luca Pronzato (LP): At We Are Ona, we create unique and ephemeral culinary experiences around the world. We organize pop-up restaurants and culinary events, often collaborating with luxury brands. Over the years, we’ve developed a program that brings our pop-up restaurants to various cities, often aligning with major events like art fairs, design fairs, and fashion weeks. We carefully curate not only chefs but also artists, designers, architects, and photographers, allowing them to express their vision through the We Are Ona culinary experience. They share their interpretation of the dining experience and service through their own creative lens. For this edition, we are extremely honored and excited to welcome Brutalisten restaurant from Stockholm and the artist Carsten Höller. Carsten is creating the scenography and has also brought an incredible manifesto based on his concept of cuisine called the Brutalist Kitchen Manifesto.

As for how this collaboration came about, we were fortunate that Brutalisten reached out to us last year. I used to work at Noma in Copenhagen, and one of the chefs there, who now works at Geranium, is a good friend. We’ve stayed in touch, following each other’s projects, and from there, the idea for this collaboration emerged. 

the project promises black-and-white scenography

DB: Walk us through the overall concept of the pop-up experience.

LP: We’ve been really fortunate to base this experience on the Brutalist Kitchen Manifesto, which is rooted in a very unique concept. One of the key ideas is to cook a dish using only salt and water, with just a single ingredient. The simplicity of cooking one ingredient with salt and water is central to the manifesto, allowing the essence of that ingredient to really shine. To enhance this concept, Carsten decided to create a restaurant that plays with chromatic contrasts. The entire restaurant will be designed in black and white, immersing guests in a monochromatic experience. The only colors present will come from the food, the wine, and, of course, the guests themselves. It’s one of those things where you either go all in or you don’t do it at all, so it requires a lot of precision. From the black tables to the black, white, and gray elements—everything needed to fit into this color palette. Carsten believes the gray tones are an essential extension of this concept, creating a certain atmosphere. So, we have black chairs, gray napkins, gray uniforms, and white plates.

We’ve been really fortunate to have Flos involved—they’re installing an incredible lighting installation throughout the space that complements and enhances the experience. Even the windows had to be covered with a special paint to maintain the monochrome setting. It’s really something special. The amount of work that goes into each of our pop-ups is huge. We put a lot of effort into respecting the scenography and creating an honest, fully immersive experience.

lighting experts from Flos have designed a stunning installation that enhances the atmosphere

DB: Can you tell us more about the location, the train station? 

LP: When we decide to do a pop-up in different cities with We Are Ona, we always make sure to respect the time and place. It’s important to us that the location represents the essence of the city we are in. This particular pop-up is really special because it’s set in a historic and iconic train station in Paris. Inside the station, there’s an old bank—a raw, untouched space—and that’s where we’ll be creating this experience.

the unique event is inspired by Höller’s Brutalist Kitchen Manifesto

DB: From old buildings to water reservoirs and now, a train station, your settings capture industrialism and the passing of time. How would you describe your approach to context-based scenography? 

LP: I’m a big fan of the idea of ‘time and place.’ I love the concept of guests connecting with the city—or even reconnecting with their own city, especially when it’s a place they’ve lived in for years. There’s something magical about pushing open a door and discovering a new way of seeing New York, Paris, or London through a culinary experience.

For visitors, it’s not just about the food but also about understanding the city they’re in, because the building itself represents the essence of that place. The culinary experience enhances this, almost like an art exhibition—but here, you’re living in the art. You consume the design, the art, and the space, making the experience alive and immersive.

For me, location is an extension of the geography we’re in. It’s the foundation of our work. Whether it’s a raw, industrial space, a historic palazzo in Venice, or a skyscraper in New York’s financial district, the location reflects the city we’re in. It’s not always about brutalist or raw spaces—it’s about finding venues that truly represent the city, and they’re often places that aren’t traditional restaurants.

food, drinks, and guests add color to the black-and-white experience

DB: Is there a dream site you would like to take on at some point?

LP: That’s a tough question. If I had to choose a dream setting, something at the top of my list, it would definitely involve being close to nature—maybe on the water, on the sand, or even somewhere in Paris, blending the city with nature. And if we’re really dreaming big, I would like to do something on the moon!

chefs Coen Dieleman and Stefan Eriksson bring the concept to life

DB: Having been part of the industry for so long, what key ideas do you believe are essential to highlight when creating these unique scenography and culinary experiences?

LP: For me, culinary direction—or creative culinary direction—at We Are Ona is made up of two key elements: set design and culinary creativity. The set design includes the location, the table, the chairs, the lighting, and the overall atmosphere that creates the environment. Then, the culinary direction focuses on the chef’s choices, the service, and how the dishes are presented.

It’s important to understand that, for us, a culinary experience is the sum of all these details. It’s not just about the set design, or just about the food and service. It’s the combination of everything—carefully crafted down to the smallest detail—that makes the experience truly unique. One thing we prioritize is understanding the dimensions of the space and finding the right perspective. Perspective is incredibly important in how we create these immersive culinary experiences.

developed in collaboration with Brutalisten, Carsten Höller

special paint coats the station’s windows to maintain the monochrome aesthetic

the space features black chairs, gray napkins, gray uniforms, and white plates

Luca Pronzato and Carsten Höller | image by Pierre Björk

project info: 

name: We Are Ona x Brutalisten & The Brutalist Kitchen Manifesto by Carsten Höller

artist: We Are Ona | @we.are.ona in collaboration with Carsten Höller – Brutalisten | @brutalisten
location: 39 Bd de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris
dates: 14-20 October 2024 

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For Art Basel Paris 2024, Louis Vuitton celebrates Frank Gehry by bringing his monumental white fish lamp and more inside the Grand Palais. The lighting adorns the Balcon d’Honneur of the palace and illuminates the space at night, and a wooden arch made of slats in geometric patterns encircles the fish lamp, which Frank Gehry also exhibited at Gagosian New York. The exhibition is the Maison’s homage to many of the architect’s designs and works with them, on view at the Grand Palais from October 18th to 20th for the 2024 edition of Art Basel Paris.

Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton have had 20 years of collaboration. The architect, artist, and designer is the mastermind behind Maison Louis Vuitton Seoul, which opened its doors in 2019, featuring its glass-covered exterior and fluid lines. He also created a collection of stoppers for the Maison’s Les Extraits perfume bottles in 2021, as well as reimagined ones for the 2022 Les Editions d’Art, this time made from Murano glass. In 2023, Louis Vuitton presented Frank Gehry’s debut collection of handbags at Art Basel Miami, all inspired by his portfolio of architecture.

all images courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Louis vuitton brings frank gehry’s handbag collection to paris

Frank Gehry’s white fish lamp in the Grand Palais is accompanied by a series of his many collaborations with Louis Vuitton, including his handbag collection at Art Basel Miami in 2023. In Paris, the Maison encases these bags in glass for visitors to see firsthand. They’re inspired by the architect’s style, which often exudes flowing lines and ballooned or reconfigured shapes. As visitors roam around, they catch sight of the Capucines Mini Blossom and Mini Puzzle bags and their colored surfaces, harking back to the architect’s take on transparency and botanical-plant shapes.

The other bags, namely the Capucines MM Concrete Pockets, BB Shimmer Haze, and BB Analog, take direct inspiration from the buildings he designed, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle; and the IAC Building in New York City. There’s a totemic animal symbol on the limited-edition collection, which appears on the handbags in varying forms. They seem like fish scales, as seen in his hanging lamp, or like an alligator, as seen in the handle of the BB Croc bag.

for Art Basel Paris 2024, Louis Vuitton celebrates Frank Gehry through an exhibition

‘Twisted trunk’ box version of the monogram canvas trunk

Louis Vuitton may be much more recognizable for their Monogram canvas trunk, and it’s a fated meeting between two icons in their respective fields the moment Frank Gehry designed his iteration of it in 2014. It’s the Celebrating Monogram collection, and the architect released it for the Maison’s 160th anniversary. 

The look of his Twisted Box trunk reveals exactly how the name sounds: it’s semi-deformed, on the verge of a twist. Visitors to Art Basel Paris and Grand Palais are afforded this Louis Vuitton trunk design, and when they have enough time to stay one of the nights between October 18th and 20th, they may be able to see the white fish lamp glow.

the exhibition showcases many of Frank Gehry’s works with and for Louis Vuitton

arch made of wooden slats around the fish lamp

the fish lamps have been shown in a Gagosian exhibition in New York

detailed view of the fish lamp, illuminated at night

inside Grand Palais during Art Basel Paris 2024

the making of Capucines Mini Blossom handbag

detailed view of the paper crafting

the exhibition is on view until October 20th, 2024

project info:

architect: Frank Gehry | @frankgehry_official

maison: Louis Vuitton | @louisvuitton

event: Art Basel Paris 2024 | @artbasel

venue: Grand Palais, Paris, France

dates: October 18th to 20th, 2024

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Miu Miu partners with Art Basel Paris’ Public Program, unveiling Tales & Tellers, a dynamic project conceived by artist Goshka Macuga and organized by Elvira Dyangani Ose, with OMA taking over the exhibition design. Running until October 20th, 2024, at the historic Palais d’Iéna, the project explores women’s stories and experiences through a combination of film footage, video installations, and live performances. Actors reenact scenes from Miu Miu’s past film collaborations and runway shows, blending these original stories with real-life interpretations, creating an immersive, multi-layered narrative experience, and highlighting the Italian brand’s ongoing commitment to exploring femininity through fashion, film, and art.

all images by t-space studio, courtesy of Miu Miu

Tales & Tellers: A Dynamic Exploration of Womanhood

Building on Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales initiative, which since 2011 has given female filmmakers a platform to express diverse ideas of womanhood, Tales & Tellers, designed by OMA, uses a range of media to tell women’s stories. The event by the Italian luxury house features video pieces and live performances where actors embody characters from previous Miu Miu film collaborations, transforming the space into a dynamic, multilayered narrative. These performances bring past stories to life, allowing the audience to witness a retelling of memories and experiences through fresh perspectives.

In addition to the performances, Tales & Tellers screens all films from the Women’s Tales series, accompanied by panel discussions with directors and artists including Chloë Sevigny, Meriem Bennani, Laura Citarella, and many more. These conversations are not just about their films but also delve into their personal histories and the inspirations behind their creative work. The event offers a deeper understanding of the storytelling process, celebrating women as custodians of their own narratives while opening a dialogue on how their stories shape and reflect the world around them.

Miu Miu partners with Art Basel Paris’ Public Program in Tales & Tellers project

conceived by artist Goshka Macuga and organized by Elvira Dyangani Ose

running until October 20th, 2024, at the historic Palais d’Iéna

the project explores women’s stories and experiences

actors reenact scenes from Miu Miu’s past film collaborations and runway shows

Tales & Tellers blends original stories with real-life interpretations

highlighting the Italian brand’s ongoing commitment to exploring femininity through fashion, film, and art

Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales initiative has given female filmmakers a platform to express ideas of womanhood

Tales & Tellers uses a range of media to tell women’s stories

the event by the Italian luxury house features video pieces and live performances

project info:

name: Tales & Tellers
brand: Miu Miu | @miumiu
exhibition design: OMA | @oma.eu
concept artist: Goshka Macuga | @gonogo.space
curator: Elvira Dyangani Ose | @edyanganiose
photography: t-space studio | @t_space_studio
program: Art Basel Paris | @artbasel

The post miu miu celebrates women’s stories in immersive tales & tellers show during art basel paris appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.