Multidisciplinary artist Dionysios presents Precarious Design, a series of objects and installations that explore fragility, impermanence, and improvisation. The works span design, sculpture, and installation, appearing suspended between utility and artifact, carrying the traces of time, use, and human care. designboom discusses with Dionysios how found and salvaged materials carry memory, how fragility becomes a source of resilience, and how his series transforms instability into functional, ritual-infused objects. The artist shares insights on shaping experience, embracing impermanence, and creating works where scarcity and care become central to design. ‘Precariousness is not weakness; it’s a form of truth. It forces you to stay alert, to remain awake to the present moment,’ Dionysios notes during our interview.

Rooted in his background in clinical psychology, the Greek artist approaches each project as a choreography of experience. ‘I often think less like a “maker” and more like a choreographer of experience: how someone interacts with the work, what they feel without realizing why, and how they might leave changed.’ Dionysios is drawn to the histories embedded in materials. ‘They carry memory. A found object has already lived a life before it enters my work. Scratches, dents, traces of touch, passage of time. When I use it, I’m not starting from zero; I’m in conversation with that past,’ he tells designboom. 

Meditation on Time | image by Raf Souliotis, courtesy of Onassis Foundation

precarious design explores human interaction

The Precarious Design series was presented in two contexts during the Art Athina 2025 fair. At Taxidi Tinos’ booth in the Design section, Cave Drawings inscribes sun and moon motifs in gold and silver leaf on rusted steel, their lacquered backs recalling couture linings while their corroded surfaces evoke humanity’s earliest marks. Across town at the art and design platform Spazio Altro, the exhibition PLAYDATE gathered objects including the Koutsombola (gossip bench), Balance Chair, Surrealist Side Table, and Totem. These pieces combine marble fragments, ancient timbers, and repurposed plastics into provisional yet fully functional forms, while gold leaf applied to century-old cypress logs and olive roots imbues salvaged matter with symbolic weight.

For Dionysios, the conceptual approach of Precarious Design stems from his broader practice. ‘We live in a world that sells us permanence and perfection, but in reality everything is temporary, everything shifts. Relationships, cities, even nature feel unstable. Through Precarious Design, and my practice overall, I don’t try to disguise that, I highlight it,’ he reflects. The series builds on the artist’s ongoing exploration of impermanence, which he has pursued in other works such as Meditation on Time (2022), presented at Onassis Stegi’s Plásmata 3 in Athens, and the durational performance Meditation on Light (2023) at the Great Pyramids of Giza. Read on for our full conversation with the Athens- and Paris-based artist.

Meditation on Time (2022) was presented at Onassis Stegi’s Plásmata 3 in Athens

designboom interviews dionysios

designboom (DB): You started out in clinical psychology. How does that background influence the way you create?

Dionysios (D): Psychology gave me a way to think in terms of relationships and dynamics. Whether I’m making a sculpture, a design object, a digital piece, or a large-scale installation, I’m not just arranging forms, I’m shaping behavior, atmosphere, even silence. It trained me to see the conscious and unconscious simultaneously, to notice what’s expressed and what’s left unspoken. I often think less like a ‘maker’ and more like a choreographer of experience: how someone interacts with the work, what they feel without realizing why, and how they might leave changed. I don’t use psychology as a method anymore, but it remains the quiet foundation of how I see people, spaces, and the interactions between them.

a crystallized truck as meditation on time, divinity, and reflection | image via @bydionysios

DB: When did you realize you wanted to work across sculpture, installation, and digital media rather than just one medium?

D: I don’t think there was a single moment. For me, it was never about choosing a discipline. It was about choosing the right language for each idea. Sometimes an idea needs the weight of a physical object, other times it needs to stretch into space and become an environment, and other times it belongs in the digital layer that now shadows our lives. What excites me is the movement between these forms, how they overlap, contradict, or amplify each other. I guess I realized quite early that confining myself to one medium would feel like cutting the wings off the work before it even began.

a relic from the future | image via @bydionysios

DB: Many of your pieces use discarded or salvaged objects. What draws you to these materials?

D: They carry memory. A found object has already lived a life before it enters my work. Scratches, dents, traces of touch, passage of time. When I use them, I’m not starting from zero; I’m in conversation with that past. There’s also something democratic about it: these objects are ordinary, recognizable, and almost invisible in their daily use, but when you shift their context, they reveal new meanings. And personally, I like the tension between fragility and endurance, an old car part, a worn surface, an ancient piece of wood, or a marble scrap. They are both vulnerable and resilient. I am also a huge advocate for sustainability, not as a political stance, but as a way of being. There is an abundance of materials to work with and transform.

Sunset Chair | image courtesy of the artist

DB: Can you explain Precarious Design in your own words?

D: Precarious Design is the more functional, sculptural side of my practice. For me, it’s about embracing instability rather than hiding it. We live in a world that sells us permanence and perfection, but in reality everything is temporary, everything shifts. Relationships, cities, even nature feel unstable.

Through Precarious Design, and my practice overall, I don’t try to disguise that, I highlight it. A work might look monumental, but if you look closer you see its sensitivity, its ability to change or even collapse. Expanding this into functional design pieces is my way of stretching the idea into the tangible, the everyday, creating objects to live with. Precariousness is not weakness; it’s a form of truth. It forces you to stay alert, to remain awake to the present moment.

Balance Chair 2 | image courtesy of Spazio Altro

DB: Your work often explores fragility and impermanence. Why are these ideas important to you?

D: Because they are unavoidable. Everything I’ve learned, through psychology, through life, through making, points back to impermanence. Objects decay, bodies age, structures fall apart. But within that transience, you also find a strange kind of eternity. Life itself is fragile and impermanent. I think it would be almost arrogant to create something that pretends to last forever. I’d rather make something that speaks to the present, to this exact encounter with the viewer. If it lasts, that’s beyond me. But the ephemerality, that’s where the intensity comes from. It’s a paradox I keep returning to: the eternal inside the temporary.

Dionysios approaches each project as a choreography of experience | image courtesy of the artist

DB: Meditation on Light at the Pyramids sounds incredible! What was it like to show your work there?

D: It was surreal, intense, overwhelming, probably the most transformative experience I’ve had to date. I went with the intention to present a perfect gold carpet at the feet of the pyramids, only for the desert to bury it, to destroy it. That’s when I truly understood my work and myself: learning to surrender to external forces and let the piece become what it is meant to be. It turned into a long-durational, performative installation rather than a monumental static object. People from the desert, camel riders, exhibition visitors, and guides all came each day to help add gold leaf, knowing it would be erased at night and start again the next day. It taught me humility and the power of collective effort. What moved me most was the fleeting nature of the work coexisting, even briefly, with something that has stood for thousands of years. That tension between the ephemeral and the eternal is exactly where my practice lives.

Meditation on Light at Great Pyramids of Giza – Art d’Egypte 2023 | image courtesy of the artist

DB: Looking ahead, what directions or experiments excite you most in your work?

D: I want to keep pushing the boundaries of where art can live. That means larger public works in iconic locations. But also unexpected collaborations with technology, theater, maybe even cinema or fashion. I’m interested in how an installation can shift when it meets the dramaturgy of a stage or the rigor of a science lab, and how an object might function in a ritual outside of the white cube. At the same time, I’m continuing to explore the overlap between the physical and the digital, not in a loud, ‘tech-first’ way, but in subtle infusions where nature, light, and code intertwine. Ultimately, what excites me is keeping the work alive, unstable, open to mutation. I don’t want a fixed formula. I want to surprise myself, and by extension, the audience.

Koutsombola chair | image courtesy of Spazio Altro

Dionysios portrait | image by Dio color

project info:

name: Precarious Design

artist: Dionysios | @bydionysios

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the Reception Salon | all images © Jean Allard

THREE UNIQUE SALON CONCEPTS BY STUDIO GGSV IN PARIS

Founded in 2011 by Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard, Studio GGSV takes a multidisciplinary approach that spans design, installation, exhibition curation, and interior architecture. The duo, known for their experimental use of illusion and trompe-l’œil, were residents at the Villa Medici in 2018 for a research project exploring the application of painting to objects and architecture. Their works are part of the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the CNAP, and the Mobilier National, and they have been commissioned by institutions and brands including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Fondation Rothschild, Hermès, Chanel, and Galeries Lafayette. In 2023, they won the call for proposals Re-enchanting the Villa Medici with their project Camera Fantasia, and are currently presenting the monumental installation Grand Feu to mark the 200th anniversary of the Musée de la Céramique in Sèvres.

In this commission, the Paris-based design duo blurs the boundaries between architecture, décor, and furniture. Patterns, materials, and forms echo and extend one another to create a unified yet unconventional whole. The result is three environments: the Reception Salon, the Conversation Salon, and the Reading Salon. 

the Conversation Salon

The Reception Salon

‘Working with Mobilier National’s carpenters, we created a modular furniture system with an architectural scale — flexible enough to generate multiple pieces from the same structure. Its form references the curves of Louis XIII furniture, but reimagined with alternating black and white laminated layers that transform the surfaces depending on the angle,’ Studio GGSV explains. ‘The result is a contemporary ensemble that honors tradition while pointing toward new possibilities.’

hypnotic black-and-white rhythms recall the twisted columns of Louis XIII style

The Conversation Salon

the Conversation Salon is organized around a large hexagonal sofa

The Reading Salon

the Reading Salon

rocks, mountains, and vegetation intertwine to create a dreamlike landscape

romantic landscapes cover the walls, floor, and ceiling

overhead, a luminous ceiling disc evokes a shifting sky

‘the second room takes inspiration from the garden,’ shares Studio GGSV

the Reception Salon explores the dialogue between architectural structure and applied décor

classical and baroque references merge with art deco geometry, forming a layered composition

Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard of Studio GGSV

project info:

name: Les Salons de l’imaginaire (The Salons of Imagination)

designer: Studio GGSV | @studio_ggsv

location: Manufactures nationales 

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At On Labs Tokyo, a unique experience center in Japan’s capital city, the future of sports innovation is on full show. From September 13-21, 2025, visitors can witness a robot spray a complete, ultralight shoe upper in just three minutes. This is not merely a technical demonstration; it’s a peek into how the Swiss sportswear brand On is blending cutting-edge technology with a deep attention for the human element of design. The pop-up space may showcase innovations like LightSpray technology and the Cloudboom Strike LS running shoe, but throughout, activations – from athlete talks and panels to workshops and runs – bring the city’s sports community together to emphasize how the athlete remains at the heart of their design process.

designboom spoke with Pablo Erat, Director of LightSpray, and Johannes Voelchert, Senior Lead for Innovation Technology Exploration, at On Labs Tokyo to explore the brand’s new innovation, athlete-led design, and community engagement.

designboom visits On Labs Tokyo to see LightSpray in action

all images courtesy of On

ON’S LIGHTSPRAY REVOLUTION

On’s design philosophy is rooted in Swiss engineering and a commitment to precision and efficiency. This approach has given rise to LightSpray, a revolutionary manufacturing process that enhances a robot to create ultralight, seamless shoe uppers in a single step. The brand‘s innovative technique sprays a shoe upper in just three minutes, reducing production time and paving the way for localized manufacturing.

‘LightSpray is the future. It is a radical sustainable technology in itself. It has created a shoe upper from just one material. We can develop new designs by manipulating filament into several shapes. There’s a lot to play with, and at On, we wish to be the leader of this material technology,’ begins Johannes Voelchert, Senior Lead for Innovation Technology Exploration.

the revolutionary manufacturing process uses a robot to create ultralight, seamless shoe uppers in a single step

LightSpray also ushers in a new era of sustainability. The process significantly minimizes waste and reduces an upper’s carbon emissions by 75% compared to other On racing shoes. It’s a technology that not only enhances performance but also helps the planet. The first product to feature this innovation, the Cloudboom Strike LS, weighs an exceptionally light 170g and provides a seamless, precision fit that adapts to the foot. This design introduces a completely new look and silhouette to performance footwear.

by spraying a shoe upper in three minutes, the process reduces production time and enables localized manufacturing

While the Cloudboom Strike LS is the first application of this technology, On’s team believes LightSpray has the potential to revolutionize all kinds of wearable products in the future, including apparel and accessories.

‘In the future, accessories and various types of shoe variations might be possible. It is important that On doesn’t produce something just because it can be produced with this technology. As a brand, we are very critical with ourselves. Even in terms of shoe models, we always ask ourselves whether we can significantly improve this product and if it truly solves the customer desire. If the answer is yes, then it makes sense to design and produce. This is what we need to consider for LightSpray,’ clarifies Pablo Erat, Director of LightSpray.

the Cloudboom Strike LS is the first application of this technology

ON ATHLETE, FEEDBACK, AND POWER OF COMMUNITY

Despite the focus on advanced robotics and automation, On’s design team highlights the crucial role of human input. The brand’s innovation is not solely driven by technology; it is sparked by the human body, mind, and environment.

‘Innovation and creativity is made by the friction between your environment and brain,’ explains Pablo. ‘Athletes are definitely a really important source. This is not only about the validation of something that we have developed, but how their ideas and feedback can spark completely new dimensions.’

On Labs Tokyo connects the sports community through activations like athlete talks, workshops, and runs

‘On works in a very human way. This collaboration extends from technological development to athletic performance. The human factor of athletes means we can tailor innovations to those special needs. It is so valuable to work closely and gain their visions,’ notes Johannes.

Athlete feedback is a vital source of inspiration. On works directly with high-performance athletes like Olympic medalist Hellen Obiri and two-time Tokyo marathon winner Sutume Asefa Kebede, who have been wearing development versions of LightSpray shoes in races since April 2025. The rapid prototyping capabilities of LightSpray allow On to test different design variations with athletes and quickly iterate on feedback, a process that can happen from day to day. This collaborative approach ensures that the final product truly solves a problem and meets a specific athlete’s needs.

‘Our interactive design process is a huge advantage,’ adds Pablo. ‘Our lab allows athletes to work directly next to where we work, meaning we can do a 3D scan of their foot, make a prototype that can be tested, and create iterations basically from day to day. This is more important in terms of the early stages of product development. With multiple different athletes, we can do a lot of variation to figure out the best product model for the athlete, develop it, and launch future models.’

visitors can get personalized running analysis, trial On’s latest products, and see LightSpray in action

Community activations, like the one in Tokyo, are essential to this philosophy. On Labs Tokyo is a space where the public can get a personalized running analysis, trial the brand’s latest products, and see technology like LightSpray in action. These events foster a connection between the brand, athletes, and the community, reinforcing the idea that innovation is a shared journey.

In a world increasingly shaped by automation, On’s approach to design stands out. By prioritizing the human element – from the insights of elite athletes to the dreams of its innovators – the brand is proving that even the most advanced technology should be built on a foundation of creativity, community, and a commitment to bettering human performance.

from September 13-21, 2025, On Labs Tokyo connects On, athletes, and sports enthusiasts

the rapid prototyping capabilities of LightSpray allow On to test different design variations with athletes

the experience center emphasizes how athletes remains at the heart of On’s design process

Johannes Voelchert, Senior Lead for Innovation Technology Exploration, led the LightSpray development

project info:

brand: On

event: On Labs Tokyo

location: 6-35-6 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

dates: September 13-21, 2025

The post On Labs Tokyo demonstrates human-centric design philosophy in robotic world appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Inside Milan’s Fondazione Prada, Alex Da Corte pays homage to Claes Oldenburg’s Mouse Museum (1965-1977) through a multitude of pop culture and art objects encased in a singular, panoramic glass pane. On view from September 18th, 2025, the exhibition and installation sit on the eighth floor of the Torre building within Fondazione Prada’s lot as part of Atlas, the foundation’s exhibition project presenting solo or comparative works by artists across the eight floors of the building. For the first time, visitors experience these two installations at once in the same space because the two mini museums – one by Claes Oldenburg and the other by Alex Da Corte – stand next to each other. When viewed from above, the structure housing the Swedish-born American sculptor’s collection is shaped like a cartoon mouse head and an early movie camera, drawn from his drawing named Geometric House.

In Alex Da Corte’s case, there’s a macabre twist: his structure looks like a cut-off left ear of the mouse, a reference to the episode of Vincent van Gogh’s life. Inside both of the mini museums, a collection of objects appeals to the visitors, reflecting on mass production and consumer culture as well as the ever-changing trends in pop culture. In an interview with designboom during the preview of Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022) inside Milan’s Fondazione Prada, Alex Da Corte tells us that he arranged the collection as a sort of self-portrait. When asked if they reflect his life, a peek into his daily practice, he shares with us: ‘I’m not interested in revealing a specific event or part of myself. I think viewers see what they see and find their own lives in the objects, whether or not they know the work’s source. We project meaning onto objects because they ground us and make a safe space.’

all images courtesy of Fondazione Prada | exhibition photos by Delfino Sisto Legnani – DSL Studio

Personal objects in varying color intensity for the exhibition

Alex Da Corte’s Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022) inside Milan’s Fondazione Prada mirrors the curation and artistic practice of Claes Oldenburg’s Mouse Museum (1965-1977). The similarities occur in amassing and presenting mass-produced and pop-culture objects, but the saturation and shade of the objects seem shifted. It may be due to the aging of the objects, but in Claes Oldenburg’s space, the repertoire is hushed, earthy, wooden, domestic. In Alex Da Corte’s room, the colors are louder, the objects are familiar and recent, and the arrangement has a comic tinge. In terms of color, the Venezuelan-American artist explains to designboom that it is important in his practice.

‘Color for me is essential. Color relates to a psychological state. Colors chosen for products are meant to attract or repel. Depending on taste, you might dislike something just because of its color,’ he says. ‘When arranging things here, it’s often about color; painting in space with objects. Claes also had a perfect sense for color. His objects are rich, maybe a different tonality, but similarly colorful.’ Away from the shade, the technique in presenting the Mouse Museum collection inside Fondazione Prada links the artistic practice between the two artists. The order is not alphabetical, by material, or based on production year, yet in both museums, the items relate through a loosely associative sequence, relying mostly on visual similarities and suggestive connections.

exhibition view of Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022) by Alex Da Corte

Alex Da Corte mirrors Claes Oldenburg’s collecting practice

Playful personal objects show up in Alex Da Corte’s Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) inside Milan’s Fondazione Prada. Among them is a Harry Potter magic wand, a Bart Simpson thermos, kitchen utensils, a plastic beer pong cup, and a foam cast of Marcel Duchamp’s face. There’s also the ceramic-glazed Garfield statue, a yellow rooster with a tail made of quill feathers, wearable feet gloves that resemble real skin, beer bottles, brooms, a miniature disco ball, a blasted pumpkin, and perhaps the showstopper, a zombie-looking head atop a lamp base. These peculiar objects mirror the ones inside Claes Oldenburg’s Mouse Museum: a rotting slice of pie, a balloon shaped like a human leg, an enlarged cluster of bananas, a giant ceramic ear, and even a miniaturized ladder.

‘Looking at Claes’s works today, I don’t know the objects, but I’m amused or reminded of something. I imagine where they came from and their function,’ Alex Da Corte shares with designboom. ‘My interest comes from thrift stores, where you find a fragment of an object and wonder about its function. Without its original purpose, it can have a new life. Seeing a second or third life for objects is exciting.’ For the artist, it feels like a dream come true seeing the objects collected by Claes Oldenburg for his Mouse Museum for the first time in Fondazione Prada. ‘I only knew them through photographs in the book, and those were in black and white. To experience the colors and textures and to see so many similarities is exciting. My interest is in hands, food, plastic, and even clay. There’s humor in the work, and I see a parallel there,’ he adds.

the exhibition and installation sit on the eighth floor of the Torre building within Fondazione Prada’s lot

The first time Alex Da Corte came across Claes Oldenburg’s works was around 25 years ago. ‘It was in my undergraduate library. I stumbled upon the book he made with his partner to mark the presentation of the Mouse Museum. I knew Claes’s work and his relationships to soft things, sculpture, and performance, but I didn’t know much about contemporary art. When I saw the Mouse Museum, I was taken by all it afforded an audience and how generous it was. Only today am I seeing the real one. For 25 years, I’ve been wondering about this work,’ he says.The artist created his Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) in 2022 for his survey exhibition ‘Mr. Remember,’ which is on view at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk, Denmark. 

He recalls that when he was thinking about what a retrospective or a survey of his own work would look like and what it means to remember himself and the objects he had gathered over his life. ‘The person who did that so correctly was Claes. I thought, I can’t remake the whole museum; it’s too sacred. So I thought, I’ll cut off an ear: a little piece of me, a little piece of him,’ he shares. Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022) is inside the Torre within the lot of Milan’s Fondazione Prada, on the eighth floor. The public viewing begins from September 18th, 2025, where viewers can also visit Sueño Perro: Instalación Celuloide by De Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a cinematic and photographic exhibition that unveils and showcases previously hidden film materials and imagery by the Mexican filmmaker, which were preserved for 25 years in the film archives of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. 

among the objects are a Harry Potter magic wand and a foam cast of Marcel Duchamp’s face

the technique in presenting the Mouse Museum collection links the artistic practice between the two artists

everyday objects are also on view in the installation

exhibition view of Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022) by Alex Da Corte

exhibition view of Mouse Museum (1965-1977) by Claes Oldenburg

a collection of objects appeals to the visitors, reflecting on mass production and consumer culture

the similarities between the two installations occur in amassing and presenting mass-produced and pop-culture objects

view of the cardboard-made toothpaste

the collection is on view through a singular glass pane

view of the structures on the eighth floor of the Torre building

left: Claes Oldeburg’s Mouse Museum (1965-1977) | right: Alex Da Corte’s Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022)

the installations are on view from September 18th, 2025

project info:

name: Mouse Museum (1965-1977); Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) (2022)

artists: Claes Oldenburg, Alex Da Corte 

museum: Fondazione Prada (Milan) | @fondazioneprada

location: Largo Isarco, 2, 20139 Milan, Italy

opening date: September 18th, 2025ù

photography: Delfino Sisto Legnani – DSL Studio | @dsl__studio

The post alex da corte pays homage to claes oldenburg’s mouse museum in milan’s fondazione prada appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Village Numérique forms part of MUTEK, a festival that focuses on electronic music and digital arts with performances across Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. Running between August 19th and 24th, 2025, the cultural event operates for six consecutive days with programs and shows on audio and visual presentations. Esplanade Tranquille serves as the central hub for outdoor programming, while there are three venues hosting the main indoor one, namely The Society for Arts and Technology building, Place des Arts’ Théâtre Maisonneuve, and the MTELUS functions for presentations. In the same festival, the MUTEK Forum also takes place, which functions as a marketplace and discussion platform for digital creation professionals. Then, the Village Numérique, a public digital art project that takes place in the Quartier des Spectacles, with a circuit of 23 digital art installations. 

It runs beyond the event’s date, from August 14th to 28th, 2025, with digital art installations in several formats. In an interview with designboom, Alain Mongeau – the founder, artistic and general director of MUTEK – and Mikaël Frascadore – the executive producer of Village Numérique – explore the 26th edition’s theme on a new cycle of digital creativity, as well as some of the digital art installations presented at the circuit. ‘MUTEK has always been at the forefront of digital art dissemination, with special installation projects having been presented in the past. For this second edition of Village Numérique, we have expanded our offering with a greater diversity of media, more in-depth content, and more ways for the public to discover digital arts,’ Mikaël Frascadore tells designboom.

FLIP! by Troublemakers | all images courtesy of MUTEK and Village Numérique; photos by Tannaz Shirazi

Digital art installations around mutek’s village numérique

The digital art installations across Village Numérique include large wall projections showing digital images and moving visuals on building façades, interactive works that allow visitors to take part by moving, touching, or responding to sensors, virtual reality stations that use headsets and controllers to create digital environments, and immersive projects that combine sound, light, and moving images to surround the audience. At the festival’s Place de la Paix, The Door of the Refuge sets up an immersive passage that acts as an entry point for visitors, guiding them into a sanctuary-like space. Nearby at the Society for Arts and Technology, Astronomical Water mixes cosmic themes with water-inspired visuals and sound, using projection and movement to create flowing images.

The VS AI Street Fighting at Le Central allows visitors to engage in a simulated fight scenario where artificial intelligence responds to human movement, showing a contest between human players and machine systems. Moving underground to Saint-Laurent Station, ‘Wantastigan – what will remain still’ reflects on time and permanence through digital imagery, balancing static forms with shifting motion. In Le Parterre, a cluster of works appears. In Camera focuses on private perspectives, showing hidden or internal views through audiovisual sequences. I’M NOT A ROBOT examines the line between human and machine identity, asking viewers to engage with prompts about authenticity, while TETRA uses geometric design to project or display modular structures in three dimensions. 

Situational Compliance by Matthew Biederman and Lucas Paris

Technology-driven artworks on new cycle of creativity

The digital art installations at Village Numérique also showcase Situational Compliance, which responds directly to its surroundings, adjusting visuals and sounds based on audience movement. Public Space, Latent Space contrasts the visible city environment with hidden digital layers, connecting shared physical space with coded systems, while For You I Will Be An Island presents a narrative of separation, creating an enclosed environment where the visitor feels isolated within the work. Then, there’s FLIP!, which introduces constant reversals and rotations, using visual shifts to alter orientation and perspective. At Hexagram’s experimentation room, HEXAPHONE delivers six-channel sound, placing the audience inside a controlled audio field. Going to UQAM’s Agora, three works are staged: Éco-sonorités du vivant reproduces soundscapes from natural and biological sources, Storms immerses audiences in visual and sonic turbulence, and OPAL explores refraction, scattering light and color across surfaces. 

In the mezzanine of UQAM, NEST: Colony constructs an organic digital structure that simulates growth and collective form. Back to the Place des Arts, Dialogues invites interaction through conversational exchanges, with inputs creating shifting outputs, while Labyrinthe builds a maze-like path, encouraging physical navigation through digital corridors. Then in UQAM’s Chaufferie, Reflections uses mirrors and projection to create surfaces that invite contemplation and play with repetition of images. Some of these digital art installations at Village Numérique use high-resolution projectors, motion sensors, cameras, pressure plates, LED systems, and real-time rendering software, falling in line with this year’s theme on the new cycle of digital creativity. Our conversation below with Alain Mongeau and Mikaël Frascadore further unpacks the 26th edition of MUTEK festival, the curatorial process for selecting the presenting artists, and the over twenty digital installations in the Quartier des Spectacles.

detailed view of Situational Compliance by Matthew Biederman and Lucas Paris

Interview with Alain Mongeau and Mikaël Frascadore

Designboom (DB): This year marks the 26th edition of MUTEK, with the festival embarking on a ‘new cycle of digital creativity.’ What does this new cycle represent in terms of programming, vision, and MUTEK’s place in the global (electronic) arts scene? What kinds of experiences have you shaped for the attendees?

Alain Mongeau (AM): The idea of a ‘new cycle of digital creativity’ embodies both continuity and renewal. After celebrating our 25th anniversary last year, we felt it was the right moment to open a new chapter, one that recognizes how profoundly digital arts and electronic music have evolved and how MUTEK can continue to serve as a laboratory for what comes next. In terms of programming, this means delving even deeper into the intersections of music, immersive audiovisual works, and emerging technologies – AI, spatial sound, and beyond – while keeping live performance at the very heart of the festival. At the same time, we are broadening the ways in which new works can be presented, exemplified this year by the return of the Digital Village for its second edition. 

In camera by Ying Gao

AM (continues): Our vision is to reaffirm MUTEK as a meeting ground where experimentation, diversity, and critical reflection converge, offering audiences a singular aesthetic experience filled with discovery and wonder. On the global scene, MUTEK has long acted as a bridge: between generations, between local and international creators, and across disciplines. This new cycle reinforces our role as a platform where ambitious projects can find a stage, and where audiences can experience these innovations firsthand. 

This year, we have crafted a wide spectrum of experiences: intimate concerts, large-scale immersive performances, an open-air program in the bucolic setting of Théâtre de Verdure, thought-provoking daytime talks and workshops, and the serendipitous encounters that only a live, collective festival context can spark. Our aim is to inspire curiosity, engage multiple senses, and nurture a sense of community around the exploration of digital creativity.

The Door of the Refuge by Normal Studio

DB: This year’s lineup includes the North American premiere of Max Cooper’s Lattice 3D/AV and performances from Kevin Saunderson’s E-Dancer. What’s your curatorial process for selecting both global names and emerging voices? In what ways does the team’s selection allow the attendees to see, feel, and experience the relationship between the music and digital art?

AM: Our programming approach is rooted above all in the search for balance and dialogue between the different facets of the festival. On one hand, we are committed to inviting renowned figures such as Max Cooper or Kevin Saunderson, whose work in electronic music and digital art is exemplary. Their presence provides a strong anchor for the lineup, giving audiences the opportunity to experience ambitious projects by established artists in a live setting. At the same time, MUTEK has always been dedicated to discovery and to giving space to emerging artists who are pushing boundaries in their own ways. 

Storms by Quayola

AM (continues): We scan projects internationally, but we also place particular emphasis on the local scene, which is especially vibrant this year, for instance, our open call targeting Canadian artists received around 450 submissions. By placing young talents alongside established names, we create a dialogue that highlights both continuity and innovation within this artistic field. At the heart of it all is the focus on the live, sensory relationship between music and digital art.

We are drawn to works that engage audiences beyond sound alone: immersive audiovisual performances, experiments with 360° projections and spatialized sound, or hybrid formats that challenge conventional stage dynamics. The goal is to create an ecosystem of experiences where festival-goers don’t just listen, but also feel, see, and truly inhabit the artistic universe that each creator brings to life.

VS AI Street Fighting by Dimension Plus

DB: Village Numérique was launched in 2024 to celebrate MUTEK’s 25th anniversary. What was the original inspiration behind creating a standalone digital art circuit within the festival, and how has that vision evolved for this second edition?

Mikaël Frascadore (MF): MUTEK has always been at the forefront of digital art dissemination, with special installation projects having been presented in the past. However, we felt that there was a real enthusiasm, but also an opportunity to showcase the enormous talent of local creators in a more formal context. Quebec is the birthplace of many highly innovative projects, artists, and studios. For this second edition, we have expanded our offering with a greater diversity of media, more in-depth content, and more ways for the public to discover digital arts. We want to develop audiences and contribute to the success of the industry.

NEST: Colony by Iregular

DB: This year’s Village Numérique features over twenty digital installations across Quartier des Spectacles. Can you walk us through how these works are presented? What kinds of tools, platforms, or experimental tech are being used by artists in this year’s program, if you can name a few, and how do they encourage interaction with the viewers, including those unfamiliar with digital art?

MF: There are indeed 28 installations spread across 23 venues. This year, several projects have been made possible thanks to university research projects. For instance, AI agents are used to generate content, analyze gestures, and translate them into actions. Audiovisual, networking, and computer integration are now at the heart of the means by which artists express themselves. The projects offer more targeted experiences, where people can interact directly with the content. Even when the works have multiple layers of complexity, newcomers can still find something to enjoy because the means of interaction remain intuitive. Users who want to go deeper can also do so.

For You I Will Be An Island by Chun Hua Catherine Dong

MF (continues): The artists have taken care to make their installations accessible in a variety of ways, despite the denser content or messages. For example, artist Matthew Biederman presents a project that repurposes the game ‘Simon Says’ to explore, with humor and insight, the mechanisms of public surveillance. Using AI and computer vision, the work stages a system that observes, interprets, and directs the actions of the audience, making visible the power dynamics at work in our digital environments. 

Participants are invited to follow simple instructions. Each posture performed becomes both an act of individuality and a negation of identity in a digitally mediated environment. The device places the body at the center of a game of control, between autonomy and algorithmic injunction.

view of a light-driven installation in the public space

Labyrinthe by students from UQAM’s School of Visual and Media Arts

project info:

name: MUTEK | @mutekmontreal

founder and general director: Alain Mongeau

location: Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal, Canada

dates: August 19th and 24th, 2025

circuit: Village Numérique | @village.numerique

executive producer: Mikaël Frascadore

dates: August 14th to 28th, 2025

photography: Tannaz Shirazi | @natourstudio

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The first production RUF Rodeo was presented at The Quail, during Monterey Car Week 2025. Unveiled in Jordan Black with white centerlock wheels, the ultra-custom off-road sports car represents the German manufacturer’s step from prototype to production, delivered directly to its first customer during Monterey Car Week. The Rodeo is a culmination of the German company’s long history, translating the firm’s precision-engineered sports cars into a machine designed for terrain as much as speed. Constructed on a carbon-fiber monocoque, it is the only off-road vehicle of its kind to carry a VIN number, combining structural rigor with mechanical adaptability.

Nearly a century before this year’s Rodeo unveiling, RUF Automobile was founded in 1939 as a family business. Aloisa Ruf — a motorhead, artist, and photographer — is now part of the third generation of the family working for the company. designboom met with Aloisa at the Quail to learn more about the newly unveiled production vehicle.

‘To be less emotional for a second, this car is the only carbon fiber monocoque off-road car in the world with its own VIN number,’ she tells designboom. ‘It has a six-cylinder RUF engine, with 3.6 liters and 610 horsepower.’ Her emphasis on structure, material, and detail frames the Rodeo as a ground-up project with a focus on design and engineering together. See designboom’s coverage of the Rodeo when it was first unveiled in 2020 as a concept car here.

image © designboom

a love letter to the wild west

For Aloisa Ruf, the Rodeo is an emotional project. ‘We were inspired by the Wild West because my parents met in Oklahoma. All of our projects are very personal. This one is a love story to the summers I spent with my family there,’ she tells us.

This intimacy finds expression in the cabin. The interior is lined with saddle leather, sourced and worked in-house, alongside patterned textiles referencing Cherokee and Navajo traditions. ‘The interiors were inspired by the Cherokee and Navajo Native patterns, and the leather that we use is actually real saddle leather, that was used in saddle-making for the Wild West,’ Aloisa continues. With these details, the cabin brings a tactile environment, a surprising contrast to the carbon shell that encloses it.

image © RUF Automobile

continuing ruf’s engineering legacy

The RUF Rodeo’s exterior balances solidity and detail. Enlarged fenders accommodate the widened track, while integrated bash bars at the front and rear create a layered, protective outline. Quad-stacked exhausts are recessed neatly into the rear bumper, and roof rails finished in white draw the eye upward, giving the body mass both visual and functional grounding.

Beneath these design cues lies a suspension system engineered with architectural clarity: pushrod-actuated dampers and adjustable ride height, raised nearly ten inches over RUF’s SCR model. It is a composition that addresses terrain as a spatial challenge, treating clearance, balance, and load as integral to the design.

image © RUF Automobile

Although the Rodeo looks westward in its narrative, it remains tied to RUF’s long lineage of experimentation. ‘We brought out the concept last year as a running prototype. We call it the Rodeo because it was a full Safari, but we have never driven our cars in Africa so the name didn’t fit,’ Aloisa says. Instead, the name recalls RUF’s own history of off-road racing, including early Pike’s Peak entries.

The delivery at The Quail was joined by two other RUF models: the CTR3 EVO and the Tribute. Of course, the Rodeo stood apart with its one-off balance of utility and craft. For Aloisa, the project expands RUF’s design vocabulary. ‘Everything is done in-house, and most of our leathers are sourced from Europe,’ she adds, emphasizing the same attention to process that runs through the company’s engineering work.

To celebrate its first delivery, Aloisa has hand-sewn and hand-painted a capsule collection of Rodeo jeans, each individually numbered. These carry forward the project’s connection between personal history and craft, and bring a wearable translation of the car’s Western references.

image © RUF Automobile

image © RUF Automobile

image © RUF Automobile

image © RUF Automobile

image © designboom

project info:

name: Rodeo

brand: RUF Automobile | @rufsince1939

event: The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering | @thequailevents

date: August 15th, 2025

previous coverage: March 2020

photography: © designboom, © RUF Automobile

The post RUF automobile shows cowboy-inspired ‘rodeo’ all-terrain sports car at the quail appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

The Ringbrothers unveils its 1971 Aston Martin DBS ‘Octavia’ at The Quail during Monterey Car Week 2025. The build is a reworking of the British classic in carbon fiber. It marks the Wisconsin-based shop’s first Aston Martin and stands as its most technically demanding car to date, the result of more than 12,000 hours of engineering and fabrication.

designboom visited the display at the Quail to speak with the fabrication team and get a closer look at the ultra-custom one-off. Playfully referencing the British brand’s James Bond connection, the sunny space took on a 007 theme, offering shaken Vesper Martinis to visitors. The drinks were even served from a split Aston Martin body which has been converted into a small bar.

Ringbrothers unveils the Aston Martin DBS Octavia at during Monterey Car Week 2025 | image © designboom

a british classic reimagined by the ringbrothers

The Octavia began with a donor 1971 Aston Martin DBS before undergoing a complete redesign by the Ringbrothers team. ‘The owner of the Octavia owns a few of our cars,’ Ringbrothers fabricator Ryan Fielding tells designboom at the Quail. ‘He came to us and asked for a European muscle car. The first thing we thought of was an ’71 Aston Martin DBS.’

‘We had one shipped from London. We scanned it and started designing and doing some CAD work with Gary Ragle. Then we started cutting up the original.’

A fully carbon-fiber shell, an integrated structural cage, and a custom Roadster Shop FAST TRACK chassis give the car rigidity and presence. Designer Gary Ragle contributed extensively, shaping the engine bay, cabin layout, and numerous bespoke components to ensure that every surface is intentional.

the 1971 Aston Martin DBS is reimagined in carbon fiber with a widened stance | image © Ringbrothers

inside the ultra-custom restomod

‘Everything is bespoke,‘ Fielding continues. ‘Other than things like bearings or tires, there isn’t one part that someone can buy. Nothing has ever been made before for any reason other than for this car.’ Even a set of centerlock wheels, fastened by a single central nut, are custom-designed with Ragle Design and HRE Wheels.

‘All the brightwork, or trim, on the outside is all CNC aluminum, nickel-plated. All the brightwork on the inside of the car is 3D-printed stainless steel, and there is carbon fiber throughout.’

Under the clamshell hood — a hood design which wraps around the side of the fenders — can be found a Ford Performance 5.0-liter V8, topped with a 2.65-liter supercharger, bringing 805 horsepower to the road. To suit the owner’s love of driving even further, the Octavia is backed by a six-speed manual transmission.

over 12,000 hours of fabrication shaped the car into the team’s most advanced build | image © Ringbrothers

The Aston Martin DBS Octavia’s body is finished in Glasurit’s Double-0 Silver, accented by Nuclear Olive Green details. Billet aluminum, stainless-steel elements created through additive manufacturing, and carbon fiber inserts bring a layered richness to the car’s detailing. Even small gestures, like brass-machined door handles, and window switches retained from the original, are integrated into the visual and tactile narrative.

Inside, pleated leather seats are set against a carbon fiber dashboard with 3D-printed stainless accents — especially the sculptural, see-through gearshift which could not have been fabricated any other way. Fielding emphasizes: ‘Everything you see inside this car, short of the steering column, is 3D-printed stainless steel.‘

True to Ringbrothers’ ethos, the Octavia revels in custom details that signal craft and wit together. The valve covers were machined to hold Aston Martin emblems, altered playfully to read ‘Aston Martini.’ Even the dipstick handle takes the form of a martini glass, another nod to the most famous Aston Martin driver in cinema.

brightwork is crafted from CNC-milled aluminum and 3D printed stainless steel | image © Ringbrothers

the car is finished in Double-0 Silver with Nuclear Olive Green accents | image © Ringbrothers

the cabin is crafted with carbon fiber, leather, and 3D printed stainless steel | image © Ringbrothers

a sculptural, see-through gearshift demonstrated the advanced fabrication methods | image © Ringbrothers

small details like reworked emblems and bespoke interiors carry the same design intent | image © Ringbrothers

project info:

name: 1971 Aston Martin DBS Octavia

designer: Ringbrothers | @ringbrothers

event: The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering | @thequailevents

date: August 15th, 2025

photography: © designboom, © Ringbrothers

The post ringbrothers sculpts aston martin restomod with carbon fiber and 3D-printed stainless steel appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As Dekmantel Festival opens its 2025 edition in Amsterdamse Bos, the Netherlands, CURTAIN 01, an architectural installation by ZELT, introduces a constructed addition to the forest landscape. Led by Johannes Offerhaus, the studio’s design takes the form of a suspended textile canopy that stretches above the Selectors Stage, a longtime favorite among festivalgoers. Inspired by couture construction and spatial design, its function is to offer rain protection for DJs performing over the three-day event. Still, the project creates a distinct spatial atmosphere that mediates between the natural setting, the crowd, and the sonic intensity of live performance. ‘The initial idea was to suspend it between two trees,’ the Dutch designer tells us. ‘As the design and forces grew, this became impossible. Now there are four steel poles hidden between the trees that keep the whole installation suspended. This allows me to keep the rest of the details very lightweight and simple.‘

Held aloft by a complex system of ropes, aluminum, and steel, the tensile structure transforms the clearing into what light designer Zalán Szakács describes as ‘some kind of intergalactic sailing ship.’ Its curved, white textile surfaces ripple in the breeze and catch dappled light through the trees. ‘I always aim to make my installations visually interesting from all sides, even backstage,’ Johannes Offerhaus notes. ‘In contrast to more traditional festival scenography, it doesn’t just look good facing forward — and from the back you’re not just looking at zip ties and stapled fabric. I aim to make sure the stage doesn’t just have a face, but that it is a space.’

all images by Woody Bos, unless stated otherwise

a series of repeating, curved forms shapes CURTAIN 01

CURTAIN 01 is constructed entirely by hand from white textile through a meditative process of draping and sewing, drawing from Offerhaus’ early training in fashion. ‘Just like in a draping process where form-finding is done through the process of draping textile around a human body,’ he says, ‘I start modelling and prototyping with textiles. Only my canvas is not the human body anymore, it’s space.’

Designed specifically for the Selectors Stage of the festival, an intimate clearing surrounded by willow trees, the form takes cues from the natural setting. ‘It’s a very intimate stage with a lot of nice hazy sunlight moments,’ the designer and leader of the team at ZELT shares with designboom. ‘It has a very clear identity that I could easily mess with too much.’

ZELT’s canopy is suspended from steel anchors and held in place through a system of ropes and aluminum rods, allowing it to float above the heavy concrete stage element. The fabric is shaped into a series of repeating, curved forms, producing a rippling overhead surface that catches light and wind. Using a single color and consistent geometry lends the structure a calm visual presence, contrasting with the surrounding motion and sound. ‘While playing with the characteristics of curtains, this design evolved to three circular-shaped curtains hanging from the same points that are pushed into three different planes by aluminum tubing. These form the base for the last circle—the rainproof roof of the stage,’ he continues. The rhythmic repetition of the fabric’s curves and seams creates a sense of spatial order. ‘It brings order and makes your eye understand what’s happening,’ Offerhaus observes.

white textile surfaces ripple in the breeze

lighting design references sci-fi films and iconic music shows

The project emerges from Offerhaus’ intention to scale up his textile work. ‘In the last three years, having worked on textile designs at small scale — attached to the body — I really felt the need to scale up,’ he explains. ‘I wanted my work to be very big — to offer a space for more than just one person.’ That opportunity came through a collaboration with Dekmantel’s Creative Director, Albert van Abbe, who invited him to reimagine the scenography of the Selectors Stage. While van Abbe envisioned a prefab concrete DJ booth as a stable core for vinyl sets, Offerhaus came up with a lightweight, expressive textile canopy that hovers above. ‘The heavy concrete — a perfect anchor point — naturally invited in a lightweight (visually and literally) textile tensile piece,’ he adds.

Alongside CURTAIN 01, Szakács’ lighting design brings a cinematic tone to the space, referencing 1970s sci-fi film sets and iconic rock shows such as Pink Floyd’s Pompeii performance through warm whites, amber, and soft blues that mix with the white fabric above.

an overhead surface that catches light and wind

Johannes Offerhaus on his ‘tent designs’

Every component of the structure is crafted in Offerhaus’ Amsterdam Noord studio using industrial sail-making machines. ‘We machine sew everything… it gives us a really good understanding of the materials and their limitations,’ he highlights. ‘The design is very clear until you get all the fabric cut and have to assemble it. You quite easily get lost in between the heaps of fabric behind the sewing machine.’ He and his team follow a highly structured process to ensure precision, knowing they only have days before the festival opens to confirm whether the assembly works.

Offerhaus prefers to let the work speak for itself once it’s in place. ‘I don’t have to inform the spectator how to interpret the work, and I don’t have to present it to them. I can dissolve in the crowd,’ Johannes Offerhaus points out. ‘Obviously the moment the festival starts, my work merges together with that of others – light designers, sound engineers, DJs, performers – and so I become the spectator as well.’

This project follows earlier installations such as GATEWAY at Down The Rabbit Hole festival and KOLOM 01, all part of Offerhaus’ evolving interest in spatial textiles – what he calls his ‘tent designs.’ ‘By calling my installations ”tents” I am forcing myself to slowly find a purpose and function for them,’ he comments. ‘Ultimately, it is a gateway for the terrain.’  

designed specifically for the Selectors Stage of the festival | image courtesy of ZELT

floating above the heavy concrete stage element | image courtesy of ZELT

suspended between the trees | image courtesy of ZELT

a lightweight, expressive textile canopy that hovers above the stage

repeating, curved forms

ZELT’s canopy is held in place through this system of ropes and aluminum rods | image courtesy of ZELT

suspended from steel anchors

a complex system of ropes, aluminum, and steel

project info:

name: CURTAIN 01

architect: ZELT

location: Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam, Netherlands

lead architect: Johannes Offerhaus | @johannesofferhaus

commissioned by: Dekmantel Festival | @dkmntl

photographer: Woody Bos | @woodybos

The post ZELT’s curved rain-proof canopy ripples above dekmantel festival stage in the netherlands appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Morocco’s national pavilion addresses challenges posed by earthquakes across the region by taking an elemental approach to material, memory, and seismic resilience. Titled Materiae Palimpsest, the exhibition takes form as an evocative landscape bridging construction research prototypes with an artistic scenography. We see a cluster of columns built from natural local materials such as rammed earth, stone, and timber sourced from across Morocco, configured as a series of passageways almost reminiscent of architectural ruins – perhaps the aftermath of an earthquake. They all encircle a hologram representing the human condition and ancestral knowledge — ‘It’s intentionally fragile and immaterial, confronting the physical nature of the materials around it,’ Khalil Morad El Ghilali tells designboom during our visit to the pavilion.

The architect, who co-curated the exhibition with El Mehdi Belyasmine, explains how these structures function as sectional scale models manifesting the duo’s ongoing research into how local construction know-how can be revitalized to shape earthquake-proof architecture. ‘We’ve been gathering around 136 completely different techniques and materialities from all around the country — from the north to the south — that we’ve here integrated into 72 columns. These columns serve as a kind of guide for construction, particularly for architects interested in sustainable development,’ he explains.

all images by Venice Documentation Project — Samuele Cherubini, courtesy of the Pavilion of the Kingdom of Morocco

celebrating material intelligence at venice architecture biennale

Materiae Palimpsest resonates in light of Morocco’s devastating 2023 earthquake. In rebuilding affected rural settlements, Khalil Morad El Ghilali’s practice, and others like it, have demonstrated how heritage-based techniques can perform better than concrete in these particular contexts. The architect points out that some of his team’s pilot structures near the epicentre remained undamaged, owing to a combination of local craftsmanship and adapted engineering, rooted in generational know-how. This extends El Ghilali’s approach that is driven by the urgency to reframe ancestral methods as scalable, adaptive, and technically sound alternatives to industrial construction. ‘Instead of abstract concepts, we aim to improve local crafts through practical upgrades in engineering and architecture, without losing sight of what people can really do at a large scale,’ he shares. El Mehdi Belyasmine adds:  ‘Working with the land — using local soil, traditional tools, and ancestral know-how — allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft. It’s not nostalgia — it’s continuity. It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.’

This philosophy grounds the pavilion in a clear critique of contemporary architectural education and practice, which, the duo notes, often privileges conceptual gestures over material literacy. Calls for a broader reflection on how architectural knowledge is produced, as El Ghalili reflects: ‘Too often today, architects don’t know how to build with their hands. They’re trained to be conceptual rather than constructive.’ He frames revisiting these embodied modes of making is as a return to a collaborative, ground-up process that brings designers back into conversation with materials, with place, and with the people who build, as emphasized by the flickering hologram figure at the center of the space, and the traces of the human hand it confronts as carried in each of the columns. Read our full interview with the architects and co-curators below.

Materiae Palimpsest addresses challenges posed by earthquakes across the region

interview with Khalil Morad El Ghilali & El Mehdi Belyasmine

designboom (DB): Can you introduce the idea behind the creation of the pavilion?

Khalil Morad El Ghilali (KMEG): The idea was to sublimate the materiality and showcase the diversity of local construction techniques across Morocco. We’ve been gathering around 136 completely different techniques and materialities from all around the country — from the north to the south — that we’ve here integrated into 72 columns. These columns serve as a kind of guide for construction, particularly for architects interested in sustainable development.

This pavilion is one of our latest experiments: we used post-tensioned, prefabricated blocks as a potential solution for rebuilding in earthquake-affected areas. The entire pavilion was also assembled in three days. The blocks are solid, not hollow, and actually the heaviest one weighs 500 kilograms, and yet they were mounted like Lego pieces.

El Mehdi Belyasmine (EMB): The Moroccan Pavilion is conceived as an experimental space to deepen the understanding of cultural identity and highlight the significance of spatial performance — through visual aesthetics, scents, textures, and tactile sensations — creating an immersive and authentic experience within a dynamic environment. This approach should be implemented in all architectural projects. It is essential to design with a strong connection to the local context and its surroundings, recognizing these conditions as foundational architectural elements.

A hologram sits at the center of the space, representing the human condition and ancestral knowledge

DB: There are many layers to the scenography, from the almost ruins-like landscape of columns, to the textiles and the screen at the center. Can you share more about that?

KMEG: We’ve divided the scenography into three main elements.

The first is the columns, which reflect building, engineering, and architecture. The second is the tools. These are represented by the muqarnas hanging from the ceiling, which were historically used to construct such elements. We sourced them from different villages, and each tool carries the trace of a human hand and an imprint of collective engineering. The third element is the human condition, represented by a hologram. It’s intentionally fragile and immaterial, confronting the physical nature of the materials around it.

EMB: I wanted to create a space that pushes the boundaries of how we understand and express cultural identity. It’s an experimental platform that explores spatial performance — not just through form and function, but through texture, scent, sound, and atmosphere. Architecture should be felt, not just seen.

the pavilion takes an elemental approach to material, memory, and seismic resilience

DB: The presence of the hologram was quite unexpected after walking through all these tactile details. What role does it play within the overall composition?

KMEG: It raises a question about whether we should keep chasing extraordinary technologies to solve our problems, or whether we should instead ask what we can learn from our ancestors — not archaeologically, but humbly. There’s a vast body of knowledge gathered over thousands of years, and this project is about reconnecting with that wisdom rather than erasing it and starting from scratch.

So for us, this pavilion becomes a place of knowledge, collective intelligence, scent, fabric, texture, memory. Like a foyer, a place to gather. It reflects how Moroccans welcome people, how spaces are warm and inviting. Each brick, each tool, each trace carries human intelligence. Confronting these elements — between the artificial and the natural — was very important to us and the main idea of the pavilion.

tools, historically used for construction and craft, are hung from the ceiling

DB: Does the hologram, as a symbol for the ‘human condition’, serve as more of a symbolic counterpoint to the raw materials surrounding it, or tie them together?

KMEG: For us, it’s a confrontation. The hologram is encased in glass and placed at the center of the room, and above it, we placed some of the heaviest formwork elements, really emphasizing its fragility. But then it’s also symbolically loaded; it’s a memory of what might remain of the human condition in the future if we lose our connection to materiality and making. Maybe that’s all we’ll have left, a memory.

The idea is to really highlight the tension between the immaterial and the physical — between where we are headed and what we still have.

these tools were sourced from different villages in Morocco

DB: Building on that, what kind of questions do you hope visitors will walk away with? Is the goal to present solutions, or to create space for reflection, or both?

KMEG: We’re not trying to offer definitive answers, but rather pose questions. Let people find their own meanings through the combinations of materials we present, like earth from Marrakech and stones from the coastal areas and rivers. These materials allow for different engineering possibilities, including seismic resistance, construction, elevations.

It’s really an individual experience, but also a collective one at the same time. The pavilion’s passages ensure that only one person can stand inside a column at a time. We wanted each visitor to directly face the materiality of that individual column, despite the openness of the layout.

each element carries the trace of a human hand and an imprint of collective engineering

DB: You’ve emphasized that your reference to traditional techniques isn’t nostalgic or archaeological. Can you elaborate on how these indigenous methods can be applied today, especially in the face of environmental challenges?

KMEG: The main contemporary application is earthquake resistance. You probably heard about the earthquake in Morocco two years ago. It affected regions where villages were traditionally built using earth and stone. Unfortunately, many of those techniques have been lost, and what replaced them, like poor-quality concrete, wasn’t adapted to the climate or structural needs.

Since then, one of the main questions has been to consider how we can rebuild those villages. And so we’ve been working with local techniques and engineering knowledge. Some of our projects, built near the earthquake zone using these methods, had no damage, and I’ve also been publishing research around this. The idea is to provide technologies that are accessible and replicable, technologies that people can actually assess and use, rather than ones completely out of reach due to the pace of innovation.

72 columns form passageways evoking architectural ruins

There are areas without internet, robotics, or digital tools. So instead of abstract concepts, we aim to improve local crafts through practical upgrades in engineering and architecture, without losing sight of what people can really do at a large scale. We worked directly with local craftspeople for this, and we built with our hands, with media,

In many ways, this is also a critique of the architectural profession.

Too often today, architects don’t know how to build with their hands. They’re trained to be conceptual rather than constructive. We need to bring back the role of the master builder. This pavilion was built by hand, together with craftspeople and media specialists. We wanted to show that design must happen through communication, with those who actually know how to make.

the columns materialize 136 construction and material techniques and know-how from across Morocco

DB: Beyond technical performance, do these traditional methods also offer a more meaningful way to build,  culturally or socially?

EMB: One of the main issues with 20th-century architecture in Morocco was the imposition of modernist ideals that were disconnected from our cultural and environmental context. Imported styles and industrial materials were favored over local knowledge and tradition, which led to buildings that didn’t speak to the identity or needs of Moroccan communities. It created a kind of architectural amnesia — spaces that felt alien rather than rooted.

For me, earth-based architecture is not just a technical solution; it’s a cultural and humanist response. It’s about returning to methods that reflect who we are and where we come from. Working with the land — using local soil, traditional tools, and ancestral know-how — allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft. These approaches bring a tangible depth to the work and ensure that architecture remains a collective, grounded act. It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.

celebrating material intelligence at the Venice Architecture Biennale

‘I wanted to create a space that pushes the boundaries of how we understand and express cultural identity.’

textile art by Soumyia Jalal

‘It’s about building with intention, with care, and with respect for the people and the place.’

‘Working with the land allows us to reconnect with our heritage while also empowering local labor and craft.’

‘We wanted each visitor to directly face the materiality of that individual column, despite the openness of the layout.’

project info:

name: Materiae Palimpsest — Morocco Pavilion

curators: Khalil Morad El Ghilali, El Mehdi Belyasmine

program: Venice Architecture Biennale | @labiennale

dates: May 10th — November 23rd, 2025

The post interview: morocco pavilion’s earth-based, seismic architecture of future at venice biennale appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Nima Nabavi brings together a constellation of radiant energies that converge with structural order in his solo exhibition Sunrise at the Vortex in Dubai. On view at The Third Line, Roswell2223 forms a gravitational center, laying out a monumental hand-drawn piece that stretches across an 18-foot-long canvas. Saturated with color and encrusted with detail, it distills the core of Nabavi’s practice which seeks to evoke awe, resolve inner resonance, bridge abstraction with emotion, and manifest precise complexities and natural energies through geometry.

Created over the course of a year during a residency in New Mexico, Roswell2223 marks the furthest the Iranian artist has ever pushed the limits of his process. The result is a sprawling, crystalline composition that channels a spiritual intensity and meditative clarity. While the exhibition presents a range of works — some meticulously hand-rendered, others made with the aid of architectural pen plotters — they all maintain a sense of transcendence. Whether plotted by machine or drawn line by line, Nabavi’s geometries work somewhat like elusive discoveries. ‘These patterns, structures and geometries carry a magical appeal that I’m not getting any closer to understanding,’ he tells designboom. ‘It feels more like archaeology to me – I’m finding and exploring these visual phenomena, not inventing them.’ We spoke with the artist to learn more about the methods, philosophies, and intentions behind Roswell2223 and how they resonate with the introspective and technical undercurrents of Sunrise at the Vortex.

image by Ismail Noor | all images courtesy of The Third Line

Nima nabavi on the precision and labor of his process

Roswell2223 was created during Nima Nabavi’s time at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program in the US, where, for the first time, he notes, he had the space and time to expand the bounds of his intricate visual language at such an expansive level. ‘I bought the largest roll of canvas I could find, the biggest ruler I could find (9 feet long), and hundreds of markers in 17 colors,’ he shares with us. ‘I then rolled out the canvas on the floor and started working on the piece line by line.’

He describes this layered and considered process as physically taxing but spiritually immersive, and led partly by chance despite the calculated geometries, as he recalls not knowing exactly how the piece might turn out. ‘I was kneeling, squatting, sitting and bending over for hours on end, but being able to literally sit inside the work and be engulfed by it also brought so much joy.’  The resulting composition measures 18 feet by 6 feet, across which the layers upon layers of lines form a crystalline mapping of the universe that invites viewers, too, to loose themselves in. True to the exhibition’s name, the romantic vibrancy of the work and its motion exudes a sense of soothing energy.

Roswell2223 forms a gravitational center at the exhibition, Sunrise at the Vortex | image by Tonee Harbert

working between manual and mechanical precision

The surrounding works on view as part of Sunrise at the Vortex further reflect Nima Nabavi’s explorations of the connection between himself and the universe, bringing together works he created in makeshift studios in Roswell, New York, Los Angeles, and Dubai. Some, in contrast to the centerpiece’s laborious methodologies, are machine-assisted and produced using architectural pen plotters, a tool Nabavi only recently incorporated into his practice. Among them, Source Code closely echoes the idyllic, meditative hues of Roswell2223, though on a much smaller canvas.

Within a rounded surface densely marked by over 4 million plotted dots, resembling a sun about to set or rise, the artist notes that there is a level of detail, complexity, and saturation that he would have not have been able to achieve manually. Speaking then on this shift toward the mechanical, he reflects that these plotters are a tool that frees his imagination from the constraints of the hand. ‘It removes arbitrary limitations and opens me up to thinking about my work in a more expansive way,’ he adds. ‘Instead of considering how to reduce my ideas so that they are humanly ‘doable’, I’m expanding my tools to match the ideas… It’s a total paradigm shift – I can use alternate building blocks like curved lines in my works, I can saturate colors like never before, and I’m able to experiment faster.’

a monumental hand-drawn piece stretching across an 18-foot-long canvas | image by Tonee Harbert

translating energy into structured forms and geometries

This balance between control and joyful discovery pulses throughout the exhibition, which as a whole offers a continuum of experimentation across dualities. Between the intimate and the industrial, and the intuitive and the algorithmic, Sunrise at the Vortex embraces a spiritual luminosity that persists across the show’s various structural forms and scales. Even as Nabavi’s process becomes increasingly complex and precise in these abstract expressions, the work retains an elemental radiance that draws you in.

‘These patterns, structures, and geometries carry a magical appeal that I’m not getting any closer to understanding. It feels more like archaeology to me — I’m finding and exploring these visual phenomena, not inventing them,’ he tells designboom.

the vibrancy of the work exudes a sense of soothing energy | image by Tonee Harbert

Nima Nabavi brings together radiant energies that converge with structural precision | image by Tonee Harbert

the creative process was physically taxing but spiritually immersive | video still by Tonee Harbert

‘These patterns, structures and geometries carry a magical appeal’, he says | video still by Tonee Harbert

Source Code echoes the idyllic, meditative hues of Roswell2223, on a much smaller canvas | image by Altamash Urooj

marked densely by over 4 million dots plotted by a machine | image by Altamash Urooj

Sunrise at the Vortex reflects Nima Nabavi’s explorations of intricate geometries | image by Ismail Noor

project info:

name: Roswell2223

artist: Nima Nabavi | @nimanothome

location: The Third Line, Dubai

exhibition: Sunrise at the Vortex

dates: 15th June—3rd August 2025

The post behind nima nabavi’s vast geometric vortex painting: converging energy, labor, and structure appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.