ESPACE LOUIS VUITTON VENEZIA PRESENTS DOKU THE ILLUSION, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY LU YANG

Press Preview: May 7, 2026 | 10 AM — 1 PM
On View: May 8 — October 4, 2026

April 1, 2026 (Venice, Italy) –  In parallel with the 61st International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia, marking the 20th anniversary of the Espaces Louis Vuitton and the 10th anniversary of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Hors-les-murs programme, the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia presents DOKU The Illusion, a solo presentation by Chinese-born artist Lu Yang curated by Claire Staebler, on view from May 8 — October 4, 2026.

This exhibition is part of the Hors-les-murs programme, embodying the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s mission to mount international projects and reach a broader global audience through exclusive exhibitions at the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka.

Represented by SOCIÉTÉ, Lu Yang has established a strong presence on the international art scene through the creation of virtual worlds presented as immersive video installations. His imagined universes — often marked by post-apocalyptic undertones — are grounded above all in Buddhist philosophy, engaging concepts such as dreams and waking, illusion and awakening, and the Madhyamaka inquiry into intrinsic nature. This philosophical framework intersects with a broader investigation into the structure of reality in the digital age.

Le Sirenuse Mare Restaurant, open for lunch daily, is rooted in Mediterranean and Campanian traditions. Under the dynamic tutelage of chef Francesco De Simone, it celebrates the southern Italian talent for the good life, for conviviality, for simplicity carried to a peak of excellence. The culinary classics of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, with their warm and vibrant flavours, feature alongside raw and grilled vegetables and seafood in plates designed for sharing. Committed to freshness and seasonality, the chef has built a trusted local network of growers, speciality food artisans and fisherfolk. On the upper terrace of the Restaurant & Bar area, the Dolce Far Niente Bar serves a range of homemade granitas and gelatos alongside definitive versions of Italian and regional sweet treats such as tiramisù and babà. Opposite is Le Sirenuse Mare’s retro-style Bar Mare – the ideal spot for a pre-lunch drink or early evening aperitivo. Caressed by sea breezes in the beach club’s Seafront area, Rose’s Bar is the perfect place to unwind with amici old and new. In both bars, a seasonal signature cocktail menu takes centre stage, featuring creative twists on spritzes, fresh ingredients, and premium spirits.

Le Sirenuse Mare channels the Sersale family’s passion for contemporary art and artisanship. As guests ascend from the beach, their eyes are inevitably drawn to the beach club’s artistic centrepiece, a monumental fountain in pearly white refractory clay by Rome-based sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot. Other works scattered around the club include maverick British artist Rose Wylie’s painted bronze sculpture Pineapple (2020) – which has found a home not far from the bar named in Wylie’s honour – and Caryatide (2017), a tower sculpture in raw air-dried clay by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi, which stands at the far end of an olive grove on the beach club’s highest level.

Manga, video games and anime — contemporary visual idioms adopted by Lu Yang — function primarily as a formal vocabulary rather than as the conceptual foundation of his work. Through this visual grammar, the artist brings forth hybrid entities that move beyond fixed categories of identity and embodiment, opening a space to reflect on what it means to be human in the 21st century.

For his exhibition at the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia, Lu Yang has created an installation featuring original sculptures and a video work centred on his new film DOKU The Illusion, the fourth chapter in the DOKU series, an ambitious narrative project the artist began in 2019. DOKU is a virtual character based on the digitalisation of the artist’s own face. The series depicts the solitary adventures of this multifaceted avatar, through which Lu Yang transcends the limits of the physical body and explores new forms of freedom through digital reincarnation.

The installation created by Lu Yang transforms the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia into a cybernetic sanctuary, situated somewhere between a chapel and a futuristic refuge. At its core, the film DOKU The Illusion can be seen on a monumental LED screen, placed on an altar. This chapter is the series’ fourth instalment after The Self (2022), The Flow (2023), and The Creator (2025), and blends live-action footage with AI-generated imagery. It primarily unfolds against a backdrop of the deep-blue skies and expansive landscapes of Japan’s Izu Peninsula, forming a veritable road movie.

Taken in an immersive environment, visitors are greeted by two sculptures of Buddha holding the wheel of life, the eternal symbol of the cycle of existence. Thanks to a mirrored ceiling reflecting a floor that is characteristic of Venetian architecture, each visitor becomes part of the experience, their projected silhouette integrated into the installation itself for a liminal moment in time in which contemplation and dissolution merge and mirror, echoing the Buddhist quest for enlightenment.

Within this sanctuary-like space, the visitor watches DOKU hurtling along in a red vehicle, a symbol of freedom. The soundtrack — a blend of hip-hop, piano and traditional music — harmonises exquisitely with the voices, intimate narratives and palpable vibrations, reflecting the theme of the 61st International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia, IN MINOR KEYS.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
DOKU The Illusion will be on view at Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia from May 8 - October 4, 2026. 

Address
Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia
Calle del Ridotto 1351
30124 Venezia
Italia

Press Preview
May 7, 2026 | 10 AM – 1 PM 

Opening Hours
Monday – Sunday | 10:30 AM – 7 PM
Open on public holidays. Free entry.

About Lu Yang: 
Born in Shanghai (China), Lu Yang lives and works in Tokyo (Japan). He graduated from The China Academy of Art’s New Media Art Department in Hangzhou (China) and has since received tremendous worldwide attention with his immersive environments combining computer-generated videos, multimedia installations, sculptures and virtual performances.

In 2022, Lu Yang was named Artist of the Year by Deutsche Bank (Germany). That same year, his work was featured in WORLDBUILDING, an exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist at the Julia Stoschek Foundation in Düsseldorf (Germany), which later travelled to the Centre Pompidou-Metz (France). His upcoming projects include a projection of his work on The High Line in New York City (USA) and his involvement in the reopening of New Museum with New Humans: Memories of the Future (New York, USA, 2026).

Lu Yang has held solo exhibitions at major international institutions including UCCA — Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, China, 2011), moCa Cleveland (Ohio, USA, 2017), M WOODS (Beijing, China, 2018), ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (Denmark, 2021-2022), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan, 2022), Kunstpalais Erlangen (Germany, 2022), PalaisPopulaire (Berlin, Germany, 2022-2023), the Zabludowicz Collection (London, UK, 2022-2023), Kunsthalle Basel (Switzerland, 2023), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris, France, 2024), K11 (Hong Kong, China, 2025), and Amant (New York, USA, 2025-2026).

His work has also been presented in significant group exhibitions at such institutions as Fridericianum (Kassel, Germany, 2014), ICA — Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, UK, 2016), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai, China, 2018), CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel, 2019), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, Germany, 2019-2022), The Milk of Dreams at the 59th Biennale di Venezia (Italy, 2022), Muzeum Sztuki (Łódź, Poland, 2022), Times Square Arts (New York, USA, 2023), and the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France, 2024-2025).

About the Curator:
Claire Staebler worked as a curator at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (France), from 2012 to 2022. She has been involved in many exhibitions, events and catalogs, including Contact: Olafur Eliasson (2014), Bentu, Artists at a Time of Turbulence and Transformation (2016), Being there: South Africa, a contemporary art scene (2018), Fugues in Color (2022) as well as co-curator of the programme dedicated to emerging artists "Open Space".

In 2012, she was associate curator at La Triennale Intense Proximity (Palais de Tokyo, Paris), under the artistic direction of Okwui Enwezor. From 2007 to 2009, she was the artistic director of the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv (Ukraine). Since 2022, she is the director of Frac des Pays de la Loire (Contemporary Regional Arts Fund, Carquefou, France).

About the Fondation Louis Vuitton:
The Fondation Louis Vuitton serves the public interest and is exclusively dedicated to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20th-century works to which his inspirations can be traced. The collection and the exhibitions it organises seek to engage a broad public. The magnificent building created by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and already recognised as an emblematic example of 21st-century architecture, constitutes the Fondation’s seminal artistic statement. Since its opening in October 2014, the Fondation has welcomed more than eleven million visitors from France and around the world.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton commits to engage in international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg (Icons of Modern Art The Shchukin Collection in 2016 and The Morozov Collection in 2021), the MoMA in New York (Being Modern: MoMA in Paris), the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art (Joan Mitchell Retrospective) among others. The Fondation also developed a specific “Hors-les-murs” programme taking place within the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, presenting exhibitions of artworks from the Collection. These exhibitions are open to the public free of charge.

Image credits:
1 - 3.  DOKU The Illusion, 2026. Video installation, colour, sound. © Lu Yang

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ITALIAN HOSPITALITY LEGEND LE SIRENUSE OPENS LE SIRENUSE MARE | THE AMALFI COAST’S FIRST STANDALONE BEACH CLUB

April 1, 2026 (Nerano, Italy) – On the 75th anniversary of its foundation, celebrated Italian hotel Le Sirenuse will unveil Le Sirenuse Mare, a beach club created in its own stylish image, opening on April 23, 2026. Five years in the making, this passion project of the Positano resort’s co-owners Antonio and Carla Sersale and their sons Aldo and Francesco is set to become the Amalfi Coast’s essential new beachside rendezvous.

“At Le Sirenuse, the hotel I inherited from my father, we like to take the long view”, declares Antonio. “Three quarters of a century after my family turned their seaside home in Positano into a small hotel, a project we’ve pursued for decades is finally coming to fruition. And we couldn’t be prouder: Le Sirenuse Mare distils the dolce vita spirit, the pursuit of quality and the love of beauty of its parent property in a spectacular beachfront setting”.

The new beach club is located in the laid-back fishing village and beach resort of Marina di Cantone. Habitually referred to as Nerano, from the nearby hilltown to which it is attached, this charming seaside enclave lies just 25 minutes by boat from Positano and Le Sirenuse. Draping itself across a series of wide terraces that ascend from a pebble beach with two jetties, one for boat access and the other dedicated to sea bathing, Le Sirenuse Mare is the result of a creative convergence, an alignment of talents in the fields of architecture, design, artisanship, fashion, contemporary art and landscape design. Among its key features are the 180-cover Le Sirenuse Mare Restaurant, three bars distinct in design, focus and ambience, and a brand new Emporio Sirenuse flagship store.

Le Sirenuse Mare Restaurant, open for lunch daily, is rooted in Mediterranean and Campanian traditions. Under the dynamic tutelage of chef Francesco De Simone, it celebrates the southern Italian talent for the good life, for conviviality, for simplicity carried to a peak of excellence. The culinary classics of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, with their warm and vibrant flavours, feature alongside raw and grilled vegetables and seafood in plates designed for sharing. Committed to freshness and seasonality, the chef has built a trusted local network of growers, speciality food artisans and fisherfolk. On the upper terrace of the Restaurant & Bar area, the Dolce Far Niente Bar serves a range of homemade granitas and gelatos alongside definitive versions of Italian and regional sweet treats such as tiramisù and babà. Opposite is Le Sirenuse Mare’s retro-style Bar Mare – the ideal spot for a pre-lunch drink or early evening aperitivo. Caressed by sea breezes in the beach club’s Seafront area, Rose’s Bar is the perfect place to unwind with amici old and new. In both bars, a seasonal signature cocktail menu takes centre stage, featuring creative twists on spritzes, fresh ingredients, and premium spirits.

Le Sirenuse Mare channels the Sersale family’s passion for contemporary art and artisanship. As guests ascend from the beach, their eyes are inevitably drawn to the beach club’s artistic centrepiece, a monumental fountain in pearly white refractory clay by Rome-based sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot. Other works scattered around the club include maverick British artist Rose Wylie’s painted bronze sculpture Pineapple (2020) – which has found a home not far from the bar named in Wylie’s honour – and Caryatide (2017), a tower sculpture in raw air-dried clay by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi, which stands at the far end of an olive grove on the beach club’s highest level.

Occupying a 50 square metre space overlooking the Beach Club’s upper Bar terrace, the Emporio Sirenuse store at Le Sirenuse Mare marks a significant milestone: the brand’s first flagship outside Positano. It offers a full expression of the label’s world presenting a curated edit of resortwear, ready-to-wear, menswear, accessories, jewelry, and objects for the home. Rooted in Mediterranean heritage, artisanal craft, and cultural curiosity, Emporio Sirenuse distills the spirit of the Amalfi Coast into collections that feel both elevated and effortless, defined by exceptional craftsmanship and meticulous
attention to detail.

Beyond this new space, Emporio Sirenuse has also shaped the visual identity of Le Sirenuse Mare. The brand’s signature date palm motif— a recurring symbol throughout its collections appears across the property — from hand-embroidered cabana fabrics crafted in India to the cushions that line the sunbeds. Complementing these is Ànemos, the bespoke ceramic service designed by Emporio Sirenuse’s creative director Viola Parrocchetti for the restaurant. Produced in Vietri sul Mare and inspired by archaic Greek vase patterns observed in Athens’ National Archaeological Museum it embodies the brand’s artistic sensibility and deep commitment to craft.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Le Sirenuse Mare

Total area
2,500 square metres

Lower Seafront area
Two private jetties extending from the first terrace of the beach club, one for boat arrivals and departures, the other providing easy access to a cordoned off swimming area.

Lower terrace: 36 single sunbeds in paired couples under 18 beach umbrellas
Mid terrace: 5 private shaded cabanas with double sunbeds
Upper terrace: continuous lounge seating for up to 25 people; Rose’s Bar with seating for 14

Upper Bar & Restaurant area
Le Sirenuse Mare Restaurant: 180 covers
Bar Mare & Dolce Far Niente Bar: 40 covers
Emporio Sirenuse Store: 50 square metres

Le Sirenuse Mare opens from April to October. As all the beach club’s public spaces with the exception of the Emporio Sirenuse store are external, opening is subject to weather conditions.  Opening hours run from 10am until sunset each day; lunch is served between 12pm and 5pm. Le Sirenuse operates a fast boat shuttle service for hotel guests between Positano’s main beach and Le Sirenuse Mare.

About Le Sirenuse:
​​Le Sirenuse opened in 1951, in what until then had been the Sersale family’s summer house in Positano. Today the 58-room Amalfi Coast resort is considered an Italian hospitality icon, though it still retains the intimate, cultured atmosphere of a private home. More than a mere hotel, it has become over the years a lifestyle reference point that brings into fertile dialogue the worlds of fashion, culture, gastronomy, mixology and wellbeing, creating connections and crafting personal narratives. Scenic La Sponda restaurant, informally glamorous bar-bistrot Aldo’s and the resort’s chic little Pool Bar showcase this southern Italian region’s authentic seasonal produce, while the Don’t Worry Bar is a true insiders’ speakeasy in tune with the rhythm of Positano nights.  Le Sirenuse also features a refreshingly contemporary Spa designed by architect Gae Aulenti, where a range of signature treatments are available, alongside a fitness area with two total-workout Megaformer machines. The resort is celebrated worldwide for its all-inclusive weekly activities, which include trekking on some of the Amalfi Coast’s spectacular mountain trails and more leisurely sunset cruises on the Sant’Antonio, the family’s traditional gozzo fishing boat. Assembled over decades by art and antique collector Franco Sersale, the hotel’s elegant décor today enters into conversation with a growing site-specific contemporary art collection featuring talents of the calibre of Martin Creed and Nicolas Party, while the light-filled bedrooms are havens of dolce vita style. Now as in the past, Le Sirenuse is a family affair. Third-generation Sersales, Aldo and Francesco, are increasingly involved in the day-to-day running of a hotel that their parents Antonio and Carla began to manage in 1991. Carla currently curates Emporio Sirenuse, the fashion and lifestyle brand she founded in 2013, which takes inspiration from the deep-rooted Mediterranean culture of this charmed enclave south of Naples. For more information, please visit Sirenuse.it/ | Facebook | Instagram | @lesirenuse

Images Credits:
1. Dolce Far Niente Bar with Giuseppe Ducrot Fountain, Le Sirenuse Mare, 2026. Photography by Stefan Giftthaler. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.
2 & 3. Rose's Bar and Sunbeds at Le Sirenuse Mare, 2026. Photography by Stefan Giftthaler. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.
4 & 5. Le Sirenuse Mare Restaurant, 2026. Photography by Stefan Giftthaler. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.
6. Le Sirenuse Mare, 2026. Photography by Stefan Giftthaler. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.

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MATTEO THUN AND BENEDETTO FASCIANA PRESENT OUTDOOR COLLECTION 'IGEA' FOR UNOPIÙ AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2026

March 31, 2026 (Milan, Italy)  – IGEA is the new outdoor seating collection designed by Matteo Thun and Benedetto Fasciana, offering a contemporary reinterpretation of a great classic of outdoor furniture: wrought-iron collections. The collection will be unveiled during Milan Design Week across multiple venues, including Salone del Mobile (Hall 24, Booth D32), the UnoPiù showroom (Via Pontaccio 9), and partially at Palazzo Crivelli (Via Pontaccio 12).

The project stems from the meeting of tradition and innovation and draws inspiration from the theme of the journey through the Italian garden, understood as an experience of outdoor living. Slender lines, classical proportions, and an essential design language define a collection characterized by an immediate sense of visual lightness. The name IGEA, derived from the Greek Hygeia, evokes the concept of well-being as a harmony between form, function, and the quality of everyday experience— a principle that guides the entire development of the project. The collection is designed to engage in dialogue with both classical and contemporary settings, expressing a timeless design.

Handcrafted, IGEA is the result of careful technical and manufacturing research aimed at preserving the character and strength of iron, while making it functional, modular, and suitable for the needs of the contract sector. All products are made of galvanized iron and finished with a graphite-colored coating, a choice that ensures durability in outdoor environments and enhances the material with a sober and elegant aesthetic. IGEA represents a balance between tradition and contemporaneity, where the purity of forms and the lightness of iron transform simplicity into a distinctive feature of outdoor living.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Matteo Thun & Partners:
Matteo Thun & Partners was founded in 1984 by Matteo Thun and is now jointly led by him and five partners: Antonio Rodriguez, Elisa Vago, Matteo Beretta, Karola Gröger, and Boris Ulrich, who is also the CEO. With offices in Milan and Munich and a team of around 70 creatives spanning architecture, interior architecture, product and brand design, the studio delivers projects worldwide across architecture, hospitality, product design, and brand development. At the heart of the studio’s work is a responsible, holistic approach that respects each client’s individuality, the genius loci, and outstanding craftsmanship. Conscious material choices, ecological sensitivity, and the reuse of existing structures shape the studio’s work, alongside a clear, timeless design language.

About Matteo Thun:
Matteo founded his eponymous design studio in 1984 where he would establish himself as one of his generation’s most influential voices and talents. A pupil of Oskar Kokoschka and Emilio Vedova at the Salzburg Academy and an Architecture graduate of the University of Florence, Matteo’s formative professional years were spent under the guardianship of Ettore Sottsass. Together, they co-founded the globally renowned Memphis Group in 1981. From his headquarters in Milan and Munich, Matteo continues to nurture an architecture and design practice that strives to create conscious, respectful, and long-lasting solutions through a future-orientated lens.

About Benedetto Fasciana:
Associate Director Benedetto Fasciana’s appreciation of craftsmanship and proportion as priority defines his approach to architecture and design. An architecture graduate of University of Ferrara, Benedetto’s expertise in interior design and product design was honed from his background in ceramic art and creating retail and exhibition spaces for world-renowned brands during his time as Art Director at White Design in Venice. Since joining Matteo Thun & Partners in 2014, Benedetto has been responsible for the creation of iconic furniture and lighting solutions that reflect his passion for artisanal craftsmanship and the studio’s shared design values of simplicity, functionality, and timelessness.

Unopiù, IGEA, design by Matteo Thun and Benedetto Fasciana, fabric by Ralph Lauren. Photos by Mattia Aquila. Courtesy Matteo Thun & Partners.

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OLAF GULBRANSSON MUSEUM PRESENTS ZERO. AN INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS' MOVEMENT. 1957 –1966

Featuring works by Heinz Mack, Bernard Aubertin, Hans Bischoffshausen, Alberto Burri, Hal Busse, Dadamaino (Eduarda Maino), Lucio Fontana, Gotthard Graubner, Oskar Holweck, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Adolf Luther, Piero Manzoni, Christian Megert, Otto Piene, Uli Pohl, Günther Uecker, Jef Verheyen and Nanda Vigo.

On view through September 6, 2026

March 27, 2026 (Tegernsee, Germany) – The Olaf Gulbransson Museum, presents ZERO. An International Artist's Movement. 1957–1966, a group exhibition featuring the artist Heinz Mack, on view through September 6, 2026.

ZERO – A New Beginning at Zero
In the late 1950s, young artists in Düsseldorf and other European cities were searching for a radical new beginning in art. After war and dictatorship, they wanted to break away from pathos, ideology, and the subjectively charged postwar painting and rethink art “at zero,” at “Zero.” An open zone in which structure instead of composition, light instead of narrative motifs, and movement instead of rigid form became decisive. ZERO was never a closed collective, but rather a loose network of artists connected through exhibitions, magazines, and personal contacts.

Düsseldorf burns for light: the birth of ZERO
In Düsseldorf, the ZERO ideas found a concrete location: the studios of Heinz Mack and Otto Piene on Gladbacher Straße. There they organized the so-called evening exhibitions, short, dense presentations that were only accessible on the opening night. To do this, the artists cleared out their studios, only to put everything back in place the next day and continue working. Günther Uecker soon joined them, and a lively meeting place for artists seeking new forms of expression was created. At the same time, Mack and Piene published the magazine “ZERO” (1958–1961), which coined the name for the movement and spread it internationally.

Light, movement, and immateriality
Many works break away from traditional painting and instead focus on light, reflections, shadows, movement, and chance. A central motif of ZERO is the question: How can light itself be turned into art?
Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Günther Uecker developed light reliefs, rotors, nail reliefs, mirror objects, and light ballets in which light can be experienced as an immaterial, constantly changing phenomenon. The movement often lies less in the object than in the perception: when viewers move in front of the works, optical vibrations and virtual movements are created.

Heinz Mack – The Biographer of Light
Heinz Mack creates the poetry of immateriality. For him, light is not just a theme, but a lifelong artistic obsession. Influenced by early experiences of light during the war – nights of bombing over Krefeld, a narrow beam of light in a darkened hallway, dancing dust particles in the air – he developed a strong awareness of immateriality and the magic of minimal light sources. Later, a trip to the Sahara deepened this interest: the dazzling mirage reflections, the barely perceptible horizon, and the silence of the desert became key experiences for him. In his work, he attempts to translate these elusive phenomena into abstract, autonomous constellations of light and space – using aluminum, stainless steel, glass, acrylic glass, marble, and reflective surfaces. Silver in particular plays a major role because it reflects light intensely and, for Mack, is symbolically associated with inwardness, night, and consciousness.

Europe in network mode: ZERO and its sparkling satellites
From the outset, ZERO was conceived as an international movement. In Milan, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and other cities, artists were working on similar questions: How can art be detached from objects, narratives, and ideology and focus instead on light, space, time, and perception?

In Italy, the Azimut(h) group formed, in the Netherlands the NUL group, and in Belgium the ZERO network around Jef Verheyen; closely related positions also emerged in France, Switzerland, and Croatia. Important names in the ZERO circle include Dadamaino, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Piero Manzoni, Jef Verheyen, and Nanda Vigo. Through publications, joint exhibitions, and mutual studio visits, a dense European network emerged that paved the way for the art of the information age.

Women in the ZERO cosmos, lots of shadows, but also light
For a long time, male protagonists dominated the ZERO discourse, but female artists played a central role. Hal Busse, Hanne Brenken, and Herta Junghanns-Grulich were already present at the early evening exhibitions in Düsseldorf and experimented with new materials such as nails on monochrome color surfaces. In Italy, Dadamaino was an early member of the circle around Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani; she developed radical hole and volume paintings that brought space and movement into play. Nanda Vigo created light-flooded objects at the interface of architecture and art with her “Cronotopi.” Yayoi Kusama brought a strongly physical and psychological dimension to the ZERO context with her dot networks and room installations, which also show thematic proximity to questions of repetition, infinity, and space.

Why ZERO continues to shine today
The ZERO network officially disbanded in 1966, but the movement's ideas continued to have an impact far beyond that decade. In the 1960s, ZERO was perceived—especially in the US—as the first German post-war movement of international standing after “Brücke” and Bauhaus. Today, ZERO is considered a key movement in the development of light art, kinetic art, minimalism, conceptual art, and space-related installations. Major retrospectives at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Gropius Bau in Berlin have once again underscored the international significance of ZERO in recent years. The exhibition at the Olaf Gulbransson Museum builds on this and places ZERO in a contemporary context as a movement that has had a lasting impact on our understanding of perception, material, and space.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

ZERO. An International Artist's Movement. 1957–1966 is on view through September 6, 2026.

Address:
Olaf Gulbransson Museum
Kurgarten 5
83684 Tegernsee

Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday | 10 AM – 5 PM
Closed on Mondays

About Heinz Mack:
Heinz Mack, born in 1931 in Lollar (Hesse, Germany), attended the Academy of Arts Düsseldorf during the 1950s. In 1956 he also earned a state examination in philosophy at the University of Cologne. Together with Otto Piene he founded the group ZERO in 1957 in Düsseldorf. Besides his participation at Documenta II (1959) and Documenta III (1964), he also represented The Federal Republic of Germany at the XXXVth Venice Biennale in 1970. In the same year he was invited to Osaka (Japan) as a visiting professor. He also became a full member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, to which he belonged until 1992. Heinz Mack has been honored with major awards including the Art Prize of the City of Krefeld (1958), the Premio Marzotto (1963), the 1st Prix arts plastiques at the 4th Paris Biennale (1965), 1st prize in the international competition Licht 79 in the Netherlands (1979), the Großer Kulturpreis des Rheinischen Sparkassen-Verbands (1992) and the Cultural Prize of the city of Dortmund’s arts council (2012). He also received the Grand Federal Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011. In 2015, Heinz Mack was unanimously voted an honorary member of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf by the academy's senate. In 2016, the city of Düsseldorf bestowed the Jan-Wellem-Ring upon Heinz Mack. He received the Moses Mendelssohn Medal in 2017. The central theme of Heinz Mack’s art is light. Sculptures and pictures are the media of his multifaceted oeuvre. The exceptionally diverse complete works include sculptures made of different materials: light-stelae, light-rotors, light-reliefs and light-cubes. His oeuvre also involves paintings, drawings, India ink, pastels, graphics, photography and bibliophilic works. Another important aspect of Mack’s work is the design of public spaces, church interiors, stage settings and mosaics. His works have been shown in nearly 300 solo exhibitions and numerous other group exhibitions. They are also found in over 170 public collections. Numerous books and two films document his work. Heinz Mack lives and works in Mönchengladbach and Ibiza.

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MATTEO THUN AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK | APRIL 21 – 26, 2026

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MATTEO THUN AND ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ

HOMAN | DESIREE

Salone del Mobile | Hall 09 Booth L09–M06
Euromobil Showroom | Corso Monforte 30/3

A revisited version of Homan realised for the contract to be flexible, modular and yet elegant.

NEW COLLECTION | EFFEBIQUATTRO
Salone del Mobile | Hall 14 Booth E35

New patterns, strong colours and different designs are the perfect combination for the new doors.

COSTA | PIANCA
Salone del Mobile | Hall 05 Booth B05
Showroom via di Porta Tenaglia, 7N3

A linear and sophisticated style define the new chairs series by Matte Thun & Antonio Rodriguez.

ARIS & AURA | ARTIZE FOR JAQUAR
Salone del Mobile | Hall 06 Booth D29–D33

Slender precision and distinctive simplicity define the new collections Aris and Aura.

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MATTEO THUN AND BENEDETTO FASCIANA

IGEA | UNOPIÙ
Salone del Mobile | Hall 24 Booth D32
UnoPiù Showroom via Pontaccio, 9
Palazzo Crivelli via Pontaccio 12

A contemporary reinterpretation of a great classic of outdoor furniture: wrought-iron collections adorned with exclusive fabrics.

 THEO | PLANK
Salone del Mobile | Hall 22 Booth A26

A project that combines timeless design and functionality, conceived to appear and disappear naturally, intelligently adapting to contemporary spaces.

MILANO GENTILE | FLORIM
Salone del Mobile | Hall 24 Booth D24
Florim Flagship Store, Foro Buonaparte 14 | Press talk, April 22, 17:00

A celebration of the gentleness of Milan translated into a design language in which the surface turns into a means of expression.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Matteo Thun & Partners:
Matteo Thun & Partners was founded in 1984 by Matteo Thun and is now jointly led by him and five partners: Antonio Rodriguez, Elisa Vago, Matteo Beretta, Karola Gröger, and Boris Ulrich, who is also the CEO. With offices in Milan and Munich and a team of around 70 creatives spanning architecture, interior architecture, product and brand design, the studio delivers projects worldwide across architecture, hospitality, product design, and brand development.
At the heart of the studio’s work is a responsible, holistic approach that respects each client’s individuality, the genius loci, and outstanding craftsmanship. Conscious material choices, ecological sensitivity, and the reuse of existing structures shape the studio’s work, alongside a clear, timeless design language.

About Matteo Thun:
Matteo founded his eponymous design studio in 1984, where he would establish himself as one of his generation’s most influential voices and talents. A pupil of Oskar Kokoschka and Emilio Vedova at the Salzburg Academy and an Architecture graduate of the University of Florence, Matteo’s formative professional years were spent under the guardianship of Ettore Sottsass. Together, they co-founded the globally renowned Memphis Group in 1981. From his headquarters in Milan and Munich, Matteo continues to nurture an architecture and design practice that strives to create conscious, respectful, and long-lasting solutions through a future-oriented lens.

About Antonio Rodriguez:
Since 2003, Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez have been developing iconic product designs distinguished by timeless simplicity, intuitive functionality, and emotional quality. Warm, natural materials and a clear formal language form the basis of their designs. Antonio Rodriguez stands for conscious, timeless design that rethinks luxury through quality, sensoriality, and environmental innovation. After studying in Valencia, he moved to Milan in the 1990s and worked, among others, for the Taipei Design Center and the IED. He has been with the studio since 1999 and has led product design since 2003.

About Benedetto Fasciana:
Associate Director Benedetto Fasciana’s appreciation of craftsmanship and proportion as a priority defines his approach to architecture and design. An architecture graduate of the University of Ferrara, Benedetto’s expertise in interior design and product design was honed from his background in ceramic art and creating retail and exhibition spaces for world-renowned brands during his time as Art Director at White Design in Venice. Since joining Matteo Thun & Partners in 2014, Benedetto has been responsible for the creation of iconic furniture and lighting solutions that reflect his passion for artisanal craftsmanship and the studio’s shared design values of simplicity, functionality, and timelessness.

All images courtesy Matteo Thun & Partners.

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MATTEO THUN DESIGNS EXPANSION OF HOTEL BELLA VISTA IN STELVIO NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH TYROL, ITALY | OPENING IN MAY 2026

March 24, 2026 (Trafoi, Italy)  – In May 2026, Hotel Bella Vista in Trafoi will open its new wing, designed by Matteo Thun – a project that interprets the dialogue between nature and architecture in the heart of Stelvio National Park. Inspired by the idea of a “nest” in the mountains, the building combines contemporary design, high-altitude panoramas, and new spaces dedicated to wellbeing. At the foot of Ortler, the highest peak in South Tyrol at 3,905 meters, in the heart of Stelvio National Park, Hotel Bella Vista in Trafoi has been, for generations, a top-tier retreat for those seeking peace, nature, and genuine hospitality.

The family-run hotel traces its roots back to 1875 and today begins a new chapter: in May, a new wing will open, designed by architect Matteo Thun, who shares a long-standing friendship with Olympic champion Gustav Thöni, co-owner of the hotel with his family.

“For me, it is an incredible emotion to see this project realized together with my friend Matteo. We have talked about it for years, and finally seeing it come to life here in Trafoi is something unique. It is a symbol of a friendship that endures over time and the love we share for these mountains. We have also finally given the legendary ‘Valanga Azzurra’ its own beautiful space,” says Gustav Thöni.

This project originates from a childhood memory: the eagles over Trafoi and the silence of the mountains. At the foot of Ortler, a contemporary nest takes shape – a light and intimate architecture that integrates seamlessly into the alpine landscape. “Each space is designed as an opening to nature so that the true protagonist always remains the landscape,” explains architect Matteo Thun.

Connected to the historic building, the new wing features a light exterior wooden structure and an organic architecture that blends perfectly with the surrounding nature. Large windows frame views of the peaks of Stelvio and the Engadin Dolomites, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior and bringing the panoramas into the hotel spaces. Here, nature is not merely a backdrop, but the absolute protagonist, and the generous areas surrounding the building represent true luxury – a renewed concept of alpine hospitality based on the balance between contemporary design and local tradition. A nest in the mountains where architecture is constantly in dialogue with the surrounding nature.

The expansion was developed in phases, like a natural evolution that respects the place where it stands. While the architectural project is signed by Matteo Thun & Partners, the interiors were curated by architect Christina Biasi von Berg of Studio Biquadra in Merano, a long-time collaborator of Matteo Thun, while the structural, executive, and urban planning aspects were overseen by engineer Wolfgang Oberdörfer.

The first phase, completed in December 2025, created the new lounge bar with a fireplace, “Home of Gold”: an intimate and enveloping space that tells the sporting history of Gustav Thöni and the legendary “Valanga Azzurra.” It is not only a convivial space but also an architectural narrative, where the warmth of the fire and natural materials converse with the memories of an era that shaped skiing worldwide. At the same time, the new reception was completed, designed as a connection point between the historic 1875 building and the new wing – a transitional space symbolizing continuity between past and present, alpine tradition and contemporary vision.

With the opening in May 2026, the experience is further expanded with 24 new suites facing the imposing Stelvio landscape. Large panoramic windows frame the peaks, while interiors offer seating and relaxation areas where natural light becomes a design element. Each suite is conceived as a privileged observatory over the mountains – a quiet retreat where the view becomes part of the living space.

In the new project, wellbeing is a natural extension of the landscape. Among the innovations is a large wellness area reserved for adults, with a spa and a relaxation zone fully immersed in the mountains. The infinity pool opens toward the Trafoi Canyon like a suspended terrace, while a large panoramic window frames the peaks and enhances the sense of depth in the view.

Swimming here means immersing oneself in a horizon without boundaries, where the water reflects the sky and the mountains become part of the sensory experience. Next to the pool is a large hot tub with stunning landscape views, yoga and fitness rooms, and four new saunas: infrared, bio-sauna, Turkish bath, and family sauna. The “Fire and Ice” relaxation area, with fireplace and snow shower, transforms the primal dialogue between fire and ice – elements that have always defined Alpine identity – into a sensory experience. Outside, the panoramic sauna finds a new location immersed in nature, next to a small natural lake fed by a spring on the property.

The outdoor “Nature Arena,” a relaxation area embracing the surrounding mountains visually, invites contemplation and reconnection with the rhythms of the environment. Here, wellbeing is born from nature and returns to nature – in harmony with its rhythms and seasons. Families also have dedicated spaces, including a children’s pool, family sauna, and the adventure slide “Waterfall.”

With this new wing, Hotel Bella Vista redefines alpine hospitality, based on the balance between humans and nature, tradition and the future. In this nest beneath Ortler, true luxury remains the same as always: space, silence, and an ongoing dialogue with the high mountains.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Hotel Bella Vista will open its new wing in May 2026.

Address
Hotel Bella Vista
Trafoi 11 | 39029 Trafoi
South Tyrol | Italy

About Matteo Thun & Partners:
Matteo Thun and his five partners lead his architectural and interior design studio based in Milan and Munich. Since 1984 the studio embraces a holistic and responsible design philosophy to create iconic schemes, products, and brand visions for a global clientele.

All renders courtesy of Matteo Thun & Partners.

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THE ICONIC HOTEL LE SIRENUSE IN POSITANO CELEBRATES ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

March 23, 2026 (Positano, Italy) – When four Neapolitan siblings embarked on an adventure in 1951, Anna, Aldo, Paolo and Franco Sersale had noticed that visitors from overseas often fell in love with – and in – Positano, the small Italian seaside town on Italy’s Amalfi Coast where they owned a villa. They decided to convert their family home into a small hotel with just eight rooms, called Le Sirenuse.

Novelist and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck came to stay the following year, and in a celebrated essay for Harper’s Bazaar, he wrote: “We went to the Sirenuse, an old family house converted into a first- class hotel, spotless and cool... Every room has its little balcony and looks out over the blue sea to the island of the Sirens from which those ladies sang so sweetly”.

Since then, the acquisition of adjacent properties in the hotel’s has allowed it to expand to 58 rooms, and the Sersale family continues nurture and preserve its unique spirit. Both hotel and home, it is a unique labour of love that each generation curates, embellishes, and holds in stewardship for the next. This year, Le Sirenuse celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Today, Franco Sersale’s son Antonio and his wife Carla make Positano their home during the hotel’s April-October season. Antonio oversees all aspects of the hotel’s management and strategy, while Carla curates Emporio Sirenuse.
 
Emporio Sirenuse is a fashion and lifestyle brand born in Positano and nurtured by the creative world of Le Sirenuse. Founded by Carla Sersale and guided under the creative direction of Viola Parrocchetti, the label has evolved from the hotel’s intimate boutiques into an independent international brand celebrated for its refined craftsmanship and modern ease.

Rooted in the spirit of the Amalfi Coast yet resonating far beyond it, Emporio Sirenuse translates Mediterranean artistry into contemporary collections distinguished by hand-worked embroideries, ikats, and prints. What began as a sartorial expression of the hotel’s cultural life has grown into a globally recognized fashion house that continues to embody the same values of travel, craftsmanship, and quiet sophistication that define Le Sirenuse, while confidently charting its own path in the wider world of fashion.

One of the guiding intentions behind its evolution is the vision of Franco Sersale, who reshaped the hotel’s aesthetic and spirit between 1990 and his death in 2015. An engineer by training but a traveller and photographer at heart, Franco sought to surround guests with the beauty he admired. His deep attachment to the culture and artisanship of Naples and the Amalfi Coast led him to collaborate with local makers, while his curiosity drew him to auctions across Europe, where he discovered art and objects that gradually became part of the hotel’s identity. Franco’s approach was never about modernising for its own sake, but about creating harmony through contrast. His invitation to architect Gae Aulenti to design the minimalist Spa in 2000 reflects this sensibility. The result was a space that felt both timeless and deeply personal, echoing his elegant and well-travelled eye.

Antonio Sersale has carried this ethos forward with Artists at Le Sirenuse, curated by Silka Rittson Thomas and now in its second decade. The programme invites contemporary artists to create works that converse with the hotel’s history and landscape. To date, thirteen site-specific pieces have been commissioned, including Nicolas Party’s exuberant pool mosaic, Martin Creed’s neon Don’t Worry, and Caroline Bachmann’s painted tondi inspired by the shifting view of the Li Galli islands. What distinguishes Artists at Le Sirenuse is the intention behind every collaboration. These works are conceived to become part of the hotel’s living architecture and to deepen its relationship with art and place. They reflect the Sersale family’s belief that culture is a form of stewardship, one that links generations and ensures that Le Sirenuse remains rooted in its past while remaining open to its future.

It was in 1991 that Franco called his son Antonio back to Positano from a hotel apprenticeship that had taken him around the world. The close working relationship between Antonio and his father is mirrored today by the working rapport between Antonio, Carla and their two sons Aldo and Francesco, who joined the family business in 2020.

A perfect example of the collaboration between the first and second generation of Sersales is Franco’s, the streetside bar a short stroll from Le Sirenuse that is today one of Positano’s most sought-after aperitivo and nightcap venues. The conversion of what was once a staff car park into a panoramic, art- filled raft above the Mediterranean with a dedicated cocktail menu was initiated by Franco and completed a few months after he passed away in 2015 by Antonio. Later, Antonio would launch a pre- season wellness and yoga retreat called Dolce Vitality, inspired by his love of the mountain paths above Positano, that is today overseen by his son Francesco – who also works closely with his mother Carla on the strategic direction of Emporio Sirenuse, and handles the hotel’s marketing and communications. Francesco’s brother Aldo works alongside his father Antonio on the hotel’s day-to-day operations and guest experience. He looks after the hotel’s La Sponda restaurant, headed up by talented local chef Gennaro Russo, as well as Franco’s Bar and the hotel’s informally glamorous raw bar and sharing bistrot, Aldo’s (named, like Aldo himself, after Franco’s elder brother, a famous Positano bon viveur).

During his world travels, Aldo Sersale became captivated by the quiet ritual of the listening bars he encountered in Tokyo — intimate spaces where music is treated with the same reverence as a fine drink. The concept resonated deeply with him, reflecting both his own global sensibility and the Sersale family’s long-standing tradition of bringing international cultural influences into the life of Le Sirenuse. The hotel’s original bar, tucked within a suite of drawing rooms that once formed the heart of the Sersale family villa, felt like the natural home for this idea — discreet, atmospheric, and steeped in history. In the summer of 2024, Aldo’s vision came to life as the Don’t Worry Bar, a speakeasy-style hideaway where classic cocktails are paired with a curated soundscape of Italian and international jazz and pop, played on vinyl by a live DJ and rendered with warm clarity through a state-of-the-art sound system.

Le Sirenuse’s independence from corporate pressures allows it to pursue its passions – one of which is the guardianship of the culture and traditions of the Amalfi Coast. A collection of exquisitely bound and illustrated Le Sirenuse Little Books, published directly by the hotel, includes an ongoing series dedicated to the iconic ingredients of the region. Pomodoro was the first to be distributed to guests in 2022, with Limone following in 2024. This initiative complements a weekly programme of activities that includes excursions along Positano’s mountain paths, tours of the hotel’s lush indoor gardens accompanied by discussions of local plant lore, and leisurely sunset cruises on the Sant’Antonio, the family’s traditional gozzo fishing boat.

As Le Sirenuse approaches its 75th anniversary, the Sersale family continues to take the long view. In keeping with this spirit, April 2026 will see the opening of Le Sirenuse Mare, a new Beach Club conceived as both a destination and a cultural platform. Designed to extend the hotel’s legacy of beauty, craftsmanship and community to the shores of Nerano, it marks the next chapter in the ongoing story of a family that has spent three generations curating the past, embracing the present, and shaping a thoughtful future for the Amalfi Coast.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For more information, please visit Sirenuse.it/
Facebook | Instagram | @lesirenuse

Images Credits:
1. Le Sirenuse’s Pool by Nicolas Party. 2024. Glass mosaic tiles. 18.6x4.65m. Courtesy Nicolas Party and Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich. Milan.
2. Le Sirenuse’s Restaurant, 2023. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
3. Le Sirenuse, Room 34. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
4. Don't Worry Music Bar, 2025. Photography by Brechenmacher & Baumann
4. Franco's Bar, 2023. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse

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SOCIÉTÉ PRESENTS A SOLO EXHIBITION BY BUNNY ROGERS

Opening Preview: March 12, 2026 | 6 – 8 PM
On View: March 12 – April 18, 2026

March 4, 2026 (Berlin, Germany) – SOCIÉTÉ is delighted to announce My Original Friend, a solo exhibition by Bunny Rogers, on view from March 12 – April 18, 2026. 

Bunny Rogers’ conceptual practice draws upon deeply personal references to reflect on experiences of alienation and intimacy. Her intricate narrative worlds often center on “overlooked objects,” endowing modest everyday items with the presence of people and moments that have shaped her life. For Rogers, imagination is not secondary to “reality”, but a parallel structure through which experience is processed and reconfigured. Drawing on the pop-cultural landscape of the late 1990s and early 2000s, her multifaceted practice considers how notions of identity and belonging were reshaped at the moment when the virtual and the real began to overlap and intermingle in unprecedented ways.

In her fourth solo exhibition with SOCIÉTÉ, Rogers transforms the gallery into an immersive installation that spatializes the familiar iconography of video game quests. In this dark, strangely flattened environment of grey brick, pseudo-classical columns, and torch lighting, we encounter a series of self-portraits in the guise of Joan of Arc, an animated character from the short-lived MTV series Clone High. Joan functions as a mask or placeholder for the artist, allowing Rogers to remove herself from the image and displace autobiography into a mediated form. In each image, she holds a different key derived from drawings of actual keys belonging to people close to the artist.

Rendered as quest objects, these keys become charged relics. They carry the intimacy of their owners while operating within the symbolic logic of the game world. Rather than serving as simple emblems, they suggest access, withholding, and the fragile architectures of trust that structure attachment. Suspended between personal artifact and digital artefact, the keys bridge Rogers’ inner life and the visual language of virtual space. Through subtle shifts in gesture, the figures stage the relationship between key and lock as a psychological threshold—charged with violence and tenderness, reverence and protection.

NOTES TO EDITORS
My Original Friend will be on view at SOCIÉTÉ from March 12 – April 18, 2026. 

Address
Wielandstraße 26
10707 Berlin

Opening Preview
March 12, 2026 | 6 – 8 PM

Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday | 10 AM – 6 PM
Closed on Sundays and Mondays

About Bunny Rogers: 

Bunny Rogers (b. 1990, USA) is a visual artist, poet, and performer based in New York. Rogers has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions at venues including Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg; and Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris. She has participated in group exhibitions at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Hangar Y, Paris; Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; New Museum, New York; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; OCAT Shanghai, Shanghai; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; LUMA Westbau, Zurich; The Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; and Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin; The Jewish Museum, New York; Queens Museum, New York. She is the author of My Apologies Accepted and Cunny Poem Vol. 1 & 2. Bunny Rogers is part of a number of public collections including Boros Collection, Berlin; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Julia Stoscheck Foundation, Düsseldorf; Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk; MMK Frankfurt; Whitney Museum, New York; among others.

About SOCIÉTÉ:

SOCIÉTÉ is a Berlin-based contemporary art gallery with a global reach. The gallery’s bold curatorial approach plays a pivotal role in advancing its artists’ visions, supporting major museum exhibitions, biennials, and acquisitions by leading institutional collections worldwide. Operating in both the primary and secondary markets, SOCIÉTÉ provides curated advisory services to select clients.

Beyond its exhibitions, the gallery’s publishing initiative, EDITION SOCIÉTÉ, collaborates with prominent writers and graphic designers to produce artist books, catalogues, and, more recently, high-end artist editions.

SOCIÉTÉ is an active presence at major international art fairs, including Art Basel, Art Basel Paris, Art Basel Miami Beach, Frieze New York, Frieze London, ARCOmadrid, and Gallery Weekend Berlin.

Image credits:
Bunny Rogers, Joan R Key 8, 2025. Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle PhotoRag Ultrasmooth 305g, gold-leafed artist frame, 200.5 x 163 x 7.5 cm, 79 x 64 x 3 in. Courtesy the artist and SOCIÉTÉ, Berlin.

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ARTEFACT GALLERY PRESENTS ‘SELF AS SOLVENT’, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY JAGODA BEDNARSKY

Preview: April 23, 2026 | 6 – 8 PM

On View: April 24 – June 25, 2026

February 26, 2026 (Berlin, Germany) – ARTEFACT Gallery is delighted to announce Self as Solvent, a solo exhibition by Polish-born Berlin-based painter Jagoda Bednarsky, on view from April 24 – June 25, 2026. Alluding to the medium’s inherent solvency, the artist sees the self as fluid and permeable, in a state of constant negotiation. New paintings and watercolor works will be unveiled for the first time, emerging from the artist’s ongoing engagement with a boundless archive of images, exploring the ways they shape memory and desire.

Through a process of appropriation and reconfiguration, Bednarsky draws from art history, popular culture, and personal experience, dismantling familiar visual languages and recombining them into unexpected compositions. Recognizable motifs emerge only to quickly disappear within the dense fields of color and movement. In the dialogue between initial motifs and their transformed iterations, Bednarsky produces works that rethink the stories they reference. The artist expands: “In my paintings, I create order out of disorder through the repetition of motifs, gestures, and colors, following Jorge Luis Borges’s notion that repetition creates order.”

For Self as Solvent, Bednarsky has produced a new suite of watercolors that embody her singular perspective on contemporary experience and visual culture. The exhibition includes new works from the artist’s ongoing Shadowland series, reflecting on conventional notions of femininity and motherhood, while recognizing its natural form. Ranging from grey-toned water fountains to brightly colored compositions resembling hilly landscapes, the works appear ordinary at first, but reveal themselves as breasts arranged in cascading stacks.

Founder of ARTEFACT, Anna Rosa Thomae, reflects, “I first encountered the watercolors a little over six years ago, and was absolutely taken by their intimate humor and luminosity. Quietly perfected in Jagoda’s studio for many years, and I am so honored to now show them at the gallery.”

Throughout her practice, themes of self-image, wellness culture, motherhood, voyeurism, and femininity often intersect with design elements and theatrical fragments that suggest incomplete or imagined narratives. Across this new body of work, Bednarsky transforms the apparent excess of contemporary visual culture into a painterly language of repetition, variation, and reinvention. At once playful and analytical, the works probe the potential of images and their role in the construction of identity, while remaining infinitely open to reinterpretation. One is invited to linger and look beyond first impressions, discovering how meaning emerges gradually through memory, material, and imagination.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Emotional Life of Looking will be on view at ARTEFACT from April 24 – June 25, 2026. Special opening hours will be in place during Gallery Weekend Berlin, taking place from May 1 – 3, 2026.

Address

ARTEFACT

Geisbergstraße 12, 10777 Berlin

Opening Times

Monday – Friday | 10 – 6 PM and by appointment.

About Jagoda Bednarsky:

Jagoda Bednarsky (b. 1988, Zlotoryja, Poland) studied at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna, Austria before graduating from the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany in 2014. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Europe and the United States, including institutional exhibitions at Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany; Museum Wiesbaden, Germany; Kunstverein Oldenburg, Germany; Kunstverein Heppenheim, Germany; Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany; Museum für Moderne Kunst Zollamt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Kunsthalle Lingen (Ems), Germany; and Kunstverein zu Assenheim, Assenheim-Niddatal, Germany. Bednarksy’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the DekaBank Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; and Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, Danzig, Poland.

About ARTEFACT Gallery:

ARTEFACT is a Berlin-based gallery and project space presenting contemporary art and collectible design. We are dedicated to fostering a dynamic and inclusive community by supporting both emerging and established artists and designers in articulating their unique perspectives. Our collaborators are entrusted with unrestricted creativity, with the freedom to explore, experiment, and express themselves without limitations. 

artefact.berlin | @artefactgallery.berlin

Image Credits:

Photo by Felix Kultau, Studio Bednarsky/Kultau

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SECESSION PRESENTS CIRCUS, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY MARIANNA SIMNETT

Press conference: Thursday, March 5, 2026, 10 AM
Opening: Thursday, March 5, 2026, 7 PM
On View: March 6 – May 31, 2026

February 16, 2026 (Vienna, Austria) – At the Secession, Marianna Simnett will present Circus, a multimedia exhibition comprising light, sound, and sculptural works that draw on her Yugoslav heritage. Personal references, including a work that was inspired by her Jewish-Croatian grandfather’s experience during the Holocaust, intersect with nods to folkloric bogeywomen, who may interchangeably figure as threat or ally, and the traditional Balkan skirt that stages the delicate play of revealing and concealing intimate body parts. The show’s Circus theme manifests itself in a variety of ways throughout the presentation: in the maniacal spinning of a skirt overhead, alluding to a circus tent; in a stage for a performance; in the sound of torturous laughter; or in dazzling lights illuminating a darkened space. 

Simnett’s practice consistently engages with intense corporeal states – urinating, fainting, the sensation of being tickled – which she taps into in an investigation of pleasure and pain. Having grown up in Great Britain as the daughter of a Croatian mother during the Yugoslav Wars, the artist remembers a recurring fantasy of a urinating figure resembling a folkloric female character who lifts her skirt to expose her genitalia to ward off evil spirits. Translated into neon lighting, this figure oscillates between provocation and defence, between abjection and agency. Neon does not merely illuminate; it intrudes. It screams, demands attention, and collapses distance. Building on the legacy of Bruce Nauman’s neon works, light here becomes a body in its own right – one that addresses, agitates, and physically affects the viewer.

In Catherine Wheel (2026), an illuminated blue skirt spins above the viewer’s head, synchronized with the artist’s uncontrollable laughter. The sound originates from a four-hour tickling session during which Simnett was pushed into an increasingly exhausted and unpredictable state. The resulting laughter – dark, strained, and edged with gallows humour – takes on a possessed, almost satanic quality. The skirt’s relentless movement becomes threatening in its sheer persistence, exerting pressure not only symbolically but bodily, as something that cannot be stopped or escaped.

The title refers both to a historical torture and execution method – used in Europe until the nineteenth century – and to a spectacular firework associated with fascination and childish awe. This semantic ambivalence mirrors a destabilizing experience that wavers between attraction and dread. While the corporeal experience invoked by the work borders on the intolerable, the body itself remains absent. The skirt assumes an anthropomorphic, ghostlike presence, standing in for a body that is felt but not seen. This absence functions as a repudiation of the representational regimes that historically framed the female body – particularly in states of so-called hysteria – as a spectacle of loss of control. Instead of showing the body in crisis, Simnett abstracts it, while activating the viewer on a visceral level.

The same strategy is also crucial to Faint with Light (2016). For this work, the artist made herself faint four consecutive times through hyperventilation before a medic intervened after she had a seizure. Monumental LED lights pulse in synchrony with her breathing, rising and falling alongside her repeated collapse and revival. The result is a blinding, overwhelming experience that is brutal in its intensity – disorienting, almost orgasmic, and unmistakably primal.

The work resonates with the story of Simnett’s Jewish grandfather, who survived the Holocaust. After he had escaped during transportation between different concentration camps, he fainted when he was about to be shot and thus was believed to be dead. At the same time, the work confronts a long visual and medical history in which women’s fainting spells were systematically medicalized: diagnosed as nervous weakness or hysteria, photographed, classified, and scrutinized as evidence of supposed physical and mental instability. The fainting female body became an object of control and eroticized passivity. This was not incidental but a visualization of deeply entrenched power asymmetries.

Simnett revisits fainting as a motif not to reproduce these images, but to dismantle them. By absenting the body while intensifying its physiological effects through light, sound, and rhythm, she stages exhaustion and loss of control as an active, deliberate strategy. Fainting is no longer something to be looked at, but something that destabilizes the act of looking itself. The work asks insistently: Who is falling? Who is watching? And who bears responsibility for holding – or letting go?

Drawing on personal experience and collective cultural memories, Simnett’s works embrace the surreal not as an escape from reality, but as a method of transformation. Fantasy, play, and excess function here as tools for renegotiating agency in the aftermath of trauma. Rather than narrating trauma directly, the exhibition articulates it as a bodily condition structured by repetition, anticipation, and sensory overload – something that is not resolved but continuously reactivated and reworked.

Programmed by the board of the Secession
Curated by Bettina Spörr

The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Simona Petrova-Vassileva.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
Address
Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12
1010 Vienna

Opening Hours
Tuesday – Sunday | 10 am – 6 pm
Closed on Mondays

About Marianna Simnett
Marianna Simnett is a British-Croatian multidisciplinary artist living and working between Berlin and New York. Her immersive narratives centre around the overlapping and at times incongruous themes of vulnerability, autonomy, control, pain, metamorphosis, and care. 

Simnett’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions at venues including Max Ernst Museum, Brühl (2026); Société, Berlin (2025); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2024); LAS, Berlin (2023); Société, Berlin (2022); Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2019); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich (2019); MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2018); The New Museum, New York (2018) and Zabludowicz Collection, London (2018). Selected group exhibitions include Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (2023); the 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams (2022); Espressioni: The Epilogue, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2022); and Prize of the Böttcherstraße, Kunsthalle Bremen (2022).

Image Credits:
1.   Marianna Simnett, Circus, 2025. Preparatory drawing. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin.
2. Marianna Simnett, Faint with Light, 2016, SEIZURE installation view at Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Anders Sune Berg.

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BELVEDERE HOTEL MYKONOS OPENS FOR THE 2026 SEASON

February 12, 2026 (Mykonos, Greece) – Belvedere Hotel, the legendary Mykonos hideaway and long-standing member of The Leading Hotels of the World, opens for the 2026 season this month, with a refined visual identity and a new private passage providing direct access to Mykonos Town. Conceived as an architectural extension of the property, the new entryway enriches the guest experience while reinforcing Belvedere’s position at the intersection of privacy and island life. Family-owned and welcoming guests since 1969, the five-star boutique hotel stands on a property that traces its origins to the 1850s. At its heart lies Mansion Stoupa, a stately residence that has remained in the family for generations and around which the Belvedere gradually evolved. Perched at the highest point of Chora, the hotel is celebrated for its world-class hospitality, exceptional gastronomy, and sweeping panoramic views over the Aegean Sea.

Once a lively gathering place for artists from the nearby School of Fine Arts and international personalities, from Julie Andrews and Stephen Rubell to Princess Soraya of Iran and Pierro Aversa, the property still carries the free-spirited energy and cultural sensitivity of its early years. Today, thoughtfully connected spaces encourage creativity, intimacy, and a sense of community, defining the Belvedere experience. The hotel’s new visual identity, anchored by a seahorse – a composed, symmetrical emblem of two forms framing the sea, pays tribute to the Belvedere’s rich heritage and core values. Creative Director and Designer of the Belvedere brand, Alexander Kellas explains that “the seahorse stands for kindness, peace, and loyalty, while also embodying a sense of playfulness. The coat of arms represents togetherness beyond all conventions and is a symbol of friendship and love for all generations who have found their home at the Belvedere Hotel.”

Surrounded by a lush garden with abundant greenery and signature pink bougainvillea, the main complex boasts a distinguishable Cycladic design that honors the traditional architectural landscape of Mykonos, with its white interior reflecting the elegant frames of nearby local houses. From here, guests can move effortlessly between the hotel’s main spaces and amenities, including the iconic Matsuhisa Mykonos, the pool, spa, and wellness facilities. A dynamic calendar of seasonal activations features a limited-edition restaurant pop-up led by a  Michelin-starred chef. Beyond the main building, a collection of rooms, suites, and private villas stretches across the property, offering views of the Aegean Sea, historic windmills and Mykonos Town. Situated just 250 meters from the central complex, the 26 Hilltop Rooms and Suites present a tranquil hideaway, while the Waterfront Villa and Villa Next Door, located in their own distinct settings, are conceived as private retreats. These properties deliver an immersive escape, secluded from city life while remaining linked to the hotel’s services and facilities.

The Belvedere delivers a luxuriant selection of experiences that honor both its Greek heritage and the expectations of a global clientele. At the heart of the main complex, the Belvedere Pool Club, serves as a lively social hub where guests can gather to connect, unwind, and submerge themselves in the hotel’s international community. This epicenter also includes the historic Belvedere Bar, renowned for some of the island’s most memorable evenings. With a strong emphasis on cocktail craftsmanship and precision, the bar reflects the influence of legendary mixologist Dale DeGroff, widely known as “the King of Cocktails”.

Firmly rooted in the culture and history of Mykonos, the Belvedere remains a guiding presence on the island, inspiring unforgettable moments of connection and serendipity, while embodying the heritage, sophistication, and cultural richness that have become synonymous with the Mykonos experience.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Address

Belvedere Mykonos

School of Fine Arts District, 84600, Mykonos, Greece

Facebook | Instagram | Belvedere Hotel , @belvederehotel

Facebook | Instagram | Matsuhisa Mykonos, @matsuhisamykonos

Image credits:

1. Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Yiorgos Kaplanidis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos

2. Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Yiorgos Kaplanidis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos

3. Belvedere Hotel Mykonos. Photography by Yiorgos Kaplanidis. Courtesy of Belvedere Hotel Mykonos

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FLORENTINA HOLZINGER PRESENTS SEAWORLD VENICE | AUSTRIA’S NATIONAL PAVILION AT THE 61st INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

Preview Days: May 6 – 8, 2026
Pavilion Opening: May 6, 2026 | 12:30 PM
On View: May 9 – November 22, 2026

February 5, 2026 (Austria) – Austrian choreographer and performance artist Florentina Holzinger will represent Austria at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with SEAWORLD VENICE, a bold new interdisciplinary commission, curated by Nora-Swantje Almes (Gropius Bau, Berlin). Known for her genre-defying work that challenges socio-political conventions, Holzinger uses her long-standing research into the element of water—as both subject and symbol—to explore the human body in a radically changing landscape, in which nature and technology collide. On view from May 9 – November 22, 2026, the project will feature a permanent live installation and performances at the Austrian Pavilion, alongside site-specific Études across Venice and its lagoon.

Florentina Holzinger combines extreme physicality with theatrical precision to probe the limits of corporeal agency. Working across dance, performance, opera, and theatre, and critically engaging with their histories, the artist blends legitimised ‘high’ culture with pop and countercultural currents to unsettle the lines between spectacle and subversion. Her works experiment with endurance and moments of extremity—to make power legible at the level of the body. Elemental forces, such as water and bodily fluids, recur as material presence in her work and are used as agents that act upon bodies while implicating the audiences who witness them. SEAWORLD VENICE derives from this ongoing enquiry as a new work that enters into dialogue with Venice, a city defined by its entanglement with water, survival, and the consequences of human intervention.

Water, levels rising; water that we drink and excrete in countless cycles every day; water, a vital, life-sustaining natural resource and highly managed commodity; water, to plunge in, dive in, and emerge from, perhaps transformed: SEAWORLD VENICE is conceived as an underwater theme park, sewage treatment plant, and sacred building—a machinic organism inhabited by performers for the duration of Biennale Arte 2026. Through poetic yet unflinching imagery, Holzinger flirts with the limitations of humanity, revealing the vulnerability of human bodies and the systems they navigate. ‘Florentina Holzinger paints an apocalyptic scenario that is already here, illustrating humankind’s complicity in a collapsing (eco)system: lives lived in the waste of others. Fleeting images and compositions that haunt us, edging the impossible. She radically expands what is considered possible—a mindset that is contagious and that we need right now more than ever,’ says curator Nora-Swantje Almes.

SEAWORLD VENICE will unfold beyond the Giardini della Biennale and across the city through performances titled Études—a body of work the artist has been developing since 2020, consisting of choreographic exercises and performative actions staged in public, transitory spaces. In doing so, the commission becomes an open-ended exploration that evolves across multiple formats and locations. Rising from the depths of the Venetian lagoon, where turbo-tourism’s waste lies at rest, and ascending into the city’s skies, Holzinger’s performers—human and otherwise—reveal the vulnerability and resilience of bodies and the world alike. The artist states, ‘In Venice—a city caught in a profound and precarious relationship with water—my ongoing fascination with this element will take on new dimensions. Here, the body will play a central role in exploring the interdependence and interplay between nature and technology.’ The opening Étude will take place on the morning of May 6, 2026. 

On the occasion of Florentina Holzinger’s project at the Austrian Pavilion, Bierke Verlag, Berlin, will release HOLZINGER, her first major publication in collaboration with Gropius Bau Berlin and Kunsthalle Wien. The monographic work will bring together perspectives on her artistic practice, visual and choreographic vocabulary, and central themes, and includes texts by Claire Bishop, Caroline Lillian Schopp, Mire Lee, and Anna Leon, alongside an introduction by curator Nora-Swantje Almes and an interview with Florentina Holzinger.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Visitor Information
SEAWORLD VENICE
Austrian Pavilion
61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
www.seaworldvenice.at

Address
Giardini della Biennale
Sestiere Castello, 30122 Venice, Italy
www.labiennale.org

Preview Days + Opening
Preview days: May 6 – 8, 2026
Opening of the Austrian Pavilion: 6 May 2026, 12:30 PM
Opening Étude: 6 May 2026 | Limited capacity. Registration opens on April 27, 2026
Exhibition duration: May 9 – November 22, 2026

SEAWORLD VENICE is realised on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport, Division IV – Arts and Culture. The Lead Partners & Étude Commissioners are Bukhman Foundation and Hartwig Art Foundation. It is supported by the following Partners: The Friends of the Austrian Pavilion, Eva Dichand, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, and More Spirit Please. The project is co-produced by Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Gropius Bau / Berliner Festspiele (Berlin), Amant (Brooklyn, NY) and Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna). Public funding is contributed by Land Niederösterreich, Land Salzburg, Land Kärnten, and the City of Vienna. You can find the full list of all project partners here: https://www.seaworldvenice.at/thank-you

The project will travel to Gropius Bau, Berlin, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, and Amant, Brooklyn, New York in 2027 and 2028. The Études series will continue as satellite projects, building narratives across different geographies and including collaborations with Vienna Festival, Nitsch Foundation, Kunsthaus Bregenz, marvaða Iceland, TRANSART – Festival for contemporary cultures, and Hartwig Art Foundation in Amsterdam.

About Florentina Holzinger
Holzinger’s works have been awarded the Nestroy (TANZ, 2020) and DER FAUST awards (Ophelia’s Got Talent, 2023) and have been selected by the Theatertreffen Berlin four times in a row (TANZ, Ophelia’s Got Talent, SANCTA, A Year without Summer). Besides her stage productions, Holzinger creates Études, an ongoing series of site-specific, one-off performances in public space that have been presented in collaboration with the Schinkel Pavillon Berlin, Bergen Kunsthall, Atonal Festival, and Wiener Festwochen, among others. Since 2021, she has been an associate artist at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin.

About Nora-Swantje Almes
Nora-Swantje Almes is a curator with a focus on performance in the visual arts context and performative exhibition formats. She has been Curator of the Live Programme and Outreach at Gropius Bau Berlin since 2024. Prior to this, she headed the live programme at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, for three years, where she developed the commissioned work Harbour Étude with Florentina Holzinger and her team in summer 2024. In her curatorial career, she has held positions at Glasgow International, Participant Inc., New York, Artangel London, and the Schinkel Pavillon Berlin.

Image Credits:
Florentina Holzinger, 2026. Photography by Katia Wik. 

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SOCIÉTÉ IS JOINED BY HAUSER & WIRTH IN THE REPRESENTATION OF CONNY MAIER

February 2, 2026 (Berlin, Germany) – SOCIÉTÉ is delighted to announce the collaborative representation of Conny Maier with Hauser & Wirth.

German artist Conny Maier lives and works in Portugal. Shaped by the distinctly different environments of her home country and the place she now calls home, her multi-perspectival practice forges new relationships between landscape, climate and human psychology, unfolding through climactic scenes that merge geological distress with instinctual urges. Maier has attracted international attention for bold, brawny, assertively hued paintings populated by misshapen figures, interspecies entanglements, and symbolically charged motifs. Symbolic objects—flowers, animals, offerings and ritual elements—appear throughout her paintings and sculptures, acting as anchors for the emotional and psychological currents her work traces.

In exploring the complexities of humankind’s relationship with nature, she infuses vivid, seemingly paradisiacal landscapes with a sense of latent unease, reflecting the ever-shifting equilibrium between human intention and contemporary ecological reality. With their graphic precision and tendency toward narrative, Maier’s tableaux reflect a particularly keen awareness of the patterns that emerge from—and further reshape—the moments in which natural and manmade orders converge. Maier’s art invites reflection on the systems we build and the forces that challenge them.

‘We are delighted to welcome Conny Maier to Hauser & Wirth, to engage with the vivid world she is creating—a realm she populates with creatures and objects born from her own imagination but somehow familiar and powerfully resonant. In its rawness and poetic impact, her work seems to take its place with that of such gallery artists as Maria Lassnig and Erna Rosenstein, and a younger cohort that includes Angel Otero and Firelei Báez. We look forward to sharing Conny’s universe with ever wider audiences worldwide and to introducing her to our West Coast friends when we present a solo stand of her latest paintings at Frieze LA.’

– Marc Payot, President at Hauser & Wirth

‘It has been deeply exciting to be a partner in Conny Maier’s remarkable journey, and I am thrilled that SOCIÉTÉ will join forces with Hauser & Wirth to shape the next chapter of her career.’

– Daniel Wichelhaus, Founder and CEO of SOCIÉTÉ

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Conny Maier: 

Conny Maier lives and works in Portugal. She was selected as one of the three recipients of Deutsche Bank’s prestigious Artists of the Year Prize in 2021. Her recent expansive solo exhibition Beautiful Disasters  was curated by Udo Kittelmann at the Langen Foundation, Neuss. Her first monograph was published on the occasion of this show. Her work has recently been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at venues including Art Basel Unlimited 2023, Basel; De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg; PalaisPopulaire, Berlin; MUDEC, Milan; and at Museum Frieder Burda, Baden Baden.

Conny Maier is part of a number of public collections including Albertina Museum, Vienna; Alkar Contemporary Collection, Bilbao; Boros Collection, Berlin; Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt; Hildebrand Collection, Leipzig; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin; Kistefos Museum, Norway; Musée d’art Moderne, Paris; among others. 

About SOCIÉTÉ:

SOCIÉTÉ is a Berlin-based contemporary art gallery with a global reach. The gallery’s bold curatorial approach plays a pivotal role in advancing its artists’ visions, supporting major museum exhibitions, biennials, and acquisitions by leading institutional collections worldwide. Operating in both the primary and secondary markets, SOCIÉTÉ provides curated advisory services to select clients.

Beyond its exhibitions, the gallery’s publishing initiative, EDITION SOCIÉTÉ, collaborates with prominent writers and graphic designers to produce artist books, catalogues, and, more recently, high-end artist editions.

SOCIÉTÉ is an active presence at major international art fairs, including Art Basel, Art Basel Paris, Art Basel Miami Beach, Frieze New York, Frieze London, ARCOmadrid, and Gallery Weekend Berlin.

Image credits:
1. Portrait of Conny Maier. Photo by Sebastian Emmert
2. Conny Maier,Café & Orangen/ Bonjour tristesse, 2025. Photo by Trevor Good
3. Conny Maier, Gigante 1, 2023. Photo by Trevor Good
4. Conny Maier, Komm wir brüten, 2025. Photo by Trevor Good

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THE MAX ERNST MUSEUM PRESENTS HEADLESS, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY MARIANNA SIMNETT

Opening: January 30, 2026 | 7 p.m.
On View: January 31 – July 5, 2026

January 27, 2026 (Brühl, Germany) – January 27, 2026 (Brühl, Germany) – The solo exhibition Headless by Marianna Simnett brings together both new and earlier works by the artist, highlighting her deep connection to the ideas of Surrealism. In an expansive installation, her multidisciplinary practice unfolds like a dreamscape - shifting between video, artificial intelligence, sculpture, painting, and music. A world both strange and seductive emerges, inviting viewers into a maze of fractured realities and uncanny encounters.

The title of the exhibition Headless is borrowed from Max Ernst's first collage novel, La femme 100 têtes (The Hundred Headless Woman, 1929), whose influence resonates throughout the show. A new series of paintings, produced especially for the exhibition, takes direct inspiration from this book, in which Ernst composed a loose sequence of eerie images, often featuring his feathered alter ego, Loplop. Marianna Simnett uses this as a starting point to interweave past and present - bringing together current events, mythology, and her own alter egos to form new, hybrid narratives.

Curated by Madeleine Frey and Sarah Louisa Henn.

The accompanying catalog Headless, published by Hirmer Publishers, will feature contributions by Cecilia Alemani, Madeleine Frey, Sarah Louisa Henn, and Lisa Tuttle.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The exhibition Headless by Marianna Simnett will be on view at the Max Ernst Museum from January 31 – July 5, 2026.

The opening reception will be held on January 30, 2026 at 7 p.m. The evening will feature the following speakers: the Chair of the Rhineland Regional Council, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm, Chairman of the Board of the Max Ernst Foundation, and Madeleine Frey, Director of the Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR. The artist will be present. The program includes a reading by Svenja Wasser from Lisa Tuttle’s Blood of the Host, followed by a DJ set by Alisa Berger.

Address

Comesstraße 42

50321 Brühl

Opening Hours

Tuesday – Sunday | 11 am – 6 pm

Closed on Mondays

About Marianna Simnett

Marianna Simnett (b. 1986, London) lives and works in Berlin and New York. In early 2026 she will be the subject of two major solo exhibitions at the Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, and at Secession, Vienna. Her work was part of last year‘s Art Basel Parcours sector and her solo exhibition WINNER was recently on view at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin. Her first work for the stage, entitled GORGON, commissioned by LAS Art Foundation premiered at HAU 2, Berlin in 2023. Her work The Severed Tail was presented at the 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams and at the 66th BFI London Film Festival, British Film Institute, London. Her work has been exhibited internationally in solo shows at venues including City Gallery Wellington, Wellington; Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen; MA, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich; MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; The New Museum, New York; and Zabludowicz Collection, London. Selected recent group exhibitions include Manifesta 15, Barcelona; Yours Truly, Nahmad Contemporary, New York; Topalekuak, Tabakalera, San Sebastian; 1.5 Degrees, Kunsthalle Mannheim; The King Is Dead, Long Live the Queen, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden; Espressioni: The Epilogue, Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Prize of the Böttcherstraße, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen; British Art Show 9, various cities; A Fire in my Belly, Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin; Unprecedented Times, Kunsthaus Bregenz; and The Body Electric, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Image Credits:

Marianna Simnett, Headless #1, Oil on canvas, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin. Photo: Thomas Müller

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DAS MINSK KUNSTHAUS IN POTSDAM PRESENTS OSCAR MURILLO: COLLECTIVE OSMOSIS

January 21, 2026 (Potsdam, Germany) – Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo will activate the interior and exterior spaces at DAS MINSK, transforming the museum into a lively experiment of exchange and community from March 14 - August 9, 2026. The exhibition Collective Osmosis is a multi-layered meditation on visibility, landscape, and the political implications of artistic work across borders. The project marks the first collaboration between DAS MINSK and Museum Barberini, with works by the artist on view at both institutions.

In the project Collective Osmosis, Murillo creates a dialogue between his abstract paintings, visitors, and Impressionist works by Claude Monet. The starting point is Murillo’s engagement with the French painter’s life, work, and reception. In his later years, Monet suffered from cataracts, gradually losing his eyesight until undergoing surgery, which led to changes in his paintings’ composition and coloration. Murillo considers the artist’s shift in perception as both an allegory for the blind spots in our society and a catalyst for imagining new realities. Murillo thus explores the political dimensions of seeing and not-seeing, employing darkness as a speculative space for a new reading of Impressionism.

In science, the term osmosis, used in the exhibition’s title, describes how water particles move through a semi-permeable membrane, from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated one, until equilibrium is reached. Murillo uses this concept as a metaphor to express his vision of equality and a universal human community. The principle of Collective Osmosis also stands for the opening of the museum, creating permeability and exchange between inside and outside, between museum and city, and between Potsdam and the world beyond.

Through its participatory dimension, Collective Osmosis brings to the fore each person’s inherent potential to create artistic gestures with brush, hand, or pen. Murillo sees art as a form of communication—the act of mark-making, for him and for participants in his collective painting actions, is an expression of freedom. 

“Oscar Murillo succeeds in pushing forward the discourse about the medium of painting by interrogating both visible and invisible boundaries and redefining social and economic cycles,” says Anna Schneider, director of DAS MINSK. “His work explores new possibilities for community building. Collective Osmosis will become a lived experiment that fosters exchange and challenges inequality. Oscar Murillo’s decision to choose Claude Monet as an accomplice—an artist who translates light and landscape into works admired worldwide for their luminous colors—is an astute idea. In doing so, he expands his own frame of reference and moves closer to the idea of a universal human community.”

Oscar Murillo in Conversation with Claude Monet: The First Collaboration Between the Two Museums of the Hasso Plattner Foundation

Murillo has created a set of new paintings for the exhibition, on view at both DAS MINSK and Museum Barberini. At DAS MINSK, three of Monet’s iconic serial paintings from the Hasso Plattner Collection—the London Houses of Parliament, grainstacks, and the water lilies at Giverny—enter into dialogue with Murillo’s Frequencies series. New paintings from Murillo’s Disrupted Frequencies series will be accompanied by the AI-generated video work Territorial Osmosis, which combines drawings by schoolchildren from around the world into a hybrid moving-image work. These works are surrounded by an installation of black canvases, entitled The Institute of Reconciliation (ongoing since 2014), creating an environment that situates Monet’s historical paintings in the context of political, social, and ecological events in today’s globalized world.

A selection of canvases from the extensive Frequencies archive will also be exhibited. Initiated by Murillo in 2013, the Frequencies project invites school children from across the world to draw on canvases affixed to their desks over a period of several months. The resulting sketches on canvas document a global visual language of an emerging generation. Most recently, the project was carried out in six schools in Potsdam and Brandenburg in advance of the exhibition. The participating schools were: AWO Grundschule “Marie Juchacz” in Potsdam; Evangelisches Gymnasium Hermannswerder; Gesamtschule Am Schilfhof, Potsdam; School International, Potsdam; Städtisches Gymnasium Wittstock and Goethe-Schiller-Gymnasium, Jüterbog.

Mark-Making and Participation: Central Elements of the Exhibition at DAS MINSK

The ground floor at DAS MINSK focuses on Murillo’s painting processes, which consist of a multitude of gestural marks and fleeting traces. At the center of the display are new paintings from the series Scarred Spirits.

The presentation also features two participatory projects that Murillo has developed over the past few years in various locations: Social Mapping and Collective Painting. For the Social Mapping process, Murillo invites participants to draw on large-scale canvases. These canvases are then painted on by visitors in a second process of Collective Painting, which takes place in exhibition settings at different sites—including The flooded garden (2024) in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern or A song to a tearful garden (2025), recently initiated in São Paulo’s Ibirapuera Park for the 36th São Paulo Biennale. Canvases and documentary material resulting from these projects will be on view at DAS MINSK.

In the first weeks of the exhibition, painted canvases from the collective work A song to a tearful Garden will be on display on the terrace at DAS MINSK. From April 25, 2026, the participatory event will begin, with visitors invited to paint Social Mapping canvases in an open-air Collective Painting process.

On occasion of the exhibition, Murillo will launch a nationwide Social Mapping project across Germany, with the canvases produced in different parts of the country arriving at DAS MINSK throughout the run of the exhibition.

Oscar Murillo: A New Work at Museum Barberini

A new, large-scale triptych entitled surge (social cataracts) will be on view in the collection presentation of Impressionist painting at the Museum Barberini. This constellation of Murillo’s triptych and Monet’s serial works explores how the act of seeing is rehearsed and realized in painting, juxtaposing Monet’s figurative representation with Murillo’s abstraction.

Regarding his works from the series Surge, Oscar Murillo says: “For me, Monet and his paintings are a medium through which I can grasp paradox. On the one hand, his works are expressions of a universally recognized aesthetic—gesture, size, color, harmony, and joy. On the other hand, his experiences as a person and the bilateral cataracts he suffered allow me to imagine cosmic torment and darkness as a metaphor. The strong, structured paintings I am working on are a direct result of these reflections—reflections that seek refuge in pixels of nothingness or orbit around them.”

Image credits: 
1. Oscar Murillo, (untitled) scarred spirits, 2025, oil, oil stick and graphite on canvas, 220 × 300 cm. Courtesy of the artist © Oscar Murillo. Photo: Tim Bowditch & Reinis Lismanis
2. Oscar Murillo, Frequencies, 2013—ongoing, Ljubljana, Slovenia, ballpoint pen, fountain pen, graphite, felt tip pen, highlighter pen, permanent marker, paint, crayon, staples, natural pigments, debris and other mixed media on canvas, 55 × 141 cm.  Courtesy of the artist © Oscar Murillo. Photo: Tim Bowditch
3. Oscar Murillo, A song to a tearful garden, part of the 36th São Paulo Biennial, Not All Travellers Walk Roads—Of Humanity as Practice, September 6, 2025–January 11, 2026. Courtesy of the artist © Oscar Murillo. Photo: Reinis Lismanis
4. Oscar Murillo, surge (social cataracts), 2025, oil, oil stick, and spray paint on canvas, in three parts, overall 250 × 750 cm, installation view. Courtesy of the artist © Oscar Murillo. Photo: Tim Bowditch & Reinis Lismanis

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