Spanish urban artist SpY reimagines the everyday fabric of Lille, France, with Golden Monoliths — a monumental public art installation comprising 14 shipping containers positioned vertically along the city’s main thoroughfare. Cloaked entirely in gold, these industrial objects shed their utilitarian function to emerge as powerful totemic symbols. Through the dramatic, upright arrangement of the containers, SpY transforms a conventional passageway into a ceremonial corridor, inviting passersby into an immersive experience.

all images courtesy of Ruben PBescos

questioning the transformation of industrial objects

Visitors are no longer passive spectators but are prompted to engage directly with the towering structures, reconsidering ideas of scale, function, and value within the urban landscape. Originally designed for global trade and circulation, the shipping containers are removed from their functional context. Through the straightforward yet impactful gesture of covering them in gold, SpY reinterprets these industrial forms as symbolic monuments. This transformation is characteristic of the Spanish urban artist’s approach, where the utilitarian is reimagined, not for decoration but to critically address the fetishization of commodities and the systems that sustain contemporary consumption.

the monumental public art installation is composed of 14 shipping containers

a critical commentary on consumption and global trade

Installed amidst heightened global trade tensions and economic uncertainty, Golden Monoliths serves as a reflection on modern society’s relationship with consumption. By transforming tools of commerce into shining, symbolic monuments, SpY draws attention to the paradoxes of value, exchange, and desire that shape contemporary life.

With this installation, SpY continues his exploration of urban transformation through subtle yet impactful interventions. The installation blurs the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and public space, prompting viewers to reconsider not only the objects themselves but also the unseen systems and ideologies they embody.

cloaked entirely in gold, these industrial objects emerge as powerful totemic symbols

SpY chooses to cover the containers in gold, straightforward yet impactful gesture

the industrial forms are reinterpreted as symbolic monuments

Golden Monoliths serves as a reflection on modern society’s relationship with consumption

SpY transforms a conventional passageway into a ceremonial corridor

the installation blurs the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and public space

the piece prompts viewers to reconsider the objects themselve and the unseen systems they embody

SpY draws attention to the paradoxes of value, exchange, and desire that shape contemporary life

project info:

name: Golden Monoliths
artist: SpY | @spy__studio
photography: Ruben PBescos | @rubenpb

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom

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Urban and spatial artist SpY presents Ovoids, a kinetic installation of eight red ovoids suspended from the ceiling, moving in pendular sequences. With their suggestive geometry, these ovoids evoke the forms that nature has evolutionarily developed to satisfy essential functions such as protection and storage, thus ensuring survival and reproduction. What distinguishes this installation is the hypnotic pendular swaying of the aligned ovoids, whose continuous and rhythmic movement captures the viewer’s attention and induces a state of full contemplation. From this attentive observation, the constant oscillation relaxes the conscious activity of the brain, subtly evoking natural states of light trance.

all images by Ruben PB

eight red ovoids follow a hypnotic pendulum dance

As the audience enters and walks through the installation, the different viewpoints and pendulum cycles reveal ever-changing patterns and forms. Spanish artist SpY invites visitors to explore this work through a proposal that combines space and movement, offering an active experience that engages the public in a suggestive sensory and perceptual journey.

Commissioned by Balloon Museum, SpY shares the ‘Euphoria: Art is in the Air’ exhibition in Rome, Italy, with international artists such as Martin Creed, Marta Minujín, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, A.A.Murakami, Quiet Ensemble, Nils Völker, among others. 

SpY’s kinetic installation, Ovoids, presents eight red ovoids in pendular motion

the rhythmic swaying of the ovoids creates a hypnotic, meditative experience

SpY’s installation explores the intersection of space, movement, and sensory perception

the oscillation of the ovoids induces a state of light trance and contemplation

Ovoids invites visitors to experience the calming rhythm of continuous motion

SpY’s work at the Balloon Museum engages audiences in a shared perceptual experience

SpY’s work connects natural geometry with hypnotic mechanical movement

project info:

name: Ovoids

artist: SpY | @spyurbanart

host: Balloon Museum | @balloon_museum

photographer: Ruben PB | @rubenpb

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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SpY‘s Ovoid installation suspends beneath the Wadi Hanifah Bridge in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, emanating a striking red glow. Created for Noor Riyadh, the public art festival that enlivens the city each year with luminous interventions, the 35-meter-high form occupies its urban landscape with a surreal presence, activating and transforming it into a site for sensory interaction.

Its vast form engages viewers in a dialogue about scale, materiality, and perception from each viewing point, the glow confronting and continually shifting their perceptions of space. As the viewer approaches, the ovoid reveals itself, capable of combining an overwhelming corporeal experience with a deeply evocative intimacy. 

all images by Ruben PB

the vast scale is reflected in still waters under the bridge

The vibrant red light emanating from within saturates the surrounding environment, enveloping the atmosphere with a captivating visual energy. Below the bridge, the still waters amplify the effect, reflecting the Ovoid to create an ethereal duality. Doubling its visual scale, this interplay between the physical object and its mirrored counterpart expands the work’s impact, merging reality with illusion.

Like much of SpY’s work, the Ovoid at Noor Riyadh encourages a heightened awareness of the environment, presenting a transformative experience via light and sculpture. The Spanish artist continues to blur the boundaries between art, architecture, and the natural landscape, with a creation that dominates its context with intense contrasts.

SpY completes Ovoid

suspended beneath the Wadi Hanifah Bridge in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

created for Noor Riyadh 2024

a striking red glow occupies the urban landscape

a surreal gathering space

its vast form engages viewers in a dialogue about scale, materiality, and perception

dominating its context with intense contrasts

below the bridge, the still waters amplify the captivating visual interplay

the Spanish artist continues to blur the boundaries between art, architecture, and the natural landscape

project info:

name: Ovoid
artist: SpY | @spyurbanart

location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

program: Noor Riyadh | @noorriyadhfestival

dates: 28th November — 14th December, 2024

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom

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Following its debut at the majestic Pyramids of Giza in 2022, SpY’s ORB installation lands at Place des Arts, Montreal. The Madrid-based artist combines formal simplicity with a deep symbolic charge, reinterpreting a familiar, everyday object — the convex traffic mirror. Transforming this element into an artistic form, the work is shaped as a large, chrome steel and glass orb with a vast spherical form and specular surface.

The sculpture’s mirrors reflect fragments of the environment and those who observe it, evolving with the passage of day and night. This continuous interaction creates a dynamic experience that invites a profound reflection on the relationship between art, urban space, and its inhabitants.

all images by Ruben P Bescos

spy’s spherical installation takes to montreal 

Initially conceived for the second edition of the Art D’Égypte group exhibition Forever Is Now, SpY’s ORB presents the challenge of creating a harmonious dialogue with one of the most emblematic historical environments in the world. The choice of Montreal’s Place des Arts reinforces the work’s universal character, allowing the artist to establish a meaningful link with a culturally rich and socially symbolic environment of the city. Multiplied and arranged in a unique spherical pattern, this familiar and often overlooked urban component takes on a new life as part of an intervention that surprises the viewer.

ORB’s reflections bridge art and urban space

conceived as a large chrome steel ball

SpY combines formal simplicity with a deep symbolic charge

the installation reinterprets a familiar, everyday object — the convex traffic mirror

a vast spherical form and specular surface

the work invites a profound reflection on the relationship between art, urban space, and its inhabitants

reflecting fragments of the environment and those who observe it

the work evolves with the passage of day and night

located at Montreal’s Place des Arts

multiplied across a spherical pattern, this familiar and often overlooked urban component takes on a new life

the work was first exhibited in Egypt in 2022 at Forever Is Now

project info:

name: ORB
designer: SpY | @spyurbanart

curator: Mural Festival

collaborator: Place des Arts

location: Montreal, Canada

photographer: Ruben P Bescos

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom

The post SpY’s steel and glass ORB installation reflects fragments of urban montreal appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Balloon Museum lands in Los Angeles, California, bringing the inflatable works by SpY, ENESS, Tadao Cern, and 18 more artists. The exhibition ‘Let’s Fly’ begins on October 30th, 2024, and also debuts the museum’s newest work, Mariposa, which was first unveiled at Burning Man 2023. It’s a gigantic butterfly by the California-based artist Christopher Schardt, and in the Balloon Museum in Los Angeles, it hovers above the visitors, decked out with over 39,000 full-color LED lights.

The museum has had its run in major global cities like Milan, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Naples, London, New York, Barcelona, Atlanta, Düsseldorf, Brussels, and Miami. In Los Angeles, it introduces the inflatable works of Filthy Luker, Tadao Cern, MyeongBeom Kim, Ouchhh, SpY, Max Streicher, Karina Smigla-Bobinski, Michael Shaw, ENESS, Roman Hill, Quiet Ensemble, Rub Kandy, Cyril Lancelin, Sila Sveta, Camilla Falsini, MOTOREFISICO, Alex Schweder, Hyperstudio, Mauro Pace, and Sasha Frolova, which visitors can experience and see from October 30th.

Karina Smigla-Bobinski, ADA, 2011 | all images courtesy of Balloon Museum

SpY, ENESS, tadao cern and more bring inflatables to los angeles

To lure in the visitors and lock them temporarily within the immersive Balloon Museum seems to be the plot of the exhibition in Los Angeles. As soon as they walk in, they can see several inflatables in their varied forms beyond just a party balloon. They can be 10 black inflatable circles moving in synchronized choreography in SpY’s ZEROS.

If not that, they’re 180 silver balloons criss-crossing a room full of mirrors and stroboscopic lighting effects with Tadao Cern’s BB. Others play with music through air, at least with ENESS’ Spiritus Sonata, whose wind instruments use air to inflate the studio’s structures, creating sounds in the midst of the process. Some of the spaces inside the Balloon Museum use spurts and corners of light to let the viewers see the inflatables.

SpY, ZEROS, 2023

Activating bridge for immersive balloon installation

These animated and kinetic lights share the same room with numerous balloons like Hyperstudio’s Hyperstellar series with Quiet Ensemble and Roman Hill, creating an environment of cosmic wonders. Los Angeles also becomes an underlying theme to the other works, namely Ouchhh’s AI Dataportal of Los Angeles, which is an immersive tunnel composed of LED screens and mirrors that reflect the diffused lights and forms.

Visitors in a trance as they leave the museum may want to look up and see Filthy Luker’s Eye Scream, whose giant inflatable tentacles spill out of the bridge connecting the museum’s buildings. The Balloon Museum runs in Los Angeles from October 30th, 2024, until March 16th, 2025, at Ace Mission Studios.

Hyperstudio, Hyperstellar series with Quiet Ensemble and Roman Hill, 2023

Tadao Cern, BB, 2023

Hyperstudio, Hyperstellar, 2023

ENESS, Spiritus Sonata, 2023

Ouchhh, AI Dataportal of Los Angeles, 2023

Hyperstudio, Hyperstellar, 2023

Tadao Cern, BB, 2023

Filthy Luker, Eye Scream, 2022

project info:

name: Let’s Fly

museum: Balloon Museum | @balloon_museum

location: Ace Mission Studios, Los Angeles, California, US

dates: October 30th, 2024 until March 16th, 2025

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Transforming 6,000 square meters of the former weapons factory in Oviedo, Spain, SpY unveils Blankets 2, one of his large-scale installations, composed of hundreds of salvage blankets. Following the Blankets project in Chengdu (find designboom’s previous coverage here), this installation forms a vast, reflective sea of gold and silver that shifts with light and wind throughout the day. Natural air currents flow through the blankets, establishing a choreographic cycle that leads to an ever-changing visual experience. As the blankets ripple, they generate subtle sound textures, creating a whispering, immersive soundscape that echoes through the space.

all images by  Ruben P Bescos, courtesy of SpY

blankets 2 transforms former weapons factory in Oviedo

The wind activates undulating patterns across the blankets, turning the installation by SpY into a kinetic artwork in constant motion. A sound texture subtly emerges with the continuous movement of the blankets, revealing itself and creating an enveloping acoustic landscape. Visitors navigate the installation, experiencing the reflective surfaces and evolving soundscapes from different vantage points. The changing light throughout the day enhances this interaction, bathing the space and its visitors in shifting reflections and acoustic whispers. The Madrid-based urban artist’s minimalist design combines form, movement, and time, encouraging reflection and interaction. Blankets 2 invites visitors to reconsider their perception of space, motion, and their active role within the environment.

transforming 6,000 square meters of the former weapons factory in Oviedo, Spain

SpY unveils Blankets 2, one of his large-scale installations, composed of hundreds of salvage blankets

following the Blankets installation in Chengdu, the installation forms a vast, reflective sea of gold and silver

the installation shifts with light and wind throughout the day

natural air currents flow through the blankets

creating a whispering, immersive soundscape that echoes through the space

establishing a choreographic cycle that leads to an ever-changing visual experience

as the blankets ripple, they generate subtle sound textures

the wind activates undulating patterns across the blankets

project info:

name: Blankets 2
artist: SpY | @spyurbanart 
location: Oviedo, Spain
photographer: Ruben P Bescos | @rubenpb

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: thomai tsimpou | designboom

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1984 luminous traffic cones embrace the columns of the Aula Academia at Ghent University and cast the Belgian city in an ethereal orange glow. Kicking off the sixth edition of the Lichtfestival Ghent on November 22, 2023, CONES by Spanish artist SpY disrupts the assumed solemnity of the historic architecture through an unconventional and thornily subversive aesthetic re-envisioning of its front. By day, a stark orange intervention captivates the urban streetfront, while by night, the artwork bathes the Voldersstraat in a warm blanket of light, transforming it into an immersive visual spectacle.

all images by Dave Bruel unless stated otherwise

spy’s thorny intervention casts new perspectives

Working from the appropriation of an everyday urban element — the mundane traffic cone — SpY’s site-specific installation envelops the Aula Academia building to create enchantingly unexpected and intrusive, yet playful encounters for viewers while casting new perspectives of the historic structure. As the sun goes down, the artist brings the cones to life, radiating mesmerizing orange hues that add a layer of transformation to the street space experience.

The vibrant Lichtfestival Ghent illuminates the city every three years with works by national and international artists, turning the city into a canvas for surprising spectacles, installations, and performances — all centered around the theme of light. The light festival will take place from January 31 to Feburary 4, 2024, CONES takes its place among the various luminous offerings by Charles Pétillon, Benedikt Tolar, Atelier Sisu, and more.

1984 luminous traffic cones embrace the columns of the Aula Academia at Ghent University

by night, CONES bathes the Voldersstraat in a warm blanket of life

the installation kicks off the sixth edition of the Lichtfestival Ghent

disrupting the assumed solemnity of the historic architecture

by day, a stark neon orange intervention captivates the urban streetfront

SpY works from the appropriation of an everyday urban element — the mundane traffic cone

the vibrant Lichtfestival Ghent illuminates the city every three years

image courtesy of Travelfrom

project info:

name: CONES
artist: SpY
program: Lichtfestival Ghent

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom

The post SpY wraps neoclassical columns in ghent with 1984 luminous traffic cones for lichtfestival appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Designed to enchant and disperse a meditative mood among visitors, patients, and employees at Bern’s University Hospital Inselpita, Loops weaves together art and architecture. Gently floating within the 25-meter-high atrium of the recently inaugurated Anna-Seiler-Haus building, the kinetic art installation by SpY engages in a captivating dialogue with its surroundings, enhancing the hospital environment with its minimal design and endless palette of evocative shapes inspired by nature.

The project has been developed as part of a co-design process with the Inselspital staff in collaboration with Studio Banana, GWJ, IAAG, ASTOC, Archipel General Planer, MKT Engineering, and SpY. It comprises 24 aluminum rings of varying diameters, each integrating an LED glowing surface on their inner rims. Suspended by two cables and steered by motorized winches, they shift both horizontally and vertically, creating a synchronized dance that imparts an impression of three-dimensional movement constantly evolving in space.

all images by Ruben P Bescos

24 loops hover and evolve in the hospital’s atrium

Both engaging and soothing, Loops presents a new paradigm for site-specific installations in the re-envisioning of hospitals as more humane environments, enlivening the largest hospital in Switzerland. The production of the artwork spanned over two years and involved the development of bespoke equipment by world-leading engineers. Spanning up to 21 meters in height, 6 meters in width, and 8 meters in length, it contrasts the orthogonal structure of the architecture with its smoothly edged rings, offering diverse viewpoints and perspectives from the five floors of the atrium as both spectators and the installation move. The installation’s non-invasive form respects the physical and functional requirements of the hospital, providing a dynamic eye-catcher for meditative breaks.

Spanish artist SpY and design consultancy Studio Banana sought to question how art can positively impact patients’ physical and emotional wellbeing within a hospital environment. Site-specific installations, they propose, provide a vast potential in the re-envisioning of hospitals as more humane environments. The design of Loops, as such, is based upon the primary principle that art can heal. Aiming at a thorough influence, the movements of the sculpture gently stimulate not only the eye, but also the mind of the viewer.

project info:

name: Loops

client: Inselspital Bern

artist: SpY

design consultancy: Studio Banana

engineering: MKT Engineering

architecture: ASTOC Architects and Planners, GWJ Architektur, IAAG Architekten, since 2018 with Archipel Generalplanung

sound designer: Omar Tenani

video: Mind The FIlm, RubenP Bescos, SpY

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom

The post SpY suspends kinetic installation in bern hospital atrium for artistic healing appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

A hypnotic choreography of nine colossal inner tubes dwarfs visitors in SpY’s latest kinetic installation, ZEROS. Following the unveiling of his previous large-scale artwork Blankets in Chengdu, China, the Spanish artist takes to the Times Art Museum in Beijing, suspending a series of vast black volumes that gently undulate amid a red glow and engulf observers into constrained viewpoints and navigation patterns. The solemn motions of the piece evoke the image of an enormous animal that shifts ponderously, in a visual and spatial experience dominated by the intense contrast of the block shapes against the harsh light.

exhibited at Times Art Museum in Beijing | all images courtesy of SpY

the colossal volumes engulf visitors, sparking contemplation

The monumental sculpture marks SpY’s first commission for an Asian museum. Installed at the main hall of the Times Art Museum in Beijing, ZEROS’ shifting volumes and vast scale invite viewers to navigate the space and experience various perspectives and moments of connection. The artist contributes to the exhibition ‘Wavelength, a Momentary Spring’ which invites renowned global artist to create surreal contemporary art installations. Together the artistic landscapes spark contemplation and convey the fleeting passage of moments in time.

a hypnotic dance of nine colossal inner tubes

suspended from the ceiling, the vast black volumes gently undulate amid a red glow

engulfing observers into constrained viewpoints and navigation patterns

the solemn motions evoke the image of an enormous animal that shifts ponderously

the monumental sculpture marks SpY’s first commission for an Asian museum

its shifting nature and vast scale invites viewers to experience various perspectives

the artist contributes to the exhibition ‘Wavelength, a Momentary Spring’

global artist create surreal contemporary art installations

project info:

name: ZEROS

location: Times Art Museum, Beijing, China

artist: SpY | @spyurbanart 

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Expanding his increasingly spectacular body of large-scale artworks and interventions, Spanish artist SpY lands in Chengdu, China, with his latest kinetic installation dubbed Blankets. Currently on view at the main hall of the Times Art Museum, the project employs real-life elements to work with movement, light, and sound in unique ways. In this case, the artist gathered hundreds of emergency blankets to move to an ongoing choreography. Glinting and gently swaying against an all-white backdrop, this shifting dynamic generates varying undulation patterns across the piece, as well as a solemn sound field evoking a distant ocean.

all images courtesy SpY

a shifting choreography at times art museum

In line with some of SpY’s most celebrated projects, Blankets transforms real-life and emotionally-charged objects as sculptural elements. The artist drastically reframes these objects –often loaded with symbolic connotations– to subvert expectations and meanings. This subversion materializes here as a fluid visual experience in which the artwork never looks the same. Indeed, beyond its shifting shape powered by a solemn choreography, the scale of the piece invites visitors to view it from contrasting perspectives, from which either the golden or silver sides of the blankets are visible. This monumental installation displayed at the Times Art Museum in Chengdu, China, is part of the exhibition titled 瞬息涌现 A Momentary Spring. 

Blankets installation on view at Times Art Museum in Chengdu

gathering hundreds of emergency blankets

making use of real-life objects as sculptural elements

a monumental, shimmering experience offering different ‘vantage points’

golden or silver sides of the emergency blankets are visible throughout the choreography

Blankets by SpY is part of the exhibition titled: 瞬息涌现 A Momentary Spring

project info:

name: Blankets

location: Times Art Museum, Chengdu, China

artist: SpY | @spyurbanart 

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