Polish textile artist Alicja Kozłowska redefines the boundaries between craft and street art in Banksy Who?, a public art series that brings embroidery to the urban landscape. Comprising seven large-scale embroidered graffiti works, along with crocheted balaclavas and hand-stitched spray cans, the project fuses traditional textile techniques with the raw, expressive language of graffiti. Set against the backdrop of city walls and industrial settings, Banksy Who? challenges preconceived notions of both mediums—provoking viewers to see embroidery not as delicate decoration, but as a bold, contemporary form of protest and expression.

ARTISTS SKULL – embroidered graffiti by Alicja Kozłowska | all images courtesy of Alicja Kozłowska

Banksy Who? reimagines graffiti through embroidered textures

Alicja Kozłowska draws from the visual intensity and immediacy of street art, but trades aerosol paint for thread, beads, and fabric. By introducing the tactile richness of textiles to the urban canvas, the Polish textile artist and designer adds depth and dimension that spray paint alone cannot achieve. Embroidery becomes a tool for storytelling and resistance—each stitch a deliberate mark, echoing the energy of graffiti tags and murals while offering a new, layered materiality. Beads shimmer like fresh paint, quilted textures emulate worn city surfaces, and stitched motifs stand defiantly where murals might once have been.

BANKSY WHO? textile piece on a trash can 

reclaiming public space through a raw textile language

The project is not only a visual intervention but also a conceptual one. Banksy Who? seeks to upend the hierarchy that often separates ‘high’ art from street culture, or traditional craft from contemporary commentary. By integrating centuries-old techniques into the ephemeral, rebellious realm of graffiti, Kozłowska breathes new life into textile art—proving it can be raw, political, and urgent. The accompanying photoshoot, capturing each piece embedded within real city environments, further emphasizes the work’s mission: to reclaim public space with thread as its medium and message.

With Banksy Who?, Kozłowska speaks to a new generation—inviting them to see embroidery not as an artifact of the past, but as an evolving, boundary-pushing practice deeply connected to urban life. In doing so, she not only reshapes the narrative around textile arts but also stitches her own place into the fabric of contemporary visual culture.

BANKSY WHO?
PAINTSUCKS 2 textile piece

PAINTSUCKS 2

the project reclaims public space with thread as its medium and message

BANANA embroidered graffiti piece in an elevator

BANKSY WHO? on a wall 

textile piece on a wall 

SOFT VANDALISM

SOFT VANDALISM

SOFT VANDALISM

project info:

name: Banksy Who?
designer: Alicja Kozlowska | @alice.kozlow

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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The Serbian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale adopts wool as its primary, unexpected medium, to weave an ephemeral canopy. Titled Unraveling: New Spaces, the exhibition explores the idea of transformation in contrast to ideas of architecture as a fixed entity, knitted entirely from wool into large, light, catenary drapes. The structure, a textile environment that interacts with light and time, changes with each visit, calling for rethinking architecture as impermanent and adaptable. It was designed by Davor Ereš, Jelena Mitrović, Igor Pantić, Ivana Najdanović, Sonja Krstić, and Petar Laušević, and curated by Slobodan Jovic.

Motors powered by solar panels drive the unravelling process, pulling threads gradually over the exhibition’s six-month run, until the installation eventually dissolves into the raw material from which it began, ready for reuse. Between these points, the threads hang like a suspended landscape, catching rays of the sun and shifting in shape, density, and transparency as visitors walk underneath.

all images © ReportArch / Andrea Ferro

serbian pavilion at venice biennale considers resource life cycles

The Serbian Pavilion’s choice of wool — a ubiquitous domestic material though one rarely associated with architecture — foregrounds tactility and slowness, recontextualizing Serbia’s knitting traditions through algorithmic precision and renewable energy. Its movement over the months of the Biennale is systematic as it makes visible the passage of time and the quiet undoing of form, revealing a meditation on impermanence and material circularity.

Presented under the Biennale’s curatorial theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., Unraveling aligns closely with the call for expanded definitions of intelligence and authorship in architectural practice, utilizing technology only for its subtle nuances in production. The installation makes a subtle statement, remaining low-energy and reversible to foster a special care for materials amid challenges such as resource scarcity through an architecture of relationships. Its immersive effect, too, lies in the accumulation and unraveling of threads that create a suspended architecture above visitors. 

the pavilion of the Republic of Serbia at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale

The project is developed by a collaborative multidisciplinary team that moves fluidly between architecture, fashion, energy research, and digital technology. Architects Davor Ereš, Jelena Mitrović, and Igor Pantić contribute expertise in computational design and fabrication, while designers Ivana Najdanović and Sonja Krstić bring deep knowledge of textile structures and knitwear construction. Researcher Petar Laušević, working in renewable energy has developed the system that powers the installation.

titled Unraveling: New Spaces

the exhibition explores the idea of transformation in contrast to ideas of architecture as a fixed entity

knitted entirely from wool into large, light, catenary drapes

a textile environment that interacts with light and time

changes with each visit, calling for rethinking architecture as impermanent and adaptable

the work slowly unravels over time

it will eventually dissolve into the raw material from which it began, ready for reuse

the installation makes a subtle statement, remaining low-energy and reversible to foster a special care for materials

recontextualizing Serbia’s knitting traditions through algorithmic precision

the threads hang like a suspended landscape

project info: 

name: Unraveling: New Spaces

curator: Slobodan Jovic

exhibition authors: Davor Ereš, Jelena Mitrović, Igor Pantić, Ivana Najdanović, Sonja Krstić, and Petar Laušević

location: Serbian Pavilion, Arsenale, Venice, Italy

program: Venice Architecture Biennale | @labiennale

dates: May 10th — November 23rd, 2025

The post ephemeral canopies of wool drape over serbian pavilion at venice architecture biennale appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Ibrahim Mahama conceals the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland behind a veil of jute sacks, marking a moment of transition for the historic gallery. The installation coincides with the Kunsthalle’s upcoming reopening and its shift toward a broader institutional reinvention, while echoing one of the most iconic moments in its history: the translucent 1968 wrap by Christo and Jeanne-Claude celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Mahama’s intervention transforms the building’s exterior into a textured, earth-toned skin, layering global histories of labor, trade, and material exchange onto the facade. The historic jute sack, laden with connotations of colonial legacies and economic networks, becomes his primary medium, assembled to introduce a rough presence that embeds the structure within larger social conversations. The installation will remain on view through June 1st as the Kunsthalle moves toward a full reopening with an ambitious program featuring exhibitions by artists including Melvin Edwards and Tuli Mekondjo, alongside events and performances.

all images courtesy Cedric Mussano

ibrahim mahama questions flows of labor, value, and power

This new commission arrives at a pivotal moment for Kunsthalle Bern. As the institution undergoes renovations to improve safety, accessibility, and environmental performance, it has embraced the opportunity to rethink its mission. Under the leadership of director iLiana Fokianaki, the institution has been engaged in a yearlong process of what it has termed  ‘fermentation’, referring to a radical rethinking of its operational, curatorial, and administrative practices by drawing from the ecological principles of permaculture. As the building transforms physically, so too does the institution’s vision: toward a more inclusive, model that considers its social and ecological responsibilities in the context of the environment and global cultural shifts — ‘A ‘work in progress’ where our new vision for an institution of the future emerges: permeable and with access for all,’ as the team notes.

For Ibrahim Mahama, the opportunity to design a veil that marks this moment of transition signaled a chance to interrogate the flows of labor, value, and power that shape global histories, while situating the Kunsthalle within those networks. Known internationally for his large-scale installations made from found and repurposed materials, the Ghanian artist works with the histories embedded in everyday objects. His signature material, the jute sack, carries particular resonance in this project. Used in his native country to transport cocoa, the sacks bear the marks of a context deeply intertwined with Swiss economic history. Manufactured in Southeast Asia, shipped to Ghana by the Ghana Cocoa Board, used first for cocoa, then sold on to local rice and corn traders and ultimately recycled for charcoal transport, the sacks here become an archive of labor, trade, and environmental change.

Ibrahim Mahama’s intervention at the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland

a record of collective labor

Where Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrap was a formal exploration of concealment and transformation, Ibrahim Mahama’s version layers in histories of colonialism, global capitalism, and ecological crisis through this material. The work also asks viewers to consider how institutions are shaped by the legacies they inherit, whether in architecture, art history, or trade, and how those legacies might be opened up to critical reflection.

The jute sack, as Mahama explains, becomes a record of collective labor, ‘scarred’ by its passage through global circuits of commerce. The material’s own vulnerability, including its susceptibility to insect infestations that threaten up to 40% of harvest value, points to larger systems of extraction, overproduction, and ecological collapse. Seen in this light, even the smallest actors — insects — become agents in disrupting the flows of global capital, reframing how we understand agency and resistance in the context of environmental degradation.

concealed behind a veil of jute sacks

The Kunsthalle’s upcoming program, culminating in a full relaunch in spring 2025, will continue to develop these questions. Fokianaki’s curatorial approach, too, supports this by foregrounding the institution as a site of permeability and public accountability. The renovation phase has been used as an active chance to reconsider why the institution exists, for whom it operates, and how it can become a ‘home’ in an era marked by ecological and social uncertainty.

used in Ghana to transport cocoa, the sacks bear a context deeply intertwined with Swiss economic history

the installation coincides with the Kunsthalle’s upcoming reopening and its shift toward an institutional reinvention

project info:

name: Kunsthalle Bern wrap

artist: Ibrahim Mahama

location: Switzerland

photographer: Cedric Mussano

The post ibrahim mahama wraps kunsthalle bern in jute sack veil, confronting histories of labor & trade appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

From May 1st to October 19th 2025, London’s Tate Modern presents Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, the artist’s first major solo show in the UK in 20 years. Organized in partnership with Genesis, the exhibition marks the vehicle brand’s first European project under its Art Initiatives program and spans three decades of Suh’s practice, centering on his recurring themes of space, memory, identity, and the idea of home (find designboom’s previous coverage here). During the preview on April 29th, 2025, Dina Akhmadeeva, assistant curator of international art at Tate Modern, shares insights into the exhibition with designboom. ‘We refuse to call the exhibition a retrospective or a survey,’ she notes. ‘Do Ho refutes the idea of a linear time. He thinks of cyclical time, cycles of time, and so this idea of a constant return is essential.’

Renowned for his walk-in fabric sculptures that replicate domestic spaces at full scale, Do Ho Suh transforms personal architecture into collective experience. Visitors move through translucent corridors of pale organza, stitched to trace the contours of homes Suh once inhabited, from Seoul to Providence to London, where physical memory is rendered into space. In the Turbine Hall galleries, new site-specific works such as Nest/s (2024) and Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024) appear alongside rarely seen early works and recent video, drawing, and rubbing projects.

Do Ho Suh, Home Within Home (1/9 Scale) 2025, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Rubbing/Loving: Seoul Home inspires the title of the exhibition

Other pieces in Tate Modern’s exhibition explore the same ideas, more quietly. South Korean artist Do Ho Suh creates Rubbing/Loving: Seoul Home (2013–22) and Company Housing of Gwangju Theater (2012) by rubbing every surface of buildings with pencil or pastel, imprinting the architectural skin onto paper.

The notion of cyclical return anchors the exhibition through Rubbing/Loving: Seoul Home (2013–22), shown publicly here for only the second time since its debut in Australia in 2022. Created in 2013, the work is a delicate paper rubbing of the traditional Korean hanok house Suh’s parents built in the 1970s, during his adolescence. ‘The carpenters who held this huge wealth of knowledge as to how to build this wooden and paper architecture mentioned this phrase to Suh: ”walking the house,” or ‘making the house walk,”’ Akhmadeeva recounts. Though rarely used, the idiom resonated deeply with Suh, inspiring the title of the exhibition.

That poetic phrase has since shaped Suh’s entire practice, one that wrestles with mobility, displacement, and the nature of memory. ‘For Do Ho, this has become the fuelling point for the way that he imagines the core of his practice—this idea of the spaces that we might carry with us as we move through the world (…) thinking through the spaces that hold our memories.’ Interestingly, Suh did not consider the hanok home while living in Seoul; that sense of home only surfaced after his move to the U.S. in the 1990s.

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | creation supported by Genesis © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

various pieces stand alongside signature fabric architectures

The exhibition maps Suh’s personal and artistic returns to three cities he has called home—Seoul, New York, and London—across a 30-year career. While his translucent fabric architectures remain his most iconic works, Walk the House broadens the view, incorporating delicate works on paper, intimate drawings, and expansive video installations. Highlights include two new fabric architectures shown alongside Seoul Home, and looping LED videos that, as the co-curator states, ‘do something in conversation with Seoul Home that is an absolutely essential part of what Suh thinks about.’

Throughout, Suh prompts fundamental questions: What does it mean to inhabit a space? To carry it with you? To live among others? These questions echo in Who Am We?, a wallpapered corridor made from thousands of ID photos, emphasizing Suh’s exploration of the collective and the interdependence of identity.

Do Ho Suh, Staircase 2016, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

two site-specific pieces debut at the korean artist’s solo show

Tate’s Turbine Hall hosts two new site-specific works, including Nest/s (2024) and Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024). Nest/s (2024), a commissioned work made for Tate, showcases the latest evolution of Suh’s signature fabric architectures. Though recent, its roots reach back to the 1990s, when Suh first moved to the U.S. ‘He was grappling with what it meant to exist in that space of his studio, and he started measuring,’ mentions Dina Akhmadeeva during our exhibition tour. That act of measuring, a precursor to his fabric structures, parallels the rubbing process. It began with a jacket-like sculpture in 1994 titled Rub 516, formed from cotton and zippers, mapping the space of his New York studio. Nest/s (2024) belongs to Suh’s ongoing Hubs series, what he calls ‘impossible architectures,’ in which overlapping colors signal where distinct spaces intersect. 

For Suh, architecture is inseparable from the body. ‘The way that he thinks about these fabric architectures really has to do with the body of clothing also—really embodying architecture as an experienced thing,’ Akhmadeeva emphasizes. ‘Architecture that doesn’t exist without the bodies that move through it.’ The translucent material requires and invites movement.

In Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024), ‘every single color stands for a particular space or particular location across the world,’ she reveals.

Beyond their spectral elegance, these works also reflect Suh’s deep commitment to collaboration. ‘You’ll see this careful attention to craft and tradition that has been passed on across generations,’ highlights Akhmadeeva, referencing the meticulous hand-stitching by Suh’s teams of sewers in London and Seoul. ‘It’s a tension between the careful memories of an artist’s mental space and the careful process of collaboration, that’s absolutely essential in Do Ho’s generosity,’ she adds.

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | creation supported by Genesis © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Bridge Project proposes the ‘perfect home’

The exhibition is the product of a long-term partnership involving Suh’s studio team of eleven, architects, fabricators in Korea, and curators at Tate. ‘We worked almost day-to-day for the last few years to make the show happen,’ Akhmadeeva recalls. ‘It’s not just memory work—it’s architectural, mathematical, and cultural all at once.’

In the final gallery, Suh’s long-running Bridge Project—ongoing since 1999—extends these questions to a planetary scale. It’s a conceptual proposal for a perfect home, located at the precise midpoint between Seoul, New York, and London. ‘It’s totally hypothetical,’ Akhmadeeva says, ‘a home located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.’ Created in collaboration with anthropologists, philosophers, indigenous elders, and lawyers, the Bridge Project demonstrates how Suh’s gentle, safe containers of memory remain in direct contact with the world.

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | creation supported by Genesis © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Do Ho Suh, Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul, 2024, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | creation supported by Genesis | © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Do Ho Suh, Bridge Project 1999-ongoing, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Do Ho Suh, Bridge Project 1999-ongoing, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013-2022, installation view, The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House | courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London and Victoria Miro | repurposing supported by Genesis © Do Ho Suh | image by Jai Monaghan © Tate

project info:

name: The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House

artist: Do Ho Suh | @dohosuhstudio

venue: Tate Modern | @tate

location: London, UK
dates: May 1 to October 19, 2025

The post tate modern opens ‘walk the house,’ do ho suh’s first major UK solo exhibition in 20 years appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

The Blue Water Catcher is a temporary installation developed by Canalside Studio in collaboration with the NGO A Drop of Life. Located in the rural setting of Kuk Po, a historic Hakka village in the northeastern New Territories of Hong Kong, the project integrates water harvesting systems with site-specific land art to support environmental education and awareness.

The installation demonstrates rainwater and fog collection techniques through a modular and transportable design system. Five large blue elements, each resembling a water droplet, were constructed using painted rattan baskets, porous fabric, and bamboo framing. These structures serve dual functions, visually referencing water and physically collecting it. Porous fabric captures mist in ‘mist mode,’ while in ‘rain mode,’ precipitation is funneled through plastic tubing into a nearby well. The structures are supported by water-filled counterweights embedded in the soil.

all images courtesy of Canalside Studio

Blue Water Catcher employs bamboo and rattan elements

The system references both contemporary environmental concerns and local historical practices. Designers at Canalside Studio mirror the irrigation infrastructure built by Kuk Po villagers during the Qing dynasty through a network of plastic pipes. Though no longer maintained, these historical systems once irrigated the area’s agricultural land, now overtaken by brackish wetlands. These wetlands support mangroves, egrets, mudskippers, and other ecologically significant species.

Designed for low-impact installation in remote areas, the Blue Water Catcher employs lightweight, scalable materials suitable for rural deployment. The bamboo and rattan elements are easily transportable, and the use of color and form draws from visual precedents such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates, emphasizing contrast with the surrounding landscape.

five blue droplet-like structures form the Blue Water Catcher installation

Blue Water Catcher can be dismantled and reassembled

Originally intended as a seasonal summer installation in 2024, Blue Water Catcher by Canalside Studio was later reassembled as a temporary light installation for the inaugural Countryside Harvest Festival in January 2025. It aligns with the objectives of the Water Experience BaseCamp, which offers hands-on education about water scarcity and conservation.

Access to Kuk Po is limited to foot or boat, subject to special permit, making the site an effective location for experiential learning. The Blue Water Catcher also received recognition through a Nomination Award at the inaugural Better Design Award in China. The project was made possible through support from A Drop of Life, the Design Trust (via a Seed Grant), the Countryside Conservation Office, and the PolyU Design curatorial team.

the water collected is transported via the plastic tubes to be stored in a nearby well

porous fabric captures moisture from mist and rain in two distinct collection modes

rattan baskets, bamboo frames, and fabric make each water-collecting structure

painted blue, the rattan baskets sit on a bamboo structure

in Mist Mode, the fabric stays on to collect mist in the air with its enlarged surface area

in Rain Mode, the fabric is removed so that the baskets can collect rainwater directly

Blue Water Catcher located within the Water Experience BaseCamp of A Drop of Life

the interior of the rattan baskets is lined with blue plastic sheets to help collect water

porous blue fabric allows for a larger surface area to collect mist

plastic tubes are tied to the bamboo structure

Blue Water Catcher turned into a light installation at night, for the Countryside Harvest Festival

Canalside Studio aims to expand the Blue Water Catcher to the whole Kuk Po valley and plain

project info:

name: Blue Water Catcher
designer: Canalside Studio | @canalside.studio
location: Kuk Po, Hakka, Hong Kong, China

The post five blue water droplet baskets by canalside studio harvest rainwater in rural hong kong appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Tan Wei Xiang upcycles old curtains and blankets and ties them into simple seats for his Knots Stool series. Unveiled during Milan Design Week, the works are simple yet intentional, inviting us to consider our relationship with such material waste to shape more mindful, sustainable living choices.

The Singaporean designer salvages these unwanted fabrics and weaves them through lightweight wooden frames in gestures that require no need for technical construction or complex stitching. He is one of 14 designers featured at the Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION showcase in Milan, running from April 8th–13th, which celebrates six decades of Singaporean design.

image by Tan Wei Xiang

tan wei xiang embraces sustainable living

Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION is organized by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) and curated by Tony Chambers, Maria Cristina Didero, and Hunn Wai. Set inside a former 13th-century church in the heart of Milan’s Cinque Vie district, the exhibition traces a narrative through Singapore’s design legacy, looking at cultural touchstones alongside contemporary innovations and forward-thinking concepts from emerging designers.

Tan Wei Xiang’s Knots Stool series appears in the section dedicated to how designers are confronting today’s urgent global challenges and reimagining modes of living. Rooted in sustainable practice and an appreciation for minimalism, the designer’s work demonstrates how textile waste can be given a second life through intuitive, hands-on creativity. His knotting process, paired with the simple, open structure of the stool, brings a personal and tactile dimension to the design, suggesting that sustainability begins with small, intentional gestures. ‘Knots Stool is more than just a piece of furniture — it’s a call to rethink waste and embrace sustainable living in the simplest way possible,’ he notes.

Tan Wei Xiang completes Knots Stool | image by Tan Wei Xiang 

upcycling old curtains and blankets | image by E Ian Siew

textile waste is tied into simple furniture pieces | image by E Ian Siew 

knotted through a lightweight wood frame | image by E Ian Siew 

the works are created without the need for complex stills or stitching | image by E Ian Siew 

part of the Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION showcase at Milan Design Week | image by E Ian Siew 

project info:

name: Knots Stool

designer: Tan Wei Xiang

photographer: Tan Wei Xiang, E Ian Siew

exhibition: Future Impact 3: DESIGN NATION, Milan Design Week

dates: April 8th–13th, 2025

The post tan wei xiang knots used curtains and blankets for minimalist stools at milan design week appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As part of Swire Properties’ Arts Month 2025 in Hong Kong, ArtisTree Selects: The Jewel System by Sara Shakeel welcomes visitors into a celestial installation merging AI-generated concepts with traditional South Asian embroidery. On this occasion, designboom partnered with ArtisTree to host a discussion with the multidisciplinary artist, as well as with digital art professional, Sylvia Wang. Moderated by designboom Editor-in-Chief, Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou, the panel, titled Embodying the Digital: Translating AI and Digital Art into Physical Forms, unpacks themes such as the role of AI in contemporary art, the human impulse to materialize digital ideas, and the emergence of phygital works, to ponder the future of these two realms.

artist Sara Shakeel inside her installation ArtisTree Selects: The Jewel System

all images courtesy of ArtisTree unless stated otherwise

Centering this conversation is the ArtisTree Selects: The Jewel System by Sara Shakeel, which reinterprets the solar system as an immersive, bejeweled map. Vast planetary forms — hand-embroidered by artisans using over 3.9 million vintage glass crystals — reflect Shakeel’s fascination with cosmic storytelling which she first began exploring as digital collages. Alongside this work, Genesis in Jewels captures the primordial moment of the Big Bang through layers of embroidered fabric and suspended crystals forming a celestial tapestry amid a sweeping black net. Read on for key takeaways from the conversation, and don’t miss the chance to experience the installation in person, on view at Two Taikoo Place in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay until April 27, 2025.

the composition of vast planetary forms were hand-embroidered by 80 Pakistani artisans

bridging digital concepts and artisanal craftsmanship

Sara Shakeel, born in Pakistan and now based in London, is known for her cosmic concepts and has continued to build bridges between digital artistry and physical craftsmanship throughout her career. She begins the conversation with designboom by reflecting on how she has embraced digital tools as a collaborative hand to enhance her exploration of art in more diverse forms.

‘AI is just another tool for an artist — just like a sculptor’s chisel or a painter’s brush,’ Sara Shakeel says. ‘But, of course, AI has no soul, so it needs an artist’s touch to give it life, which I tried to do by creating The Jewel System.’

designboom Editor-in-Chief, Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou, moderated a panel, titled Embodying the Digital: Translating AI and Digital Art into Physical Forms

Shakeel explains that while her practice originates in the digital realm, her desire to create immersive, physical experiences drives her to translate these pieces into tactile art. This not only brings creations into ‘the real world’, but also gives life to her artwork so viewers can engage on a different physical and emotional level.

‘As human beings, we need to have that tactile sensation with something you can touch, feel, see, and experience,’ she continues.

Sara Shakeel and Sylvia Wang joined designboom under the accompanying Genesis in Jewels tapestry

Although the concept of The Jewel System was first imagined virtually, the starting point of its creation was a profoundly physical and spiritual journey rooted in Shakeel’s Pakistani heritage. The artist recounts roaming narrow bazaar alleys in Karachi where she was approached by a retailer selling bags and bags of vintage crystals, which were then used to craft the surface of the planets. The colorful jewels were applied using traditional techniques of metallic embroidery and crystal embellishment to construct intricate patterns reminiscent of those adorning royal textiles. This process, she explains, was a collaboration in every sense of the word, as she worked with a team of 80 local artisans and sought to channel each of their energies into the work.

Shakeel goes on to emphasize the role of intention in artistic creation: ‘There should always be an intention behind what you create. If it comes from a clear place, AI will help you create the most beautiful thing.’

the installation reinterprets the solar system as an immersive, bejeweled map

opportunities amid rising interest in phygital art

Expanding on the fusion of digital and physical creation, digital art professional Sylvia Wang highlights how the trend of phygital art has grown over the years to offer many new opportunities, as well as challenges, for the creative ecosystem. She points to the growing demand for art that extends beyond traditional galleries or digital platforms, as collectors increasingly seek more immersive experiences. Shakeel echoes this sentiment, noting that while her collectors appreciate her digital work, they are increasingly drawn to the tactile and experiential aspects of her installations. In response, she has been refining her practice to strike a balance between her digitally conceptualized pieces and their transformation into immersive, physical experiences.

the planet’s intricate patterns are reminiscent of those adorning royal textiles

Though, while the advent of these new technologies and their intersection with art allows collectors and audiences to experience works across multiple dimensions — tangible and intangible — its accessibility for creators has meant an influx in experimental artworks being created. Wang also acknowledges growing excitement among institutions for virtual art following the boom of NFTs, noting how Hong Kong’s M+ Museum has embraced the medium in its collections, showcasing works like Beeple’s Human One among other AI-assisted pieces.

‘As well as being hugely popular in other global institutes, it is still an increasing trend in Asia that people are so supportive of digital art and its presence in museums,’ Wang notes.

Sara Shakeel merges AI-generated concepts with traditional South Asian embroidery

the future of visual art and ai

Looking ahead, both panelists agree that creatives will continue to push the boundaries between digital and physical art, increasingly blurring the intersection between the two. With hope, Wang concludes that virtual spaces in the near future will afford artists more possibilities and potential to create in forms not confined to any dimension, medium, or scale.

‘Probably in many years, there won’t even be a definition about who is a digital artist, or who is a physical artist. It’s just about an artist who is telling a story, history, or memory. And AI or other technologies will be just tools for the artist to realize this,’ adds the digital art professional.

the colorful jewels were applied using traditional techniques of metallic embroidery and crystal embellishment

the Lunchtime Forum panel took place during Swire Properties’ Arts Month 2025

the talk unpacked the role of AI in contemporary art and the emergence of phygital works

digital art professional Sylvia Wang (left), artist Sara Shakeel (center) and designboom Editor-in-Chief Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou (right) formed the panel

visitors can see both installations at Two Taikoo Place

Genesis in Jewels captures the primordial moment of the Big Bang

the tapestry is shaped from over 3.9 million vintage glass crystals

layers of embroidered fabric and suspended crystals form a celestial tapestry amid a sweeping black net

project info:

name: ArtisTree Selects: The Jewel System

artist: Sara Shakeel

program: Swire Properties’ Arts Month

dates: 22 March – 27 April, 2025

location: Two Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong

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TEAM_BLDG’s The Fan is a site-specific installation that transforms the ancient valley of Jinshanling in China into a sensory landscape of movement and sound. Positioned along a stone-paved path leading to sculptor Sheng Jiang’s hidden exhibition, Being in the Open Field, the structure is a gateway that enlivens this path with a ritual of light, shadow, and sound.

It introduces a layer of ephemerality the site’s otherwise rigid landscape — framed by Ming Dynasty relics and dramatic cliffs — swaying like Tibetan prayer flags with white gauze dancing with the hums of the mountain winds. As light filters through the translucent fabric, silhouettes of birds and insects animate its surface, while at sunset, the gauze takes on the appearance of fluttering ‘Buddha robes.’ Embedded bells chime softly, echoing Buddhist notions of ‘surprise and joy,’ while T-shaped steel frames mirror the Great Wall ruins nearby.

all images © Jonathan Leijonhufvud

the installation nods to tibetan prayer flags

Inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, the design balances the site’s concrete, steel, and stone sculptures and functions as both a visual and auditory guide. For TEAM_BLDG, the goal was to create a lightweight, wind-responsive structure that shelters visitors while harmonizing with the ancient environment. The Fan comprises 40 T-shaped steel pipe units (3 meters x 2 meters) arranged in a linear sequence, anchored to a terraced concrete foundation. Articulated joints provide structural flexibility, allowing the framework to adapt to the valley’s uneven terrain. Suspended from transverse rods, more than 120 meters of soft white gauze ripple with the wind, introducing an ever-changing visual rhythm. 

Before installation, full-scale prototypes were tested in Shanghai under simulated wind and rain conditions. Initial field trials revealed excessive wind loads caused instability, prompting structural reinforcements to anchoring nodes. On site, despite harsh autumn winds, the team manually assembled the installation in two days, leveraging the T-shaped units’ adaptability to accommodate rocky terrain.

The Fan is a multisensorial gateway that transforms a path into a ritual of light, shadow, and sound

transforming the ancient valley of Jinshanling in China into a sensory landscape of movement and sound

it introduces a layer of ephemerality the site’s otherwise rigid landscape

fluttering installation likes the clothing lines of Buddha statues

as light filters through the translucent fabric, silhouettes of birds and insects animate its surface

the installation faces the remains of the ancient Great Wall

viewed from the architecture’s atrium

leading to sculptor Sheng Jiang’s hidden exhibition, Being in the Open Field

project info:

name: The Fan
architect: TEAM_BLDG | @team__bldg

location: China

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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The Scenic Route presents six new punch-needle embroidery works by Toronto-based textile artist Adrienna Matzeg. Inspired by summer road trips along the East Coast, the collection explores visual and sensory elements associated with travel. The works depict moments such as roadside stops, shifting horizons at dusk, and the glow of neon signs in compositions using vividly colored threads. Matzeg integrates photography and textile techniques to develop her punch-needle embroidery compositions.

At The Lookoff | all images courtesy of Adrienna Matzeg

Vivid colors and shapes compose Scenic Route embroidery series

Textile artist Adrienna Matzeg’s series examines the relationship between place and memory, reducing subjects to abstracted colors and shapes that evoke recollections of past travel experiences. The strong fiber art traditions of Eastern Canada’s Maritimes region also inform the connection between material and narrative in the works. Matzeg’s artistic practice spans analog and digital processes, including weaving, screen printing, and photographic techniques. The Scenic Route collection expands the artist’s exploration of textiles as a medium for storytelling.

punch-needle embroidery captures the essence of summer road trips | The Afterglow

Adrienna Matzeg’s textile work transforms travel memories into vivid compositions | Open

the series weaves travel memories into thread and texture | Lighthouse Route

embroidery captures fleeting travel moments in vibrant textile compositions | Catch of the Day

textile serves as a medium for preserving places and memories | Catch of the Day

neon signs and fading daylight are recreated through punch-needle embroidery | Lick-A-Treat

vividly colored threads reconstruct scenes from past road trips | The Scenic Route

project info:

name: The Scenic Route
artist: Adrienna Matzeg | @adriennamatzeg

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

The post punch-needle embroidery by adrienna matzeg conjures memories of summer road trips appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

From May 1 to October 19, 2025, Tate Modern hosts ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House,’ a major survey of the Korean artist’s work, marking his first solo show in London in over 20 years. Known for his translucent fabric installations that explore the themes of home, memory, and identity, Suh transforms architectural details into poetic reflections on belonging. Spanning sculpture, video, drawing, and large-scale installations, the exhibition presents key works from the past three decades alongside debuting site-specific pieces. ‘The space I’m interested in is not only a physical one but an intangible, metaphorical, and psychological one,’ explains Do Ho Suh. ‘For me, ”space’” is that which encompasses everything.’ The exhibition is part of the Genesis Exhibition series, supported by the vehicle brand Genesis as part of its ongoing commitment to the arts.

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Walk the House exhibition approaches architecture as memory

Taking its name from a Korean phrase describing hanok houses, structures designed to be dismantled and rebuilt, ‘Walk the House’ encapsulates the Korean artist’s lifelong inquiry into architecture as a vessel for memory. His latest installation, Nest/s 2024, envelops visitors in a maze of translucent corridors, redefining the concept of domestic space. Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul 2024 extends this dialogue, mapping past residences through imprints of doorknobs, switches, and other intimate details that dissolve the boundaries between past and present. 

Do Ho Suh’s exploration of space also extends beyond fabric architectures. His Rubbing/Loving series, including Company Housing of Gwangju Theater 2012 and Seoul Home 2013-22, captures the physical traces of lived spaces through paper and graphite imprints. Intricate thread drawings and delicate paper dissolutions, such as Staircase 2016, reinforce his interest in materiality and the fragility of memory. His practice also ventures into the digital realm. In Robin Hood Gardens 2018 and Dong In Apartments 2022, Suh employs photogrammetry to reconstruct buildings as evolving archives of human presence. The exhibition culminates in the Bridge Project, an ongoing exploration of the ‘perfect home’ that interrogates its sociopolitical and ecological dimensions.

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Walk the House exhibition

Co-curated by Nabila Abdel Nabi, Senior Curator, International Art (Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational) and Dina Akhmadeeva, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern, Do Ho Suh: Walk the House is part of a wider collaboration between Tate and Genesis, marking the brand’s European expansion of Genesis Art Initiatives. The initiative supports institutions shaping cultural legacy worldwide, including The Genesis Facade Commission at The Met and this landmark exhibition at Tate Modern.

‘We are honoured to embark on Genesis Art Initiatives in Europe through our expanded partnership with Tate, supporting the highly anticipated exhibition by Do Ho Suh,’ shares Euisun Chung, executive chair of Hyundai Motor Group. ‘The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House takes us on an artistic journey, reaffirming timeless values that transcend both spatial and temporal boundaries through the voice of this renowned visionary.’

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 202 (detail), polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013-2022 (detail), installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia | image by Sebastian Mrugalski, courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul and London. © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013-2022 (detail), installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia | image by Sebastian Mrugalski, courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul and London. © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 455 x 575 x 1237 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London | image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 455 x 575 x 1237 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London | image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 455 x 575 x 1237 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London | image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh, Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 455 x 575 x 1237 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London | image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

project info:

name: The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House

artist: Do Ho Suh | @dohosuhstudio

venue: Tate Modern | @tate

location: London, UK
dates: May 1 to October 19, 2025

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