Time Warp draws design inspiration from ice caves, plant cells, and hexagons for the stage designs inside the techno music festival. An annual event since 1994, the event takes place in different cities, including Madrid (October 10th and 11th, 2025); Mannheim, the founding place (November 7th and 8th, as well as March 21st), and New York City (November 21st and 22nd, 2025). In an interview with designboom, Time Warp festival’s technical director Anatol Fried says that the design team wants the audience to feel fully surrounded by the stage settings and not just by the techno music. ‘It was natural for us to try to surround people with light and scenography along with the music,’ he tells designboom. There are five stages in the Time Warp techno music festival, and instead of going traditional by adding lights on the ceiling, the team spread more than 200 lights around the floor, audiences, and performers, lighting them up from all directions. ‘For us, it somehow worked,’ adds Anatol Fried.

Across the five stages, the theme of nature comes through, but Anatol Fried sees the word more as what everyone can see every day rather than just only greenery. He worked with different designers per stage inside the Time Warp techno music festival, all of which followed a fluid brief on nature. Take The Cells designed by Greg Sullivan and The LED Cells by Valentin Lüdicke and Anatol Fried. The former looks like a simplified visualization of plant cells, while the former mimics the lines and visuals of a leaf under a microscope. ‘These stage designs’ impact is the volume they add to the room. The sheer amount of surface you can play on with lights, and the contrasts you can generate with lights and shadows due to the 3D elements, is stunning. Standing underneath it, the audience can feel what I meant before about being surrounded by an experience,’ Anatol Fried shares with designboom.

The Cells | all images courtesy of Time Warp | photos by Marko Edge, unless stated otherwise

Caves and meteors as artistic influences for the spaces

Natural phenomena also appear as a theme that runs through the stage designs in the Time Warp techno music festival. Inside The Meteors, an ensemble of rock-looking fixtures hangs above the audience as they party, glistening as the hundreds of lights shine their beams on them. The Cave, designed by Valentin Lüdicke, resembles an ice cave through a series of suspended semi-translucent white cloths. ‘The idea here was to shape a room and create the perspective you have looking into an ice cave, but it also offers perspectives from positions other than the perfect angle,’ says Anatol Fried. Because of this undulating design, the stage design moves as the breeze comes in.

Valentin Lüdicke has created a second version of this space in the Time Warp techno music festival, rightfully naming it The Cave 2.0. Here, the idea has slightly changed, while still following the brief on nature. Above the audience are seemingly singular panels depicting a wavy form. When the light shines on it, the sculpture, made of a black material typically used to block out light in the agricultural industry, comes alive, appearing to move through the lights. For the technical director, it feels as if the audience were looking up in a forest and seeing the sky through trees and leaves. ‘The impact is the strong contrast between the upper lit side of the silver fabric and the pitch-black lower side that doesn’t catch any light,’ Anatol Fried explains to designboom. ‘With the huge amount of LED lights above it, it almost looks like the room moves.’

The Cells resemble a honeycomb structure

Replicating geometry, space and nature in music festival

In the other rooms within the Time Warp techno music festival, Anatol Fried has (co-)designed the spaces, from Chaos, where the style resembles patterns of strobe lights, to Strings, a wire installation he created with Valentin Lüdicke, inspired by the ideas of mathematics, geometry, even-sided triangles, and hexagons. ‘We are currently working on a design called Einheitskreis, which will hopefully come to life soon,’ the technical director shares with designboom. Instead of starting with the materials, the team leads the stage designs in the Time Warp techno music festival with an inspiration, which is nature in this case. 

That is the underlying, connecting theme between the spaces, even if they look distinctive from each other. ‘These stage designs were all inspired by some looks or details we found outside the event industry – like nature, space geometry, or mathematics – that we tried to replicate and put inside a venue. If you look up in a forest on a sunny day, you can see a strong contrast between sky and leaves. That’s basically the effect of ‘The Cave 2.0’, for example, so when we knew the look we were seeking, we started looking for a material that suited the look, instead of the other way around,’ says Anatol Fried. 

The Meteors | photo by GuilleGS

At times, designing the stages in the Time Warp techno music festival is a bit challenging, and Anatol Fried gives The Cells as an example. Here, the ceiling resembles a honeycomb structure, lighting up in patterns through the LED strips. Instead of the normal LED lights, the design team uses a series of tailored aluminum ones. The idea, as the technical director tells us, is to emit light in two directions. ‘An indirect source of light to the structure above and the direct source of light visible from below,’ he adds. ‘This was not available on the market, and therefore we produced an aluminum profile that had space for three LED light sources and also had the cord edge profile in place.’ 

This stage may be the most complex they’ve done so far since manufacturing the structure above the LED lights had to come from 700 differently shaped pieces of blackout fabric. But it was all worth it in the end because the audiences attending the Time Warp techno music festival feel the music while experiencing the performative stage designs instead of these two being separate. At the moment, visitors who want to see these spaces can first-hand experience them in Madrid (October 10th and 11th, 2025); Mannheim, (November 7th and 8th, as well as March 21st), and New York City (November 21st and 22nd, 2025).

a cluster of rock-looking sculptures suspend above the audience

Optics stage design

swirling patterns sit on the ceiling in this set design

Glass Dome

the Glass Dome has transparent windows above the visitors

The Cave 2.0

the sculpture is made of a black material used to block out light in the agricultural industry

project info:

name: Time Warp | @time_warp_official

technical director: Anatol Fried 

designers: Anatol Fried, Valentin Lüdicke, Greg Sullivan | @voll_lustig_licht

upcoming dates: Madrid (October 10th and 11th, 2025); Mannheim, (November 7th and 8th, as well as March 21st), and New York City (November 21st and 22nd, 2025)

photography: Marko Edge, Tyler Allix, GuilleGS | @marko_edge, @tylerallix

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Sónar+D addresses the use of quantum science in art, making music with AI, experimental video games in performances, and what the future looks like in the creative industries in a series of talks at Sónar 2025. The event runs from June 12th to 14th, 2025, at Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the annual electronic music and digital art festival. On these days, over 100 lectures, exhibitions, workshops, and performances take place at once. designboom also hosts discussions during the festival, interviewing artists Yolanda Uriz, Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol::, and George Moraitis on their practice and the making of their modern art, sound performances, and stage designs.

Yolanda Uriz uses physical phenomena, vibration, electromagnetic waves, and chemical molecules to decode sound, light, and smells in her installations and performances. This adoption of sound is also present in Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol::’s robotics and installation, placing emphasis on the link between emergent systems and new kinds of technological synthesis. Even George Moraitis works with sound to narrate memory, experience, and a sense of history through sound art, audiovisual installations, and two-dimensional works and performance. Designboom’s talks take place on June 12th from 5:30pm. Historically, Sónar+D was established in 2013 as a platform for creatives to examine the ways technology, and now AI, influences art, music, and even society. This edition’s conferences focus on three main thematic areas: AI + Creativity, Futuring the Creative Industries, and Worlds to Come.

Meet us at Sónar+D – tickets here!

images courtesy of Sónar, unless stated otherwise | photo by Cecilia Diaz Betz

AI + Creativity explores the politics of the new technology

For the AI + Creativity during Sónar+D (tickets are available here), the section explores how creatives can use AI production, music, and audiovisual design. The talks also dive into the ethical and political aspects of artificial intelligence. They complement the other creative interviews in other sections, including designboom’s conversations with multi-sensory artist Yolanda Uriz, transdisciplinary artist Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol::, and multimedia artist George Moraitis. The discussion starts with Introducing AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS, a forum that leads the discussion of AI and sonic creativity. In another room, Libby Heaney performs Eat my Multiverse performance using quantum computing for visuals, sounds, and music development. Jordi Pons’ Artistic Trends, Music & AI discusses new musical genres and sonic structures from AI algorithms, while Rebecca Fiebrink hosts Design your dream music AI tool, a session on AI tool design accessible to users without programming knowledge. 

Joanne Armitage’s Automating Bodies: Power, Music and AI explores the power dynamics when users adopt AI for creative production. The talk includes examining gender bias in algorithmic music, too. It’s about machine learning and treating it as ‘resonant entities’ in Marije Baalman’s A Musical Understanding of AI as Resonance, while there’s also a masterclass on using real-time audio machine learning for culturally specific sound with Lamtharn (Hanoi) Hantrakul, known as ญาบอยฮานอย (yaboihanoi). The viewers can, or should participate in AI Performance Playground, an AI & Music Hacklab that allows visitors to use AI as an actual instrument. In this section, +RAIN Film Festival also shows films produced with AI models and AudioStellar’s Territorios sonoros emergentes demonstrates how motion tracking and AI can power dance for visual and sonic performances. At the same time, Maria Arna premieres Ama, a live musical performance using AI with the human voice.

Sónar+D addresses the impact of AI in music, art and more through a series of talks during Sónar 2025

Discussions on present and future of creative industries

Inside the Futuring the Creative Industries section, conversations spotlight the changes and opportunities within the creative sector amidst new technologies including, but not limited to, AI in music and art, cultural management, communication, advertising, experience design, and trend research. The ‘How to Future the Creative Industries’ forum features experts from institutions like the New Museum, HERVISIONS, Onassis Foundation, Serpentine Gallery, NewArt Foundation, LAS Foundation, Kapelica, gnration, and Tabakalera.

The session explores the role of cultural institutions in sharing new ideas and trends within a media-saturated environment. Trend analysts Berta Segura and Francesca Tur host ‘Hacking the World,’ which analyzes how marketing, geopolitics, technology, and digital culture transform creator profiles, audience formation, and artist-public interaction. The intersection of cultural heritage and digital technology is explored through ‘Lux Mundi,’ an audiovisual experience reinterpreting Romanesque fresco paintings. Artists Alba G. Corral, Massó, Desilence, and Hamill Industries collaborate with Tarta Relena for this Generalitat of Catalonia initiative.

the event runs from June 12th to 14th, 2025, at Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona | photo by Nerea Coll

Still inside the Futuring the Creative Industries section, creative collaboration and technology integration are also central. TIMES, a European network, presents ‘The Crossing’ with contributions from Margarida Mendes, Chris Watson & Izabella Dłużyk, and Saint Abdullah, Eomac & Rebecca Salvadori. Arts Korea Lab hosts ‘Future Thinking,’ where Korean creators like WOMAN OPEN TECH LAB, Earth-topia, Seungsoon Park, Hwia Kim, and Tae Eun Kim present their projects. AlphaTheta showcases its euphonia rotary mixer and virtual reality DJ suite. Music2.0 and JSPA explore the history of Japanese synthesizers.

MusicTech Europe, in collaboration with Barcelona Music Tech Hub, features the Music Tech Europe Academy startup presentations and ‘MusicTech Dialogues’ on data use in the creative economy. The event also includes interviews with artists and participants. Designboom interviews Yolanda Uriz, Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol::, and George Moraitis in Lounge+D, and Time Out London also hosts live interviews. W1 Curates presents art and music collaborations on the screens of Stage+D, featuring artists such as Max Cooper and Goldie.

Actress & Suzanne Ciani present ‘Concrète Waves’ during Sónar by Day at Stage Complex+D

The last is the Worlds to Come, a thematic area that explores speculative futures and human-technology interfaces. It examines the relationship of today’s technology with culture and society. Quantum computing and non-binary perspectives are examined in Libby Heaney’s ‘Eat My Multiverse’, which uses quantum computing in an artistic context. This presentation focuses on re-evaluating current global conditions. Space exploration is a recurring theme. Xin Liu’s ‘Cosmic Metabolism’ discusses scientific and poetic elements of her work, including her personal genome exhibit, ‘A Book Of Mine’. The program also investigates human interaction with technology and environment. Albert.DATA’s ‘SYNAPTICON’ performance demonstrates real-time brain activity using brain-computer interfaces. 

Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley’s ‘WE CAN’T PRETEND ANYMORE’ offers an interactive digital narrative exploring the history of Black trans individuals. Tega Brain’s ‘Questions of Automation’ addresses digital sustainability through creative coding and DIY strategies, highlighting political and environmental concerns. Discussions extend to social innovation and community building. ‘Portals: Talks of Worlds to Come’, presented by The Social Hub, features a panel of experts discussing design, sustainability, and cultural innovation in shared spaces. The program also includes performances, such as Luis Garbán (Cardopusher) with ‘DESTRUCCIÓN’, an audiovisual project combining reggaeton, industrial, and breakcore. Each of these talks and forums contributes to the overall purpose of Sónar+D, which is to create a space for knowledge exchange between different professional fields. These programs coincide with the Sónar 2025 festival, which runs between June 12th and 14th.

Stage+D by MEDIAPRO, Playmodes, UPC-Telecos present Astres | photo by Nerea Coll

Lux Mundi installation by by Alba G.Corral, Massó, Desilence & Hamill Industries with Tarta Relena at Sónar+D

Sónar+D shows a replica of the apse of Sant Climent de Taüll to host Lux Mundi

Yolanda Uriz’s Chemical Calls of Care | image courtesy of Yolanda Uriz

Chemical Calls of Care (2024), an installation on audio-olfactory communication | image courtesy of Yolanda Uriz

Edge is a kinetic, sound and light object | image courtesy of ::vtol::

iPot is a device for performing a digital tea ceremony | image courtesy of ::vtol::

Schematic by George Moraitis | image courtesy of George Moraitis

Xe by George Moraitis | image courtesy of George Moraitis

project info:

event: Sónar 2025 | @sonarfestival

program: Sónar+D

location: Palau de Congressos de Fira Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain

dates: June 12th to 14th, 2025

photography: Cecilia Diaz Betz, Nerea Coll | @ceciliadiazbetz, @nereacoll

entry: tickets here

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Dark Skies is a large-scale sound installation developed by Leopold Banchini and Giona Bierens de Haan in collaboration with DJ and producer DVS1 for the Horst Arts & Music Festival, taking place just outside of Brussels. Suspended above the crowd, this large-scale sound system transforms the space into a collective, ‘democratic’ dance floor. Built with recycled materials and volunteer support, it creates a dense, intimate atmosphere where sound leads the experience and everyone becomes part of the same pulse.

The installation is composed of 116 top speakers and 58 subwoofers, forming a horizontal ceiling of sound entirely suspended above the audience. This configuration distributes sound evenly across the space and minimizes the visual and spatial focus on any single performer, directing attention to the collective environment.

all images by Jeroen Verrecht

Leopold Banchini & Giona Bierens de Haan collaborate with DVS1

Constructed using rented sound equipment, recycled ceiling panels, and standard timber sections, the system spans over 1,000 sqm. The structure was assembled during a workshop involving non-professional volunteers, emphasizing collaborative construction processes and the reuse of available materials.

The spatial layout creates a consistent proximity between participants and the sound sources, with no individual positioned far from the speakers, resulting in a multi-directional and uniformly distributed sound field. The design approach by studio Leopold Banchini Architects & designer Giona Bierens de Haan prioritizes acoustic immersion and spatial equity, enabling an open, non-hierarchical configuration for collective listening and movement.

the overhead structure is made of 116 speakers and 58 subwoofers

the pavilion is built using recycled materials and standard timber sections

recycled ceiling panels form part of the structural framework

ceiling-mounted speakers distribute sound evenly across the dance floor

the sound system spans over 1,000 sqm

timber structure supports the suspended speaker array

a multi-directional sound field envelops the entire space

dense acoustic conditions create a collective auditory experience

designed by Leopold Banchini and Giona Bierens de Haan with DVS1

Dark Skies sound installation suspends above the festival crowd

project info:

name: Dark Skies

designer: Leopold Banchini Architects | @leopoldbanchini, Giona Bierens de Haan | @giona_bh

client: Horst Arts & Music | @horstartsandmusic

collaborator: DVS1 | @dvs1hush

location: Vilvoorde, Belgium

photographer: Jeroen Verrecht | @jeroenverrecht

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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Held at Asiat Park in Vilvoorde, Belgium, Horst Arts & Music returns for its 11th edition with a program that combines architecture, visual art, and nightlife (find designboom’s previous coverage here). The 2025 edition spans a three-day festival and a summer-long exhibition titled There Will Come Soft Rains, involving over 20 commissions by artists, architects, and performers. 

The site-specific program is built around collaboration. Horst works with artists and architects to design the stages and spaces for the festival and the summer expo, bringing architecture and fine art into contact with club culture like no other event in Europe. This year’s headline architecture project, Dark Skies, is co-designed by DVS1, Leopold Banchini, and Giona Bierens de Haan. The structure functions as a stage canopy and directional sound system, engineered to shape acoustic experience from above. Alongside it, new works by Counterspace, Atelier Fanelsa, Jean-Benoît Vétillard, YRD.Works, and Alter turn Asiat Park into a landscape of semi-permanent pavilions, canopies, and public interventions. During the festival, 12,000 ravers dance among these artworks. Some of these pieces will stay for years. Others vanish by autumn. All of them reshape how the space is used during the rave and after it.

all images by Eline Willaert, unless stated otherwise

Survival and memory shape There Will Come Soft Rains show

Meanwhile, the summer exhibition, There Will Come Soft Rains, named after Sara Teasdale’s 1918 poem, brings together artists like Marilyn Minter, Eddie Peake, Joshua Serafin, and Kenza Taleb Vandeput. Minter’s video installation lights up a cooling tower with hyper-glam feminist aesthetics. Peake stages The Pervert, a live performance with gold-painted dancers and a soundscape he builds in real time. Joshua Serafin turns a swamp-like setting into a participatory ritual. And Taleb Vandeput suspends a massive textile banner shaped in community workshops across Asiat Park’s antenna tower. The works play with ideas of survival, transformation, and shared memory.

There’s also a growing focus on legacy. Atelier Fanelsa’s rotunda roof is made from invasive plants processed on-site, knotweed, nettles, and elderberries, developed with TUM’s bioregional lab. Jean-Benoît Vétillard designs a new skatepark with Vilvoorde’s skating community. Alter and Baukreisel collaborate on a youth meeting place. And a metal cage by YRD.Works will be left to rust and rewild over five years. 

Horst is a test site for new ways to share space, build community, and reimagine what cultural infrastructure can be

Horst 2024, Expo Piovenefabi

the festival works with artists and architects to design the stages

the 2025 edition spans a three-day festival and a summer-long exhibition

wednesday | image by Jeroen Verrecht

involving over 20 new commissions by artists, architects, and performers

the site-specific program is built around collaboration

Esben Weille Kjaer

Joshua Serafin | image by Jeroen Verrecht

Horst 2024 Expo Piovenefabi

Projectie Asiat by Marilyn Minter and Lars Duchateau

project info:

name: Horst Arts & Music 2025 | @horstartsandmusic

location: Vilvoorde, Belgium

festival dates: May 1–3, 2025
expo dates: May 15 – September 7, 2025

The post first look: stages and installations by leopold banchini, DVS1, counterspace and more at horst appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Playful and monumental, the works of art across Coachella 2025 are not standing still, literally or conceptually. As festivalgoers descend once more on Southern Caliornia‘s Colorado Desert, they’re greeted not only by sonic booms from the main stage but by a chorus of kinetic sculptures, light-blooming inflatables, and temporary works of architecture that sway, ripple, and all but vanish in the shifting sun.

This year’s installations, curated by Public Art Company (PAC) in collaboration with longtime Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente, present a high-stakes pas de deux with the elements. In the words of PAC founder Raffi Lehrer, ‘This is an art program that asks us not just to look, but to inhabit, activate, and embrace the beautiful opera of the festival experience.’

Coachella 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

blooming inflatables to ephemeral clouds for coachella 2025

A standout art installation at Coachella 2025 is Taffy by Stephanie Lin, a mesmerizing work which continues to blur the line between sculpture and environment. Seven cylindrical towers cloaked in scalloped mesh flutter and ripple in the wind, creating flickering moiré patterns that appear and disappear with each gust. Painted in hues borrowed from midcentury desert modernism, the structures shimmer with the day’s changing light — monuments not of permanence, but of becoming. Beneath them, curved benches invite visitors to pause, reflect, and dissolve, just for a moment, into the mirage.

Meanwhile, Isabel + Helen Studio‘s Take Flight is inspired by the elegant impracticality of 19th-century flying machines, the installation features giant turbines that catch the desert wind and spin hypnotically, seemingly hovering between motion and stillness. Two skeletal bicycles roam the festival grounds, channeling the madcap ambition of human-powered aviation. By day, Take Flight reads as a mechanical relic lost in time; by night, it becomes a glowing, ghostly turbine—a reminder that sometimes the beauty lies not in success, but in the audacity of the attempt.

Le Grand Bouquet by Uchronia is a surreal garden of inflatable flowers that glow from within. Towering and translucent, these blossoms stretch skyward, their oversized petals providing shade and wonder. As the desert light shifts, the work transforms from radiant sculpture to floating mirage, toeing the line between reality and reverie. Beneath the flowers, festivalgoers can lounge in ephemeral springtime, gathered in pockets of soft nostalgia and shared spectacle.

Taffy, Stephanie Lin, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

art that invites touch, movement, and inhabitance

The art installations across the grounds at Coachella 2025 are assembled on-site. Since 2016, Clemente and a skilled in-house team of builders — carpenters, painters, riggers — have brought large-scale commissions to life from the ground up, embracing architectural scale and structural integrity without losing playfulness. From the curator‘s perspective, Lehrer’s vision draws from artists with ‘an intuitive understanding of scale and elevations’ who can evoke emotion through material, form, and color. Many of these collaborators come from architecture and design backgrounds, chosen as much for their technical fluency as for their spatial imagination.

The works do not shy away from interactivity. Many of the installations — architectural in ambition, sculptural in feel — invite touch, movement, and inhabitance. Some twist in the wind, some glow from within, others transform from day to night. What unites them is an attunement to Coachella’s extremes: blinding light and deep shadow, crowds and solitude, the monumental and the fleeting. Every piece is site-specific and tailored for the festival’s unique demands, often requiring up to three years of development in close collaboration with the curators.

Take Flight, Isabel + Helen Studio, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

The team notes that these installations face the same environmental trials as any desert structure — sun, wind, sand — but PAC is taking the challenge one step further with an evolving sustainability ethos. ‘We’re increasingly exploring modular and demountable strategies,’ says Lehrer, ‘so works can live on elsewhere.’ In some cases, like Francis Kéré’s Sarbalé ke, installations find new homes as permanent public art. When relocation isn’t possible, parts are repurposed, structural elements salvaged, and materials recycled — design decisions that begin not at teardown, but at first sketch.

The artworks might be up against sound systems, but they holds their own through scale and sensation. Lehrer describes the curatorial approach as mirroring the music festival’s genre-fluid spirit—pairing sculptors with architects, digital artists with experimental designers. It’s this multiplicity that gives the art program its vitality. Each piece becomes a punctuation mark in the sprawling sentence of Coachella’s landscape — an invitation to pause, reflect, and maybe even spin in the wind.

Uchronia, Le Grand Bouquet, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

Take Flight, Isabel + Helen Studio, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

Taffy, Stephanie Lin, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

Uchronia, Le Grand Bouquet, Coachella, 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

Coachella 2025 | image © Lance Gerber

project info:

event: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Art Program

artists: Stephanie Lin, Isabel + Helen Studio, Uchronia

curation: Public Art Company (PAC)

dates: April 11th — 13th and 18th — 20th, 2025

photography: © Lance Gerber | @lance.gerber

The post coachella 2025 art installations embrace movement, illusion, and the ephemeral appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As part of the R-Day Music Festival in Chengmai, Hainan, Also Architects developed a series of modular art installations for the Urban Nomad Art Museum. The project was designed to align with the museum’s concept of ‘borderless curation’ while ensuring ease of assembly, disassembly, and reconfiguration for future reuse. Through a modular system, the installations serve as both temporary structures and adaptable elements for future applications.

The installation draws inspiration from sound wave propagation, transforming vibration patterns into spatial configurations. The umbrella-like bamboo structures mimic the form of sound diffusion, with hexagonal contours and undulating fabric reflecting variations in frequency. These modules can be arranged in linear, circular, or scattered configurations to suit different functions, such as a marketplace or forum space.

all images by INSPACE

Also Architects’ Sustainable Modular Design for Adaptive Reuse

Also Architects’ design team selects bamboo as the primary material for its flexibility and sustainability. The structure integrates bamboo ribs, curved through heat bending, with a central steel ring and precision-engineered joints for stability. A tensile fabric canopy, supported by steel tubing, reduces wind pressure while allowing light and air to pass through. After the festival, components will be repurposed, with fabric transformed into merchandise and bamboo reconfigured into urban furniture. This approach ensures minimal waste and extends the lifecycle of materials.

The modular design allows for real-time adjustments in layout and density. In the market area, continuous canopies provide shelter, while in the performance space, staggered modules enhance acoustics. Open arrangements in relaxation areas facilitate airflow. The hexagonal module, an efficient geometric form seen in natural structures, supports both flexibility and structural integrity. Once dismantled, the modules can be relocated and adapted to new cultural settings, reinforcing the concept of mobile, sustainable art.

modular art installations designed for the R-Day Music Festival in Chengmai, Hainan

inspired by sound wave propagation, the design transforms vibration into spatial forms

bamboo umbrella-like structures mimic the diffusion of sound waves

hexagonal contours reflect the geometric patterns found in nature

modules can be arranged in linear, circular, or scattered configurations

undulating fabric represents variations in sound frequency

the installation adapts to different functions, from marketplaces to forum spaces

bamboo was chosen for its flexibility and sustainable properties

tensile fabric canopy reduces wind pressure while allowing light and airflow

the modular design allows real-time layout adjustments

after the festival, components are repurposed into merchandise and urban furniture

project info:

name: Urban Nomad Art Museum

architects: Also Architects

location: Haikou, China

area: 350 sqm

design team: Valo Xiao, Ziming Ye, Jane Zhang, April Lo

curatorial institution: R-Day Music Festival & Urban Nomad Art Museum

curator: Ottavio Zhang

lighting design: WOY Lighting

construction unit: Innovbamboo Architectural Technology Co., Ltd. 

photographer: INSPACE

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 also architects crafts modular umbrella-like installations made of bamboo and tensed fabric appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

American DJ DVS1 and architect Leopold Banchini collaborate on Dark Skies, a groundbreaking semi-permanent stage designed to change the way we experience the dancefloor. Featuring ceiling-mounted audio and upcycled materials, the stage brings the festival’s vision of making the dance floor accessible to everyone.

This structure is one of the main highlights of Horst Arts & Music’s 2025 program, running from May 1st to May 3rd in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The festival marks its 11th year with a continued focus on community, ecology, and cutting-edge art and architecture. Alongside the stage, the festival will present commissioned architectural works by Atelier Fanelsa, Jean-Benoît Vétillard, and Alter, and a visual arts program featuring Eddie Peake, Marilyn Minter, Joshua Serafin, Sumayya Vally, and Kenza Taleb Vandeput. The summer exhibition will be on view from May 15th to September 7th, 2025, at Asiat Park.

all images courtesy of Horst Arts & Music 2025

site-specific installations and performances transform belgium

At the core of the 2025 edition is the Horst Expo ‘There Will Come Soft Rains,’ named after Sara Teasdale’s 1918 poem. This exhibition explores themes of resilience, rebirth, and evolution, featuring site-specific installations, designed to remain on display throughout the year. Participating artists include Eddie Peake, who presents ‘The Pervert,’ a performance exploring voyeurism and desire, and Marilyn Minter, who collaborates with Antwerp gallery Tick Tack on a large-scale video installation projected onto the cooling towers. Other contributions include Kenza Taleb Vandeput’s textile piece addressing multicultural and decolonial narratives, and Joshua Serafin’s immersive performative space ‘Buried in a Coffin the Size of a Grain of Rice.’

Horst’s architectural program complements the exhibition with significant interventions. ‘Dark Skies,’ a pioneering project by DVS1, Leopold Banchini, and Giona Bierens de Haan, introduces a dual-purpose wooden structure that functions as both a dance canopy and an advanced sound system. Atelier Fanelsa contributes a bio-based roof for the Rotunda, made from invasive plant species, while Jean-Benoît Vétillard designs a new skatepark in collaboration with the local community. Alter and the German collective Baukreisel are also developing a new youth meeting place, reinforcing Horst’s long-term commitment to Vilvoorde’s cultural landscape.

DVS1 and Leopold Banchini collaborate on Dark Skies, a semi-permanent stage

a festival that grows, evolves, and rewilds

From festival to summer exhibition and beyond, Horst Arts & Music transforms Asiat Park into a space of experimentation and connection. The three-day festival in May will feature unique in-situ performances, including Hamed Dehqan & Nathaniel Moore’s dance piece on pre-internet virality within the Iranian diaspora, developed at Antwerp’s DE SINGEL. Meanwhile, Esben Weile Kjær unveils a monumental inflatable golden rat sculpture, and Sumayya Vally collaborates with Trïennale Brugge on ‘Grains of Paradise,’ an installation of African boats sown with plants to aid rewilding efforts. The German artist collective YRD.Works adds ‘Succession,’ a performative spatial intervention where a metal cage structure is left to be reclaimed by nature over five years.

Horst Arts & Music 2025 will run from May 1st to May 3rd in Vilvoorde, Belgium

the festival marks its 11th year with a focus on community, ecology, and cutting-edge art and architecture

alongside the stage, the festival will present commissioned architectural works

at the core of the 2025 edition is the Horst Expo ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’

the architectural program of the festival complements the exhibition

Horst Arts & Music transforms Asiat Park into a space of experimentation and connection

site-specific installations are designed to remain on display throughout the year

Esben Weile Kjær – Solar System

project info:

name: Horst Arts & Music 2025 | @horstartsandmusic

location: Vilvoorde, Belgium

festival dates: May 1–3, 2025
expo dates: May 15 – September 7, 2025

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Sónar 2025 in Barcelona releases its musical program for the festival, with the use of AI in music-making as Sónar+D’s theme. So far, there are a total of 117 live shows, DJ sets, and performances taking place across 10 stages in Barcelona between June 12th and 14th, 2025. The event also pays homage to the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto with the performance of close collaborators and electronic music icons Alva Noto and Fennez. Just like in the previous year, the Barcelona festival has two venues, Sónar by Day in Fira Montjuïc and Sónar by Night in Fira Gran Via. The Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona is part of the Sónar Week, which runs from June 10th to 15th.

For six days, collaborations, events, and co-productions also take place outside the two venues. The week starts with the 3rd edition of +RAIN Film Festival. It is the Artificial Intelligence-generated film festival co-organized by Sónar+D and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. It continues with the OFFSónar parties at Poble Espanyol, where artists and labels in international club culture gather in one place. The official opening concert of Sónar takes place on June 12th at the Palau de la Música Catalana. The festival gears up to announce the installation for the SónarMies cycle at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in the next few weeks.

all images courtesy of Sónar

Afrobeat, UK rap and Andean polyrhythms in live performances

Between Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night during the Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona, the lineup crosses different genres: Pa Salieu’s afrobeat and amapiano-inspired take on UK rap and drill, Sega Bodega’s blend of club and pop music, Dengue Dengue Dengue’s Andean polyrhythms, and triple Latin Grammy winner Nathy Peluso’s Club Gasa remix album. House and techno artists are present too. It includes Dixon’s dancefloor mastery, sublime house from Josh Caffé, Skee Mask b2b Actress, Alinka b2b Shaun J. Wright, and, for the first time, Brooklyn selectress Dee Diggs performing with ‘90s house legend Ultra Naté. Familiar faces return as well, including a collaboration between Matthew Herbert and multi-instrumentalist Momoko Gil as Herbert & Momoko.

Then, Boiler Room makes its debut at the festival with a stage at Sónar by Night on June 13th and 14th. Sónar by Night also sees the return of Sónar’s collaboration with Printworks London, with the co-curated SónarLab x Printworks. Here, a 6 x 10m vertical screen, horizontal lighting across the dance floor, and on-point programming come together for the festival celebration. The live sets also include performances by Plastikman, Arca, and Polo & Pan. There’s also Eric Prydz, CHROMA AV/DJ, Peggy Gou, Max Cooper, and Cora Novoa and Daito Manabe. Then, Four Tet, Vintage Culture, Helena Hauff and Barry Can’t Swim. Skrillex b2b Blawan and Armin van Buuren b2b Indira Paganotto, and Rone with the (LA)HORDE collective and the Ballet National de Marseille join the ensemble. There’s also Yerai Cortés and his ‘Guitarra Coral’, Maria Arnal, Tarta Relena, Samantha Hudson, and many more.

there are a total of 117 live shows and DJ sets between June 12th and 14th, 2025

Sónar+D looks into the use of AI in music

Sónar+D returns to the Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona. The event aims to unveil the full program of conferences, presentations, workshops, and projects in the next few weeks. So far, the theme centers on the use of AI in making music. There’s ‘AI + Creativity’ which demonstrates the tools and unconventional creative approaches to AI.  The series aims to explore the different uses of AI in a variety of technology, including in the music industry. The program’s theme focuses on ‘futuring the creative industries,’ which looks into the curation and creation future of the said fields by 2030. There’s another program called ‘Worlds to come.’ Here, the events discuss quantum computing, non-binary futurism, terraforming and interstellar travel, and more.

Then, the AI & Music powered by S+T+ARTS program returns for its third year at the Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona. It showcases artistic projects, creative proposals, and scientific research focused on AI and musical creation. At the present time, Ville Haimala (half of the duo Amnesia Scanner) joins the lineup to present his new solo album ‘Hyporeal’.  Other album presenters include British experimental musician and audiovisual artist patten (pseudonym of Damien Roach), as well as Madrid-based artist R-010 and vocalist Venerandi. The latter is set to demonstrate sound using digital neural networks and the human voice. There’s also Maria Arnal, who’s working on a project with more than 14,000 voices that are training an AI which will be integrated into the show.

Dengue Dengue Dengue | photo by Alejandro Loayza Grisi | masks by Twee Muizen – Edu Giradiscos

The Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona is also part of the cooperative project TIMES (The Independent Movement for the Electronic Scenes), co-founded by the European Union. The initiative is set to gather 10 European festivals. They produce original new performances that combine music and visual arts, as well as co-curate a series of shows. 

For the 2025 edition, Sónar has collaborated with Insomnia (Tromsø), Terraforma (Milan), Semibreve (Braga), Atonal (Berlin), and Unsound (Kraków). They present six co-curations and two artistic residencies. Together with Insomnia, Sónar announces Norwegian DJ Niilas. He brings a dreamy and melancholic twist to club music. He also joins the previously announced ABADIR with Arab-origin electronic music.

Project Area by Cecilia Diaz Betz

Alongside Terraforma, the festival in Barcelona features Catalan violinist Asia and the eclectic selector Paquita Gordon. Curated alongside Semibreve, Grand River and Abul Mogard perform their ambient-drone collaborative album In uno spazio immenso. As part of the project, the first two artistic residencies have been developed. The first has resulted in two audiovisual shows: Saint Abdullah, Eomac & Rebecca Salvadori present A Forbidden Distance, a collaboration between three electronic musicians and a filmmaker exploring the impact of migration on identity. 

Then, Chris Watson & Izabela Dłużyk present Białowieża, a field recording work from the last primeval forest in Europe, Puszcza Białowiesża, on the Poland-Belarus border. Both projects have been co-created with the festivals Berlin Atonal, Semibreve, and Unsound. The second artistic residency for the TIMES at Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona features Heith, James K, and Günseli Yalcinkaya. They present The Talk, an experimental project incorporating different formats such as discussion, audiovisual projection, and, of course, live performance.

Sónar+D looks into the use of AI in music during Sónar 2025 festival in Barcelona

Sonar de Noche | photo by Nerea Coll

Sonar Club by Adriatique | photo by Nerea Coll

Stage+D Playmodes and UPC Telecos present ‘Astres’ | photo by Nerea Coll

Stage+D Playmodes and UPC Telecos present ‘Astres’ | photo by Nerea Coll

Sonar Club by Charlotte De Witte and Martini Ariel

project info:

event: Sónar 2025 festival | @sonarfestival

location: Fira Montjuïc and Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain

dates: June 12th to 14th, 2024

photography: Alejandro Loayza Grisi, Nerea Coll | @alejandro.loayza.grisi, @nereacoll

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At the 2023 edition of Art Basel, Moroccan-born, Swiss-based Latifa Echakhch joins forces with Luc Meier, director of the La Becque Artist Residency, to transform the Messeplatz with a series of deconstructed stages. These stages are set in a vertical fashion, complemented by the presence of lowered lighting rigs. Their purposeful arrangement allows for multiple interpretations —as scenography, minimalist sculptures, or even obstructions— intending to simultaneously fulfill and challenge the romanticism often associated with live performances.

Through its fragmented geometry and integration of musicians, this year’s Messeplatz commission titled Der Allplatz and curated by Samuel Leuenberger serves as a continuation of the artist’s interrogations of deconstructed concert stages that were at the heart of last year’s ‘The Concert’ project at the Venice Biennale 2022. The resulting space functions as a venue for an inclusive music festival, with performances featuring renowned artists such as Rhys Chatham, Robert Longo, and Naama Tsabar, while also evoking collective memories of ruins.‘That was an idea that I was really interested in — organizing a free festival, open to everybody, that does not only concern the artwork. I am so privileged to have been able to do that. I’m grateful,’ Latifa Echakhch tells designboom. 

a series of deconstructed stages transform the Messeplatz | image © designboom (also head image)

From Venice Biennale to Collaborative Soundscapes at Art Basel

According to Latifa Echakhch (find more here), her journey with deconstructed stages began two years ago.  Her previous work for the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2022 experimented with smaller stages accompanied by charred wood sculptures and debris bathed in orange light. This time, Echakhch feels she has enough space to experiment with a larger installation of two stages. 

In this latest project, the Swiss-based artist collaborates with Luc Meier (find more here), programming concerts by musicians and sound artists whose work resonates with the sculptural concept. Together, they aim to explore the emergence of sound and its potential to create a collective experience at the heart of their artistic proposal.‘We started with musicians that are very close to my practice. They approach the idea of deconstruction, poetry, and a certain kind of romanticism, and they push several boundaries in their own manner. It was like following an inner dialogue that I have with myself, but I also got to see how other people deal with the very same ideas,’ she mentions. 

the installation’s arrangement allows for multiple interpretations | image © designboom

an ever-changing music festival open to all

With a vision of creating an all-embracing atmosphere for a free music festival, Latifa Echakhch envisions the stage as a space that welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds. As she shares with designboom, the Messeplatz is the ideal location, because it is a spacious and bustling area where visitors flock to attend the Art Basel Fair or catch a tram. The vibrant mix of individuals and the energetic ambiance of the surroundings captivate Echakhch’s interest, drawing her towards the potential of this diverse gathering space.

Latifa Echakhch’s Der Allplatz transcends the boundaries of a conventional art installation. It offers visitors an ever-changing and immersive experience, combining visual and auditory elements. With two to three concerts held daily, the installation is in a constant state of flux, continuously transforming its form.‘Here, you have something that is always in motion. Since it is a bit messy, people think that we are always in installation. I like this imperfection. The only moment when everything is fixed is when the musician plays. And then, after, everything changes again,’ Latifa Echakhch shares.

the spacious location allowed the artist to experiment with a larger installation | image © designboom

the stages are set in a vertical fashion, complemented by the presence of lowered lighting rigs | image © designboom

concert by Moor Mother and Olof Melander on Tuesday, June 13 | image courtesy of Art Basel

the installation serves as a continuation of the artist’s interrogations of deconstructed concert stages | image © designboom

detailed view of the installation | image © designboom

detailed view of the installation | image © designboom

Concert by Moor Mother and Olof Melander on Tuesday, June 13 | image courtesy of Art Basel

project info: 

name: Der Allplatz
artist: Latifa Echakhch

curated by: Samuel Leuenberger 
concerts programmed by: Luc Meier
produced by: Björn Alfers (A&PM)

musicians and sound artists: Moor Mother w/ Olof Melander, Rhys Chatham and Robert Longo performing Guitar Trio (w/ guests), Buttercup Metal Polish (Alexandre Babel and Nicolas Field) w/ guests, Leila Bordreuil, Naama Tsabar, Mats Gustafsson, Oren Ambarchi’s Carpe Diem, Lucy Railton, Jessica Ekomane, Chaos Clay, Alvin Curran, Not Waving, Kassel Jaeger, and Okkyung Lee.

location: Messeplatz, Basel, Switzerland
event: Art Basel 2023

The post latifa echakhch’s music festival invites all to the messeplatz at art basel 2023 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

following our coverage on the 2020 best 100 french music festival posters, TOPAFF comes back on its 10th anniversary with its selection of the most beautiful prints in the musical scene during last year in france. the criteria to evaluate those posters focused on originality, idea and meaning, graphic performance, and visual impact. above all illustration (art) was considered more than communication (strategy). to celebrate the decade from its first edition, TOPAFF is also releasing a special book containing 300 posters from 2011 until today.

last year 1700 french festivals have occurred, but 700 of them had no visuals and 200 had the same graphic from the previous edition, which left 800 posters to choose from.

calvi on the rocks – steve harrington

‘LIKE ANY PRIZE LIST, IT IS AN OPINION’

‘it’s a passionate, referenced, worked opinion… but it remains an opinion. like any prize list, it is subjective and subject to criticism.’ says TOPAFF. ‘the most important thing is the highlighting of works, creations, authors. the classification allows disagreement, reflection, opinion and therefore debate.’

the whole selection is available here. if you are interested in the 10th anniversary TOPAFF book, containing a selection of 300 of the best french music festival posters during the past decade, you can check it out at this link.

hip opsession – freak city

festival MV – atelier tout va bien.

visons – sammy stein.

TLN – emilie genovese.

jazzdor – helmo.

ideal trouble – julien langendorff + sylvie astiè.

les indisciplinees – vuillier bollebach.

macki – atelier choque le golf, nevil bernard.

marsatac – delphine dènèrèeaz + robin plus

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