Collective Paper Aesthetics

“Easily the most interactive and playful of the artworks on display, Light Lilies consists of a multitude of 3D polyhedrons constructed out of durable yet sustainable materials with a light source inside.” — Radecki, Lemonade

Days are getting shorter, and the season of light is beginning on this side of the world. ✨

This image of Light Lilies was taken during Botanica: Contemporary Art Outside 2023 in Brisbane.

For 10 days, 300 Bilunabirotunda modules transformed the botanical garden into a playful landscape of light. Half of the modules came together to form a luminous tower, while the other half invited visitors to play, experiment and co-create their own illuminated structures and shapes.

The result was an ever-changing installation shaped not only by the light, but by the people who interacted with it.

Light Lilies Volume 01 was created in collaboration with Deheerr de Man for Botanica: Contemporary Art Outside (2023), curated by the Museum of Brisbane, with support from the Stimuleringsfonds and the Arup Brisbane office.

Where could Light Lilies bloom next? 🌱✨

📸 Joseph Byford

AudienceEngagement UrbanDesign

Join us this week for the World Art Foundations Talk:

Engaging Young Audiences: A Case Study with Kunstsilo Museum & Collective Paper Aesthetics
30 September 2026 | 9:30 EDT | 14:30 GMT | 15:30 CET

Together with Torill Haugen, Head of Innovation and Development, and Kjersti Irgens Kuhnle, Project Manager for Children & Youth at Kunstsilo, I’ll be sharing the story behind the Kunstsilo Kullen modular system and its journey to cultural institutions worldwide.
We’ll look at how the system has been adapted for different contexts, including Casula Powerhouse (NSW), THEMUSEUM (Ontario), Zuidparktheater in collaboration with MuseumLAB by Museon-Omniversum, Zuidwest and Festival De Betovering, and ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.

Discover the design thinking behind the Kunstsilo model:
https://lnkd.in/erNGxk7H

Reserve your place at the WAF Talk:
https://lnkd.in/d9BN58vr

📷 THEMUSEUM

A little Luxembourg news… 🇱🇺

After several memorable projects in the city over the years, Collective Paper Aesthetics will be back in Luxembourg in early October.

I’m not quite ready to share what’s taking shape yet, but it’s wonderful to be returning to a city that has been part of our story for so long.

More soon.

In the photos: MUDAM GO! (2020), Marché des Créateurs (2013 & 2014), and Nuit des Musées (2012).

📸 All photos courtesy of Mudam Luxembourg

Eventually, I really did make it to Phoenix — and what a week it was.

It began in Tucson, with a tour of three very different institutions: Tohono Chul, a botanical garden; Children's Museum Tucson and Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium, a university-embedded science centre. Three very different settings, each with its own way of connecting with its community.

Then came 2.5 full days at the Association of Science and Technology Centers conference — packed with conversations, presentations, new connections and plenty of ideas to take home. And, of course, some memorable evenings: from a night at Arizona Science Center to an evening at the Arizona Museum of Natural History.

A big thank you to Marcus Monenerkit, Director of Community Engagement at the Heard Museum for taking the time to meet in person and opening my eyes to the importance of community-rooted museum practice — and to the many ways cultural institutions can build meaningful relationships with the communities around them.

I was equally happy to connect with Tiffany Lippincott, Curator of Engagement at Phoenix Art Museum , and to have the chance to walk through the museum together on a day when so many art educators from across the region were visiting.

I left Phoenix with many new ideas, questions and connections — and a renewed curiosity about how participatory design, STEAM learning and creative environments can help museums create meaningful experiences for diverse audiences.

Thank you to everyone who made time for a conversation, shared a project, introduced me to someone new, or took the time to reconnect. I’m looking forward to continuing these conversations and seeing where they lead.

AudienceEngagement

The core idea behind the HEART Board pyramid is learning by doing — trying, sometimes succeeding on the first attempt, sometimes needing a second or third. Making things together will be at the heart of the studio’s presentation at Association of Science and Technology Centers this Friday, where 1,600 professionals from science and technology centers across the US come together.

📅 Friday, September 18
⏰ 12:20–12:35 PM — co-creating from sphere to tower and back

Pictured: the Creative Spark installation, co-created with and for Young V&A at Christmas 2025. Built on the HEART Board pyramid model — redesigned with a five-point star perforation instead of the original heart shape — it took shape over a single weekend as hundreds of families folded flat-pack elements into two modular forms: the truncated tetrahedron and the truncated octahedron.

The three vibrant cold foil prints, created in workshops where old toys became drawing tools, were brought to life through the vision of Alex Bowie and Haidee Drew.

Curated by Alex Newson and Trish Roberts, with thanks to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the United Kingdom for supporting this hands-on participatory project.

Photography by Peter Kelleher for the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Looking forward to presenting at Association of Science and Technology Centers 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona this week!

Designing for Participation: How the HEART-board Pyramid Engages Communities in STEAM Learning

📅 Friday, September 18
⏰ 12:20–12:35 PM

The session will explore how hands-on, open-ended design can create opportunities for participation, collaboration and STEAM learning—across different ages, settings and communities.

There will also be a chance for some hands-on interaction, just like the enthusiastic father in this photo, who started exploring the HEART-board Pyramid while waiting for his child to finish a one-hour robotics course at the Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center in Waco, Texas, this winter.

I’m especially excited that Lindsey Helton, Executive Director of the Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center, will be joining us in person. The Waco project is a great example of how these materials can become a starting point for engagement beyond the formal programme itself.
For museum, science centre and STEAM professionals, I hope the session will offer practical ideas and inspiration for designing designing participatory experiences, temporary exhibitions and public programmes that invite people to participate, experiment and connect with each other—and perhaps spark conversations about how similar approaches could work in your own context.

📸 ticomendoza Mendoza
The Waco project was initiated by Doreen Ravenscroft (Waco Cultural Arts Fest ) in collaboration with Robin McDurham and Lindsey Helton (Transformation Waco ), with support from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

PublicArt ParticipatoryDesign

Congratulations to the AKOpanel team on the official opening of your new headquarters and showroom in Dalfsen.

The transformation of the former Praxis location demonstrates how material choices can bring together acoustic performance, fire safety, colour, design and sustainability in one space.

One detail we particularly like: each square metre of AKOpanel gives approximately 55 discarded PET bottles a new life. A nice reminder that sustainable material choices can also contribute to the character and atmosphere of an interior.

In the picture: our presentation at the Forward Furniture exhibition during Dutch Design Week | DDW 2025, photographed by Aldwin van Krimpen .

We’re looking forward to developing and realising our first project together.

The MacroFractals are back!

From September 11–27, MacroFractals—created for Fundación “la Caixa” by Collective Paper Aesthetics —returns to Museo de la Ciencia CosmoCaixa Barcelona.

This interactive family experience invites participants to explore the fascinating world of fractals—patterns that repeat across different scales, revealing connections between geometry, nature, and the infinite.

Made from lightweight, durable, and recyclable foldable plastic modules, MacroFractals can be transformed into strong and stable 3D structures through play and collaboration. As more modules are connected, the structure continuously grows and transforms, making mathematical concepts such as repetition, symmetry, scale, and infinity tangible and engaging.

Designed for repeated public use, the modules are robust, easy to handle, and created for interactive exploration in cultural and educational settings.

We’re happy to see MacroFractals back at CosmoCaixa and to continue exploring how design can turn complex ideas into accessible, collaborative experiences.

📷 Juan Alfonso Zapata at CosmoCaixa Barcelona

🌵 By the Time I Get to Phoenix… it’s almost here! 🎶

Just over a week to go until the Association of Science and Technology Centers Association of Science and Technology Centers 2026 Conference at the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix.

I’ll be there with Collective Paper Aesthetics on Friday, September 18, from 12:20–12:35 PM, presenting:

“Designing for Participation: How the HEART-board Pyramid Engages Communities in STEAM Learning”

The session will include a showcase, hands-on experience, and Q&A, exploring how participatory design can create opportunities for communities to engage with STEAM learning through making and play.

I’m looking forward to connecting with science center professionals, museum educators, designers, and colleagues from around the world—and to exchanging ideas about participation, learning, and new approaches to audience engagement.

🌵 See you in Phoenix!

AudienceEngagement ParticipatoryDesign Museums

From Kunstsilo to the World 🌏

We’re pleased to announce our next World Art Foundations Talk on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 9:30 EDT | 14:30 GMT | 15:30 CET.

Join Torill Haugen, Head of Innovation and Development, and Kjersti Irgens Kuhnle, Project Manager for Children & Youth, both of Kunstsilo and me for a conversation on the design evolution of the Kunstsilo Kullen modular system and its adaptation across cultural institutions worldwide, including Casula Powerhouse (NSW), THEMUSEUM (Ontario), Zuidparktheater in partnership with MuseumLAB by Museon-Omniversum, Zuidwest and Festival De Betovering, and ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.

Each installation reinterprets the Kullen system for its own site and audience — ranging from 400 to 1,000 units, in a single color or a five-color palette. Rather than replicate the mirrored monumentality of the original Kristiansand silo (2024), each iteration retains the system’s underlying geometry while developing its own visual identity: a permeable, prismatic and anti-prismatic structure that dissolves the boundary between interior and exterior. The result is a design built for adaptability, allowing curators to reconfigure the installation with ease and visitors to engage with it on their own terms.
This talk offers a rare look at how a single modular concept can be reimagined across vastly different cultural contexts — and what that process reveals about scalable design in museum practice.

Learn more about the story behind the Kunstsilo model:
https://lnkd.in/erNGxk7H

Register for the WAF Talk:
https://lnkd.in/d9BN58vr

Photo: Nazanin Valizade