#BeOpenARCH
Invisible Studio and Pearce+ have created a hemispherical woodworking shelter at Westonbirt Arboretum using locally felled green oak and a lightweight aluminium shingle roof. Six tree-trunk supports carry a triangular timber frame, while 85 hand-hewn poles support the overlapping canopy, combining raw, site-responsive construction with digital fabrication. Designed to echo the delicacy of the surrounding woodland, the pavilion also explores how complex timber structures can be built affordably, sustainably, and with architects actively adapting to conditions on site.
Invisible Studio and Pearce+ have created a hemispherical woodworking shelter at Westonbirt Arboretum using locally felled green oak and a lightweight aluminium shingle roof. Six tree-trunk supports carry a triangular timber frame, while 85 hand-hewn poles support the overlapping canopy, combining raw, site-responsive construction with digital fabrication. Designed to echo the delicacy of the surrounding woodland, the pavilion also explores how complex timber structures can be built affordably, sustainably, and with architects actively adapting to conditions on site.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Muvaqqit 60 by Istanbul-based Omora Lusso turns timekeeping into a once-a-minute performance. Inspired by the tradition of Ottoman timekeepers, the kinetic artwork combines curved scales, shifting light and a mirror-polished bird that rises into view to mark the time. Rather than constantly displaying information, it deliberately creates anticipation, making the act of checking the time feel more like a ritual than a reflex.
More extraordinary clocks on our blog.
Muvaqqit 60 by Istanbul-based Omora Lusso turns timekeeping into a once-a-minute performance. Inspired by the tradition of Ottoman timekeepers, the kinetic artwork combines curved scales, shifting light and a mirror-polished bird that rises into view to mark the time. Rather than constantly displaying information, it deliberately creates anticipation, making the act of checking the time feel more like a ritual than a reflex.
More extraordinary clocks on our blog.
#BeOpenDESIGN
YouTuber and maker BeBeau Builds turns the idea of a “rock guitar” into reality by transforming a donor acoustic guitar with an actual slate body. Using the original neck and fretboard, BeBeau constructed an internal 3D-printed armature and assembled 18 individually cut slate pieces into the instrument’s body. Weighing nearly 49 pounds, the finished guitar still produces a surprisingly familiar acoustic sound, demonstrating how an unconventional material can be pushed into functional instrument-making.
YouTuber and maker BeBeau Builds turns the idea of a “rock guitar” into reality by transforming a donor acoustic guitar with an actual slate body. Using the original neck and fretboard, BeBeau constructed an internal 3D-printed armature and assembled 18 individually cut slate pieces into the instrument’s body. Weighing nearly 49 pounds, the finished guitar still produces a surprisingly familiar acoustic sound, demonstrating how an unconventional material can be pushed into functional instrument-making.
#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART
BE OPEN Art is pleased to announce Tomislav Šilipetar as the Artist of the Month for September 2026. A Croatian academic painter based in Zagreb, Šilipetar explores identity, vulnerability, memory, and the complex relationship between the individual and others. Šilipetar graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2014.His psychologically charged paintings invite viewers to reflect on the different selves we reveal, conceal, and carry within us.
Each month, BE OPEN Art presents 20 artists for public voting, with monthly winners advancing to compete for the Artist of the Year 2026 title. The overall winner will receive a €1,000 prize and promotional support from BE OPEN Art.
We warmly congratulate Tomislav Šilipetar on this recognition and thank him for his compelling contribution to the BE OPEN Art community.
BE OPEN Art is pleased to announce Tomislav Šilipetar as the Artist of the Month for September 2026. A Croatian academic painter based in Zagreb, Šilipetar explores identity, vulnerability, memory, and the complex relationship between the individual and others. Šilipetar graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 2014.His psychologically charged paintings invite viewers to reflect on the different selves we reveal, conceal, and carry within us.
Each month, BE OPEN Art presents 20 artists for public voting, with monthly winners advancing to compete for the Artist of the Year 2026 title. The overall winner will receive a €1,000 prize and promotional support from BE OPEN Art.
We warmly congratulate Tomislav Šilipetar on this recognition and thank him for his compelling contribution to the BE OPEN Art community.
#BeOpenARCH
Brooklyn-based Mexican architect and artist Elsa Ponce reimagines shade as a form of urban care with The Bower, a temporary inflatable installation commissioned by the NYC DOT Art Program for Summer Streets 2026. Inspired by the Mexican expression vete por la sombrita, meaning “walk in the shade,” the project creates a shaded public space for resting, gathering, and drawing beneath a canopy of soft, lilac and pink inflatable forms. Responding to increasingly hot New York summers and unequal access to shade, Ponce transforms a basic element of urban comfort into a participatory piece of climate-responsive public design.
More inflatables on our blog.
Brooklyn-based Mexican architect and artist Elsa Ponce reimagines shade as a form of urban care with The Bower, a temporary inflatable installation commissioned by the NYC DOT Art Program for Summer Streets 2026. Inspired by the Mexican expression vete por la sombrita, meaning “walk in the shade,” the project creates a shaded public space for resting, gathering, and drawing beneath a canopy of soft, lilac and pink inflatable forms. Responding to increasingly hot New York summers and unequal access to shade, Ponce transforms a basic element of urban comfort into a participatory piece of climate-responsive public design.
More inflatables on our blog.
#BeOpenNEWS
CALL FOR ARTISTS!
ITSLIQUID Group’s Rome International Art Fair 2026 returns for its 19th edition from December 10–20 at ITSLIQUID Art Space – Trastevere, inviting artists, photographers, video makers and performers to explore the relationship between identity, body and space. The open call is structured around two themes: Mixing Identities, which examines the body and consciousness as evolving forms of communication, and Future Landscapes, which explores fluid relationships between identity, cities, mind and space. Selected artists receive exhibition support spanning installation, logistics, promotion, press and opening events, with applications closing October 11, 2026.
To take part in the selection, send your works’ submissions with a CV/biography, some still images (for video art), links to videos/films/performances and pictures via e-mail to info@itsliquid.com
CALL FOR ARTISTS!
ITSLIQUID Group’s Rome International Art Fair 2026 returns for its 19th edition from December 10–20 at ITSLIQUID Art Space – Trastevere, inviting artists, photographers, video makers and performers to explore the relationship between identity, body and space. The open call is structured around two themes: Mixing Identities, which examines the body and consciousness as evolving forms of communication, and Future Landscapes, which explores fluid relationships between identity, cities, mind and space. Selected artists receive exhibition support spanning installation, logistics, promotion, press and opening events, with applications closing October 11, 2026.
To take part in the selection, send your works’ submissions with a CV/biography, some still images (for video art), links to videos/films/performances and pictures via e-mail to info@itsliquid.com
#BeOpenDESIGN
London-based designer Bethan Laura Wood collaborates with Shore Studios on Extra Trimmings, a colorful seating collection that turns ornament into structure. Inspired by the exuberance of 1970s interiors, the lounge chairs, settees, and stools use nautical braided rope and hand-knotted silicone to form ruffles, scallops, and loops across their frames. By making decoration part of the construction itself, the collection brings texture, pattern, and a playful sense of personality into the domestic interior.
London-based designer Bethan Laura Wood collaborates with Shore Studios on Extra Trimmings, a colorful seating collection that turns ornament into structure. Inspired by the exuberance of 1970s interiors, the lounge chairs, settees, and stools use nautical braided rope and hand-knotted silicone to form ruffles, scallops, and loops across their frames. By making decoration part of the construction itself, the collection brings texture, pattern, and a playful sense of personality into the domestic interior.
#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART
BE OPEN Art’s Art Limitless programme names Irish mixed-media artist Éabha Róis as its September 2026 monthly winner. Based in County Waterford, Róis combines painting with reclaimed and found materials to create tactile works inspired by Irish folklore, landscapes, memory, mythology, and the natural world.
Throughout 2026, BE OPEN continues to highlight artists whose work reflects sustainable approaches to artistic practice. Each month, a winning artist is selected and featured in the online gallery, and at the end of the year, three artists will be chosen from the monthly winners by members of the BE OPEN community to receive monetary awards and increased international visibility from the BE OPEN Foundation.
BE OPEN Art’s Art Limitless programme names Irish mixed-media artist Éabha Róis as its September 2026 monthly winner. Based in County Waterford, Róis combines painting with reclaimed and found materials to create tactile works inspired by Irish folklore, landscapes, memory, mythology, and the natural world.
Throughout 2026, BE OPEN continues to highlight artists whose work reflects sustainable approaches to artistic practice. Each month, a winning artist is selected and featured in the online gallery, and at the end of the year, three artists will be chosen from the monthly winners by members of the BE OPEN community to receive monetary awards and increased international visibility from the BE OPEN Foundation.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Concept Nemonic Dot by Mangoslab is a compact Braille printer and mobile app designed to make everyday labeling more accessible for visually impaired users. By converting typed or spoken words into Braille stickers, the system lets users independently label food, medicine, documents, and personal belongings. Its tactile, eyes-free printer is designed for easy operation through touch, while Bluetooth connectivity and a portable form make it practical across homes, schools, offices, and other everyday spaces.
Concept Nemonic Dot by Mangoslab is a compact Braille printer and mobile app designed to make everyday labeling more accessible for visually impaired users. By converting typed or spoken words into Braille stickers, the system lets users independently label food, medicine, documents, and personal belongings. Its tactile, eyes-free printer is designed for easy operation through touch, while Bluetooth connectivity and a portable form make it practical across homes, schools, offices, and other everyday spaces.
#BeOpenARCH
For Shakira’s Madrid residency, Bjarke Ingels Group has transformed a 185,000-square-metre music venue into Macondo Park, a temporary cultural town built around the concert experience. The landscape combines a 50,000-plus-capacity stadium with colorful pavilions, markets, food, art, fashion, cinema and children’s spaces, turning the journey to the show into part of the event. Inspired by the fictional town in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the design uses color-coded paths, more than 500 trees and a central gathering point to bring human scale to the vast site. Just as importantly, BIG designed the temporary structures with their next life in mind, allowing pavilions, fabrics, artificial grass and planting to be reused after the residency ends.
More unusual venues on our blog.
For Shakira’s Madrid residency, Bjarke Ingels Group has transformed a 185,000-square-metre music venue into Macondo Park, a temporary cultural town built around the concert experience. The landscape combines a 50,000-plus-capacity stadium with colorful pavilions, markets, food, art, fashion, cinema and children’s spaces, turning the journey to the show into part of the event. Inspired by the fictional town in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the design uses color-coded paths, more than 500 trees and a central gathering point to bring human scale to the vast site. Just as importantly, BIG designed the temporary structures with their next life in mind, allowing pavilions, fabrics, artificial grass and planting to be reused after the residency ends.
More unusual venues on our blog.
#BeOpenDESIGN
co:Creation Lab's Balloon Banjo is a 3D-printed DIY instrument that turns an ordinary party balloon into an adjustable sound box. Built from seven printed components and assembled without glue, metal hardware, or tools, the banjo invites users to experiment with acoustics by changing the balloon's inflation, string tension, and string thickness. Its fully disassemblable construction makes making, modifying, and rebuilding part of the musical experience.
co:Creation Lab's Balloon Banjo is a 3D-printed DIY instrument that turns an ordinary party balloon into an adjustable sound box. Built from seven printed components and assembled without glue, metal hardware, or tools, the banjo invites users to experiment with acoustics by changing the balloon's inflation, string tension, and string thickness. Its fully disassemblable construction makes making, modifying, and rebuilding part of the musical experience.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Berlin-based artist and designer Simon Weckert’s Digital Camouflage is a brightly patterned shirt designed to challenge AI-powered video surveillance systems. Developed in response to Berlin’s planned AI surveillance trial at Kottbusser Tor, the garment uses saturated colours and overlapping forms intended to disrupt the visual patterns that object-detection models associate with human figures. Weckert developed the pattern through an AI-driven adversarial testing process, repeatedly refining it against the detection system to reduce its confidence in recognising a person.
Berlin-based artist and designer Simon Weckert’s Digital Camouflage is a brightly patterned shirt designed to challenge AI-powered video surveillance systems. Developed in response to Berlin’s planned AI surveillance trial at Kottbusser Tor, the garment uses saturated colours and overlapping forms intended to disrupt the visual patterns that object-detection models associate with human figures. Weckert developed the pattern through an AI-driven adversarial testing process, repeatedly refining it against the detection system to reduce its confidence in recognising a person.
#BeOpenNEWS
VOTE FOR BE OPEN AT ANTHEM AWARDS!
We are pleased to share with you that BE OPEN Foundation has been selected a finalist in not one but two categories within Education, Art & Culture at the 6th Annual Anthem Awards:
1. Creative Economy & Artist Support
2. Arts & Cultural Programming
The finalist status also puts us in the running for the Anthem Community Voice Award which is determined by a public vote. We would be grateful for your support: please vote for BE OPEN and share the voting link with your friends and networks!
Here’s how to vote for us:
1. Open the voting page.
2. Find “BE OPEN Foundation” (Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search for “BE OPEN”)
3. Click “Celebrate” beneath the BE OPEN Foundation card.
4. Sign up or sign in by clicking “Sign Up & Celebrate” - just enter an email address and make up a password.
5. Complete an email verification if requested.
Please check that your support has been registered.
VOTE FOR BE OPEN AT ANTHEM AWARDS!
We are pleased to share with you that BE OPEN Foundation has been selected a finalist in not one but two categories within Education, Art & Culture at the 6th Annual Anthem Awards:
1. Creative Economy & Artist Support
2. Arts & Cultural Programming
The finalist status also puts us in the running for the Anthem Community Voice Award which is determined by a public vote. We would be grateful for your support: please vote for BE OPEN and share the voting link with your friends and networks!
Here’s how to vote for us:
1. Open the voting page.
2. Find “BE OPEN Foundation” (Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search for “BE OPEN”)
3. Click “Celebrate” beneath the BE OPEN Foundation card.
4. Sign up or sign in by clicking “Sign Up & Celebrate” - just enter an email address and make up a password.
5. Complete an email verification if requested.
Please check that your support has been registered.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Australian art and technology studio ENESS transforms a vintage ATM into HP*ATM – Human Psyche AI Teller Machine, an interactive installation that uses AI to generate personalized psychological readings. Created by ENESS founder Nimrod Weis, the work combines facial analysis, palm reading, and user-selected responses before presenting its assessment as a lyrical horoscope. Shown at FutureJuice during Illuminate Adelaide 2026, the retro-futurist installation uses playful design to question why people readily trust AI with increasingly intimate personal information.
Australian art and technology studio ENESS transforms a vintage ATM into HP*ATM – Human Psyche AI Teller Machine, an interactive installation that uses AI to generate personalized psychological readings. Created by ENESS founder Nimrod Weis, the work combines facial analysis, palm reading, and user-selected responses before presenting its assessment as a lyrical horoscope. Shown at FutureJuice during Illuminate Adelaide 2026, the retro-futurist installation uses playful design to question why people readily trust AI with increasingly intimate personal information.
#BeOpenDESIGN
A New York-based group of five artists has created Lifeline, a conceptual tote bag that transforms into a self-inflating life jacket in response to the growing threat of climate-related flooding. Made by deconstructing and heat-welding a standard nylon life vest, the bag retains the everyday appearance of a fashion accessory while concealing an emergency function that can be activated in around 15 seconds. Presented during New York Climate Week, the project uses this contradiction between ordinary consumer design and emergency equipment to provoke reflection on climate change and consumer culture.
A New York-based group of five artists has created Lifeline, a conceptual tote bag that transforms into a self-inflating life jacket in response to the growing threat of climate-related flooding. Made by deconstructing and heat-welding a standard nylon life vest, the bag retains the everyday appearance of a fashion accessory while concealing an emergency function that can be activated in around 15 seconds. Presented during New York Climate Week, the project uses this contradiction between ordinary consumer design and emergency equipment to provoke reflection on climate change and consumer culture.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Burger King has turned one of its chicken nuggets into a handbag, and the result is as absurd as it is clever. Le Nugguette mimics the nugget’s lumpy shape and golden-brown finish, complete with a tiny handle, zippered compartment, sauce-themed charm, and a $3.99 price tag that matches the meal that inspired it. More than a novelty accessory, it is a neat example of how a brand can turn its most recognizable product into the design itself.
More fast food handbags on our blog.
Burger King has turned one of its chicken nuggets into a handbag, and the result is as absurd as it is clever. Le Nugguette mimics the nugget’s lumpy shape and golden-brown finish, complete with a tiny handle, zippered compartment, sauce-themed charm, and a $3.99 price tag that matches the meal that inspired it. More than a novelty accessory, it is a neat example of how a brand can turn its most recognizable product into the design itself.
More fast food handbags on our blog.