In this edition of Surface7, seven significant national pavilions from the 2026 Venice Biennale—from Iceland’s dreamlike universe to India’s interconnected architectural sculptures and Australia’s historic first from Khaled Sabsabi.
The MIT Museum has announced its inaugural MIT Future Fest, programmed between September 30–October 4 across MIT’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The five-day gathering will feature 2024 Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu, MoMA curator Paola Antonelli, and Venice Architecture Biennale curator Carlo Ratti, among many others.
Read more at the link in bio.
For this Surface7, we offer a glimpse into the gardens of Salone del Mobile. This year, during Milan Design Week, several installations integrated, emphasized, extracted, or nourished botanical environs.
Nina Yashar has spent decades shaping the city’s design scene, from her collectible gallery Nilufar in Quadrilatero d’Oro to Nilufar Depot, an industrial exhibition space in the Farini district inspired by the city’s iconic opera theater. Few know this city quite like she does.
Head to the Culture Calendar for her full Milan guide.
In this edition of Surface 7, the 64th Salone del Mobile returns to Milan with 1,900 exhibitors at Fiera Milano Rho. Plus, a Brera palazzo reimagined as a 30-room boutique hotel, @sophieloujacobsen ’s disco-inspired glassware collection, and more of the best things we saw this week.
“Can I come back with friends?” At @muse.santamonica , Chef Fardad Khayami gives us the scoop on going from cramped dorm room dinners to a full-blown nouveau French bistro.
Everything’s up in flames at Theodora, which is just how Tomer Blechman planned it. “Live fire has been a dream of mine, three years in the making,” he says. We visited the chef inside his Fort Greene kitchen to get a first-hand look at his skills on the Josper.
For Catskill, New York–based landscape designer Jean-Marc Flack, founder of Hortulus Animae, success translates to a “resilient, biodiverse, and educational” atmosphere—a living, transportive sense of place driven by narrative.
The outdoor visionary—who paints an ever-developing picture with plants, and considers each complex scene through layers of seasonality—is currently imagining the way nature will envelop a new mountain retreat, set upon 450 woodland acres, following the completion of construction.
Find the full conversation at the link in our bio.
Carefully situated among the saguaros of Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, ScanLAB Projects’ “FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse” collapses a year of desert life into something the human eye was never meant to see — passing between 17 and 25 days per second. Five installations, on view through May 10.
Images courtesy the artist and Desert Botanical Garden
In the wood-clad private dining room of chef Flynn McGarry’s Cove, Nina Sarin Arias and David Graver welcomed a cultural cohort for conversation, cocktails, and a multi-course escapade celebrating ARIAS’ Spring/Summer 2026 collection and its collaboration with artist Amy Feldman.
Throughout, the dialogue continued to return to the interwoven spirit of art and fashion.
On March 14, from 10am to 2pm, Jason Saft will open his @industrycity warehouse to the public with the first edition of a curated Collector’s Market—featuring antiques, objects, and works by ceramic artists @devinwilde and @chalatoprakstudio and visual artist @louventurelli .
