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LYFE THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2026

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Art made for human senses o Swiss creative Karim Noureldin shares how ‘visual sound’ inspired work, using line, colour, rhythm to create immersion

C AN a work of visual art be experienced as sound? For Karim Noureldin, it can. The Swiss artist creates abstract works that guide the eye across the composition like rhythm in music, revealing new details the longer they are viewed. Noureldin describes this as “a visual sound”, an idea rooted in drawing and reflected across works shaped by line, colour, surface and space. Noureldin’s Brea (2025) can be viewed digitally as part of the new Art Basel in Basel 2026 Collection. Available on Samsung Art Store, the collection presents 24 works by Swiss and Switzerland-based artists represented by eight galleries participating in the fair. Brea was chosen for its distinct colour palette and use of bold pattern, both central to Noureldin’s broader practice. Noureldin shared about drawing, abstraction and what changes when art is experienced at home. Sensory language of Brea 0 What can you share about the process behind Brea ? Brea began with the process of drawing as a way to build an imagined space. I created it with

Noureldin’s practice begins with drawing, a medium he describes as a way to think, plan, imagine and picture at the same time. – PICS BY ARIEL HUBER, COURTESY OF NOURELDIN AND VON BARTHA

yet. I find it easier to create a three dimensional world in this format than by painting on canvas. This is why drawing has remained so important to me. Its energy has been with me since early in my work as an artist and it is present in Brea . 0 How do line, surface and structure work together in Brea ? In Brea , line, structure and surface are not separate elements. They build on each other. The lines create movement, the surfaces create depth and the structure holds these parts together. Through this relationship, the work can begin to feel like a space the viewer enters through their own perception. The author George Stolz has described Brea as creating a kind of spatiality through the way its surfaces come together. I think that is close to how I see the work. Defining spatial language 0 How has your approach to making art stayed the same over time? My approach has stayed the same through a steady commitment to the work. I studied fine arts, later served as an associate professor at University of Arts and Design Lausanne and have tutored younger Swiss artists. Those experiences shaped how I think about art, but they did not change the reason I make it. I still approach each work with the same motivation and focus I had early on. Being able to make art is something I always dreamed of doing and I continue to do it with dedication and gratitude. 0 What connects the different forms you work in? No matter the form, my work applies

inexorably related to each other. Whether a work was created for a specific site, placed within one or simply viewed there, each condition shapes what the work can express and do. How art forms unity within home 0 What feels meaningful to you about viewers encountering your work at home? Living with art brings art back to a private and personal space. With Samsung Art TVs, the work moves from the artist’s studio into a home, where it can be experienced daily rather than only during a visit to an institution. It helps keep visual creativity top of mind for everyone, even if they aren’t an artist. 0 When an artwork becomes part of the home, what can repeated viewing reveal that might not be noticed at first? When we have art in our homes, it becomes part of one’s daily life and changes with the conditions around it. Different times of day, different lighting shifts or even moods changing each time a piece is viewed. These small details can change the appearance of a work over time, making it a unified element of the home. 0 Some viewers may not know your practice yet. What would you hope they notice first in Brea ? I would hope they first notice Brea as a visual sound. By that, I mean a composition that can be felt through rhythm and movement much like music can be felt without words. Before trying to define it, I hope they spend time with every element of its structure to understand how it can speak to more than one sense.

Noureldin – HANDOUT PIC

pencil because drawing allows me to think, plan, imagine and picture at the same time. I have worked with pencil for a long time and I still see it as one of the most direct ways to begin an idea. The movement of drawing also feels close to writing words by hand. Working on paper allows me to see a space that is not fully physical

Brea (2025) reflects Noureldin’s interest in line, colour and rhythm. – PIC BY FINN CURRY, COURTESY OF NOURELDIN AND VON BARTHA. the same abstract language and creative process to different media. I often think of each medium as a different instrument. The sound changes, but the composition comes from the same place. The works can appear at a small or large scale, within a specific site or as independent pieces. What connects them is the same attention to line, colour, rhythm and space. 0 What does abstraction allow you to do? Abstraction allows for timelessness and universality. It’s not fixed to one subject or moment. It can remain open, so each viewer can meet the work through their own perception. 0 How do you think about the relationship between an artwork and the place where it is seen? Space and art, as well as artworks and their built surroundings, are

Noureldin works with coloured pencils to build spatial density with repeated lines and shifts in colour.

Artist Anish Kapoor presents unique pieces in London gallery return BRITISH artist Anish Kapoor presents bold, large new works alongside some of his older sculptures at an ongoing exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery, in a return to the space that held his first solo UK show nearly 30 years ago. Among the new works, an expansive vivid red pigment piece called Ha Makom and All of Nothing , a huge, inflated red PVC membrane that greets audiences as soon as they walk in. wonder and fear together. So somehow the two live with each other and I’m interested in what red does in that, in that, in those conditions,” Anish told Reuters of his use of red in his works.

The Hayward Gallery, part of the Southbank Centre overlooking the River Thames, was the first in the UK to hold a major survey of Anish’s works in 1998. “It’s a coming home... in many ways... 28 years is quite a long time. What I’ve tried to do is take on what I did before and take it to... some other place,” Anish said. The exhibition runs until Oct 18.

“I’ve explored or looked to explore that question of the object and the non-object and how they live with each other. “It’s obvious that red must feature in that equation, because in a sense, all of that interior is red. “Red, of course, is at one level a colour of celebration, but it’s also a colour of deep darkness, of terror, of fear. As we know, the sublime is

On display are shiny sculptures made with mirrored steel or void-like black, visceral paintings and gory bloody pieces as well as large-scale installations the 72-year-old Mumbai born Turner Prize winner is known for. These include 2022’s Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto , a massive red and black mass hanging from the ceiling.

Anish poses for a photograph next to his installation Ha Makom . – REUTERSPIC