As 2022 comes to a close, we are delighted to look back on the key projects and events that marked our work at Therme Art, Impact One, One Health Research Centre, MYND and Ikona Collection. This time of year prompts a moment of reflection and gratitude, on which note we’d like to thank our partners, collaborators, friends and colleagues for their vital contributions.

Working in partnership with renowned cultural institutions and initiatives including Serpentine, Superblue, Aurora Institute, Deloitte, British Council, and the New York Times among others, we are proud to have supported the realisation of a wide range of projects that bolster our mission to provide wellbeing through cultural production.

As Therme Art looks forward to welcoming 2023 with its various upcoming initiatives currently in development, we anticipate another year of productive, collaborative and engaging projects. On behalf of the entire team at Therme Art, we would like to wish you a restorative holiday season and a very happy New Year.

BLACK CHAPEL, 2022 SERPENTINE PAVILION BY THEASTER GATES
London, UK
10 June 2022

In June, Therme Art attended the opening of Black Chapel, the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Theaster Gates with Adjaye Associates, as proud supporters of Serpentine’s Annual Architecture Programme. Black Chapel‘s construction marks the fifth consecutive year of partnership with the Serpentine and Therme Art’s ongoing collaboration in exploring bonds that link art and architecture and their impact on wellbeing.

Black Chapel’s design alludes to a small chapel’s performative and meditative qualities, drawing its inspiration from the historic kilns of Stoke-on-Trent. According to Theaster Gates, “Black Chapel suggests that in these times there could be a space where one could rest from the pressures of the day and spend time in quietude. [He has] always wanted to build spaces that consider the power of sound and music as a healing mechanism and emotive force that allows people to enter a space of deep reflection and/or deep participation.”

SONIA BOYCE’S FEELING HER WAY AT LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Venice, Italy
April–November 2022

Room 1 in the British Pavilion — Image Cristiano Corte © British Council

Therme Group and Therme Art were proud to support Sonia Boyce’s major solo exhibition Feeling Her Way from April–November 2022, which won the Golden Lion at La Biennale di Venezia 2022. The work was commissioned by the British Council to represent Great Britain in the British Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition. 

Feeling Her Way coalesces four award-winning Black female vocalists Poppy Ajudha, Jacqui Dankworth MBE, Sofia Jernberg, Tanita Tikaram, and composer Errollyn Wallen CBE. The musicians were invited to improvise and utilise their voices in an exploration of collaborative play. The central video works are set against dazzling wallpapers and 3D golden geometric structures while the singers’ voices resonate throughout the rooms, interlacing in harmony to convey liberation, strength, and vulnerability.

This commission builds on Boyce’s Devotional collection, which consists of over 20 years of work paying homage to the contribution of Black British female musicians to transnational culture.

BENEFIT FOR UKRAINE’S PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Venice, Italy
21 April 2022

Therme Art and the Ikona Collection co-hosted The Benefit for Ukraine’s People and Culture at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco for La Biennale di Venezia in April, in partnership with the Brant Foundation and TBA21. The evening consisted of a dinner and live auction of over 80 works, conducted by Simon de Pury, and welcomed over 230 attendees from across the cultural sphere.

The Benefit for Ukraine’s People and Culture, supported by the Pinchuk Foundation, raised a total of 1.215 million EUR with proceeds dedicated to supporting pressing humanitarian needs in Ukraine, including cultural workers and resources. The event was held in celebration of Ukrainian culture, aligned with the mission to prevent the extinction of cultural identity targeted by genocide. A speech by President Zelenskyy played at the benefit.

EXPERIENTIAL ART ACTIVATIONS AT EVENING OF DISCOVERY
St Tropez, France
22–23 July 2022

MYND and non-profit organisation Aurora Institute joined forces in July in St Tropez at the inaugural Evening of Discovery event to present a series of large-scale, experiential art commissions by Refik Anadol, Tino Sehgal, Jeppe Hein, and DRIFT along with a live musical performance by Tinie Tempah. 

The evening also saw the unveiling of Anadol’s new meditative sculpture based on neurological data, Sense of Healing: AI Data Painting A, plus twelve NFTs created out of the data sculpture that were auctioned at Evening of Discovery for 120,000 euros each, raising more than 1.4 million euros in proceeds that will benefit charitable mental health initiatives such as Klitschko and Kevin Love Fund.

All of the commissioned artworks have been developed by the mental health initiative MYND in collaboration with Therme Art, reflecting on mental and physical health healing processes with the incentive to raise awareness about the more than 1 billion people suffering globally from mental health difficulties. Together with MYND, Therme Art also presented the latest edition of its Wellbeing Culture Forum exploring collective mental health and wellness.

LUISAVIAROMA x UNICEF SUMMER GALA 2022
Capri, Italy
30 July 2022

Auctioneer Simon de Pury and Artist Refik Anadol. © Lorenzo Palizzolo / Getty Images for Luisaviaroma.

In July, Therme Art and Ikona Collection presented MYND’s commission of Sense of Healing by new media artist Refik Anadol at the Luisaviaroma x UNICEF Summer Gala 2022 in Capri to help raise funds for UNICEF’s worldwide efforts. Sense of Healing broke the auction record for the artist at  1.7 million euros, as the largest and first neurotherapeutic AI data sculpture to be produced using human brain data. 

The work, which was unveiled at Aurora’s Evening of Discovery event a few days earlier, marks the first iteration of an ongoing collaboration between Refik Anadol, Therme Art and MYND. The collaboration with the artist aligns with MYND’s mission to produce and advocate for mental health through art and culture.

CATHARSIS
Black Rock City, Nevada
28 August–5 September 2022

Catharsis Rendering. Courtesy of Arthur Mamou-Mani Ltd

In August, Therme Art and Ikona Collection supported the construction and programming of Catharsis in Black Rock City, Nevada designed by French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani. 

After over 3 years of research, Mamou-Mani designed Catharsis, a “fractal gallery for our infinite dreams” (Mamou-Mani, 2022) composed of 60 timber modules with seven gateways reaching toward the sky. Catharsis and its programming elicited a deep dream-like state, inspiring reflection and renewal for our cities through a series of creative touchpoints.

The site hosted a collective group show throughout its week-long programming, exploring how AI and collective belonging can co-create spaces for wellbeing and creativity. Catharsis featured the following works and activations: Machine Hallucinations by Refik Anadol; Paragraph Zero VR Exploration and The Earth as a Legal Entity: Performance & Keynote by Joulia Strauss; Breathe With Me by Jeppe Hein; Catharsis Sound Healing by Gendalå + Jermey; Drum Performance by Noah Katz-Appel; Evolutionary Transition in Human Adaptation talk by Dr. Nate Walworth; Communal Motion and Terry Riley’s in C by Art Haus Collective; The Shared Sonic performance by Tinie Tempah; Catharsis Drone Show by Drone Stories; special musical guest performances by Amanda Gregory, David Kim, Seastars, Cello Joe and Romain Collin: Jazz Performance; a Wellbeing Culture Forum on Dreaming & Algorithmic Thinking; and Talk & Poetry Reading by Dr. Sian Proctor and MarieLiz Bender.

“THE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY” AT MAPPING THE POST-PANDEMIC (ART) WORLD
London, England
7 October 2022

In October, Therme Art joined Mapping the Post-Pandemic (Art) World, a day-long interdisciplinary forum hosted by the British Council in collaboration with Samsung, at Samsung KX in London’s King’s Cross. 

Therme Art was invited to participate in “The Institutional Responsibility,” a panel of cultural leaders called on to consider the redefined purpose of the arts and cultural institutions post-pandemic. Representatives of leading institutions shared how they weathered the disruption and how to rebuild the sector to withstand future crises. The forum was curated by cross-pollinator and global strategic adviser Johanna Zuleta and featured leading artists, curators, creative organisations and policymakers from the art sector who came together to discuss the future of the art world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other panellists included: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries; Dirk Boll, President of Christie’s; Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain; Rebecca Salter, President of Royal Academy of Arts; and Sarah Wilson, Professor at Courtauld Institute of Art.

14TH DELOITTE ART & FINANCE CONFERENCE
Vatican City
25 October 2022

On 25 October, Therme Art attended the 14th Deloitte Art & Finance Conference, Art & Humanity: New Art & Financing Trends, held in Vatican City. The conference explored vital current and future topics of technology, impact investment, philanthropy, and urban infrastructure.

Mikolaj Sekutowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of Therme Art, took part in a panel titled Beyond Philanthropy: New Approaches for Private and Corporate Art Patrons, which discussed ways to embed forward-looking strategies in cultural philanthropy for meaningful impact. The panellists proposed various methods in which their respective organisations and initiatives assessed the most effective patronage structures, offering new forms of impact investing and Corporate Social Responsibility in the cultural sector.

Panellists included: Simone Bemporad, Group Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer of Assicurazioni Generali; Monica Heslington, Vice President and Head of Goldman Sachs Family Office Art and Collectibles Advisory at Goldman Sachs; Peter Goes, In-House Counsel at Stichting De Verre Bergen; and Marco Trevisan, Managing Director of Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo. The panel was moderated by Ernesto Lanzillo, Partner and Deloitte Private Leader at Deloitte Central Mediterranean.

COP27 UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
6–18 November 2022

POSSIBLE FUTURES AT THE COP27 UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
6–18 November 2022
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

Forest One Event, Opening Remarks by Mikolaj Sekutowicz and Stephen Dunbar Johnson

Impact One, Therme Art, One Health Research Centre (OHRC), and Therme Group, in collaboration with their partner network, joined forces to present the Possible Futures programming at the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference this year.  

The programme featured a series of participatory activations, performances and panels to provide new outlooks on Possible Futures of human activity in symbiosis with our planet’s natural systems and address how urban development industries can cease their destruction of the environment and become drivers of ecosystem protection and regeneration. The series of events invited pivotal figures in urban development, architecture and environmental industries to engage with the themes of Indigenous and environmental rights, collective responsibility, and sustainable futures.

The partners showcased a new class of infrastructure that promotes human and environmental wellbeing, incorporating novel sustainable architecture models and integrative compensation measures, as well as specific target areas and themes with a dedicated programme on the co-creation of Possible Futures with indigenous communities in the Amazon region.

The programme included the following events:

Wellbeing City Presentation, Green Obsession: Trees Towards Cities, Humans Towards Forests, with Stefano Boeri

Global Impact Series, Future of Cities; participants included Stefano Boeri, Mikolaj Sekutowicz, Tony Cho, Roksana Ciurysek Gedir, Mikkel Bulow-Lehnsby, Bedeir Rizk and Alexandre Allard, moderated by Anna Rosenberg

Forest One Event, in partnership with Future of Cities, Amazon Watch, The New York Times and Extreme Hangouts; participants included Stephen Dunbar Johnson, Patricia Ellen, Alexandre Allard, Vanda Witoto, Carlos Nobre, Ilona Szabó, Nina Gualinga, Leo Cerda, Isku Kua, Alexis Grefa, Maria Jose Andrade, Taily Terena, Tony Cho, Alexandre Allard, Jeanne de Kroon, Mariana Maia, Appolinaire Oussou Lio, Mindahi Bastida, and Mikolaj Sekutowicz, Rasu Yawanawa and Kenetsaini Yawanawa

Ancestral Wisdom and Possible Futures; participants included Rasu Yawanawa, Kenetsaini Yawanawa, Mikolaj Sekutowicz, Mariana Maia, Jeanne de Kroon, Nina Gualinga, Isku Kua, Patricia Gualinga, Celia Xakriabá, Sonia Guajajara, Jade Begay, Casey Camp-Horinek, and Patricia Ellen

Indigenous Youth: Collective Actions for Our Future