Therme Art Announces Strategic Investment in Superblue

The partnership will bring transformative art experiences to new audiences worldwide

At the present moment, we can witness an urgent need to reimagine our cities across social, economic, and environmental lines. Therme Art was set up in the belief that culture has a key role to play in this and, since 2017, has been working tirelessly to generate new solutions for complex problems, most recently with our ongoing Wellbeing Culture Forum.

Continuing in this work, on March 4, 2021, Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, CEO of Superblue, and Mikolaj Sekutowicz, CEO of Therme Art, announced that Therme Art had become a strategic investor in Superblue, the innovative new company dedicated to advocacy for and public engagement with experiential art. Going forward, Therme Art and Therme Group will support Superblue in presenting some of the world’s most innovative, interactive art experiences to wide audiences across the globe, fostering social exchange and awareness.

teamLab, Exhibition view of Every Wall is a Door, 2021, Superblue Miami, Miami, Florida © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.

Launching its first public centre in Miami this March with installations by Es Devlin, teamLab, and James Turrell, Superblue is pioneering a new model for audiences to engage with the work of leading experiential artists outside of the traditional frameworks of museums, commercial galleries, and temporary art events. Featuring long-term installations, Superblue experiential art centres are specifically conceived for the presentation of large-scale works that make visitors active parts of the art itself. Through their work, Superblue artists catalyse engagement with pressing issues of our time and provoke new ways of understanding ourselves and our symbiotic relationship to each other and the world.

Superblue’s arrival to the art world is extremely timely—in response to environmental concerns as well as increasing digitalisation, the appetite for experience rather than consumption of art is increasingly evident. We can see a desire to move past the white cube—to access new kinds of immersive art experiences that catalyse engagement with pressing issues of our time and provoke new ways of understanding ourselves and our symbiotic relationship to each other and the world.

Studio Swine, ∞ Blue (Infinity Blue), 2018. Photo: Petr Krejčí

Therme Group brings to Superblue its extensive and highly customised operational experience and capabilities in high-volume ticketed experiences. The partnership deepens the long-standing collaboration between Therme Art, Superblue, and its artists, which includes the joint venture set up in 2018 to support the exhibition of Franchise Freedom by DRIFT in cities around the world.

“There is a tremendous alignment of values and vision between Superblue and Therme Group in our shared belief in the role that artists play in our wellbeing as individuals and as a society,” stated Dent-Brocklehurst. “Our collaboration, therefore, represents a natural and dynamic partnership in advancing the mission and goals of both Superblue and Therme Group.”

Speaking of the new partnership, Therme Art’s Co-founder, CEO and Curator Mikolaj Sekutowicz said, “Therme Art was founded to put culture at the very heart of Therme Group’s new urban development strategy. There is an urgent need to reimagine our cities across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Culture is a key factor in this. Within the art community, Superblue empowers the most creative people in our society to realise ground-breaking projects which reflect the much-needed shift from an economy based solely on transactions to an economy of cultural experiences that foster mental and physical wellbeing.”

Es Devlin, Rendering of Forest of Us, 2021, Courtesy Es Devlin Studio

Superblue is pending certified B Corporation status and is dedicated both in its programming and operations to sustainability, community benefit, and providing artists with public platforms for advocating new ideas and new visions. Therme Group joins founding partner Emerson Collective, an organisation committed to building a just and equitable world, as an investor and resource to Superblue, adding to the incomparable expertise in art, technology, business, and social impact reflected across Superblue’s leadership team and partners.

“Superblue was created in response to the public’s rapidly growing interest in experiential art that provokes new ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us,” added Marc Glimcher, Co-founder and Board Chair of Superblue. “Our collaboration with Therme Art advances Superblue’s mission to bring these transformative, ambitious works to a global audience.”

Therme Group Co-founder, CEO and Chairman Dr Robert Hanea added, “Therme Group’s global strategy is not based on competition, but on collaboration and support. We are creating a collection of partnerships, strategic alliances and joint ventures that allow us to deliver on one of the most pressing and complex challenges of humankind: a new Wellbeing City for us and our environment. In this collection of excellence Superblue has a key role, providing the much-needed content for the city to come.”