Curatorial Edge: Highlighting Unique Stories

Zi Xi Tan, also known as MessyMsxi, creates artwork that reflects the essence and heritage of her hometown, Singapore, and brings attention to the recent national initiatives aimed at conserving the area’s marine biodiversity and aquatic environment. We commissioned MessyMsxi to design an expansive mural spanning three floors within LinkedIn's office space in the bustling South-Asian city. Throughout the global art scheme we designed for LinkedIn, they have been proud to support local artists. The artist's real-world experience living and working amidst the Port of Singapore and its bustling surroundings achieved a level of authenticity and relevance that the client hoped to achieve.

In conceptualizing the global art scheme for Takeda, the client was keen to highlight artists whose work engaged with depictions of nature, reflecting on the legacy of Takeda’s founder, Chobei I, who founded the company by selling traditional herbal medicines. Takeda sought work that embodied the principles of minimalism inherent in Japanese art and design, paying homage to the company's origins in 18th Century Japan. Rita Koszorús’ works fit perfectly into the art scheme, with her abstract paintings that look organic, resembling intricate patterns carved into the earth or cosmological mappings sprawled across the sky.

We enlisted the help of local New York-based artists via an open call to respond to the brief to 'capture the feeling of audio through art', with each bringing their own distinct talents and perspectives to the space. One of these artists, Bisco Smith, is deeply connected to the worlds of music, graffiti, and the street art movement. He was selected by our curation team to create a large-scale mural for the elevator bay at Spotify’s HQ in the World Trade Center (WTC). This site was one part of the larger global art scheme we designed for Spotify. He created an installation in the elevator bay, blending actual speakers with acrylic panels featuring his iconic graffiti tag to communicate his interpretation of the theme, audio through art.

Cameron Burns is known for designing album covers and music videos that are characterized by ultra-saturated hues and hyper-surreal compositions which transport viewers into otherworldly realms. Our curation team worked with Burns as part of a project for Knotel’s Old Sessions House, with took its concept from a line of poetry: “A place where the sky dreamer meets the future you.” Burns’s work exemplified the aspiration of stargazing, evoking the essence of the dreamer who imagines endless possibilities and dares to reach for the stars.