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The BMW M5 Touring: ‘A worthy successor to the original, a car not to mess with, and unique’

BMW’s M5 Touring combines the practicality of an estate with the performance of a 727 hp hybrid V8. With decades of Motorsport heritage behind it, this is a car built for both everyday driving and serious speed. LUX gets behind the wheel of BMW’s latest M5

If you are the kind of person who is inclined to spot cars, cast your eye around any prosperous location in the world and note the proportion of BMWs that also carry a supplementary red and blue badge labelled simply with the letter “M” on their bodywork. You would be forgiven for thinking that the M is simply a fairly random model designator as carried by every car brand – like a D for Tesla or a G for Mercedes.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

You would, however, be wrong in one fundamental way. The M stands for Motorsport, and while now it is in many cases simply an indicator of a mainstream BMW model with some extra equipment, its origins and heritage are truly quite special. In the 1970s and 80s BMW had its own racing outfit, and in 1978 built its first and, to date, only supercar, the M1, which used a new racing engine created by its Motorsport division.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, if you bought a BMW with an M on it, you were generally buying a product created by this division in a separate factory, with a handmade racing engine and suspension and other accoutrements to match. BMW supplied M with the body shell, M did everything else.

‘It also has numerous driving modes to suit your mood, skill and geekiness’

The engine and other parts from the M1 were used in the first BMW M5, released in 1984, which took the shell of the executive four-seater, four-door 5 Series sedan and gave it the spirit of a track racing car. It was one of the first times this had ever been done by a car manufacturer, and each new iteration of the M5, and its smaller sibling the M3, would be awaited as eagerly by car enthusiasts as a new Ferrari model line. After all, this was a car that had the performance to match a Ferrari or a Porsche 911, but could also function as a taxi if you wanted it to.

All of that may be lost in the sands of time for today’s consumer, who, in any case, has the choice of electric cars that offer Ferrari-style speed, if not the excitement, for a fraction of the cost.

Read more: Riding with the Porsche 911 C4 GTS Cabriolet

But the BMW M5 keeps going, through iterations that included a wild, V10-engined machine around 20 years ago, and now this latest iteration, posting 727 hp, significantly more than twice the muscle of its 286 hp original ancestor. Like the V10-engined variant of 20 years ago, it is available both as a saloon and as an estate, so you can in theory move your antiques around the country at breakneck pace.

The 727 hp is not achieved, thankfully, solely by an electric motor, but by a twin turbocharged V8 with electric hybrid assistance. The latter fills in the gaps during the times the turbochargers are spooling up – fractions of a second, but that matters in fast driving – and add an enhancement drug-style extra punch when the engine is going great guns.

BMW’s M5 Touring can move your furniture across Europe at frightening speeds

And it certainly does that. This is a car with a passionate sound from its “real” engine, as well as aggressive looks that, very unusually for a wagon, have the roadside YouTubers in London swinging their cameras in your direction. It also has numerous driving modes to suit your mood, skill and geekiness. Set to the more aggressive of these, it shoots around corners sharply and enjoys the challenge of a sweeping country road.

Read more: We visit the E1 race on the water in Monaco

If your furniture frequently needs moving swiftly around tight country lanes, you should be aware that this is a big and heavy car and so trades off some of the agility of its predecessors in favour of sheer power and heft. It’s roomy and comfortable inside, although not as luxurious as the top of the range and bigger 7 Series BMW, and LUX would like to see a couple of extra special touches in the interior to elevate it even further.

All in all, though, a worthy successor to the original, a car not to mess with, and unique.

bmw.co.uk

The 911 C4 GTS is huge fun despite its tech-laden specification, and a return to form for the GTS line of Porsches

LUX gets up to speed with the latest Porsche 911 C4 GTS Cabriolet

No car brand attracts quite as much debate as Porsche, and no Porsche attracts as much conversation as the 911, the iconic model introduced 63 years ago that is still the North Star for sports cars. The 911 of 2026 is, of course, a very different car even to that of 20 years ago, let alone that of 60 years ago, and each iteration attracts some controversy from diehards who say it is not as involving or sporting as the previous one.

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It’s true that the latest generations of the 911, the 991 and 992 series from around 2011 onwards, are significantly bigger and easier to drive than before, partly driven by safety regulations, and partly by chasing a bigger market than the enthusiasts who want an edgy experience at the expense of day-to-day comfort.

But there is a 911 for almost everyone if you look hard enough, and the GT models are still focused on delivering serious driver experiences with much less consideration for comfort or luxury.

‘Some might criticise the car for being too comfortable and luxurious inside’

Somewhere in between those and the regular models for the past 15 years has been the GTS model, which is a sharper version of the normal 911 that now floods every city with a significant finance bro population (the children, presumably, of the original yuppies who drove 911s in the 80s – see, not that much has changed).

The latest GTS has also attracted its own fair share of controversy, as it is no longer a “pure” petrol-engined car but a petrol electric hybrid. What would it be like? And would it be more like a compromised everyday car, losing some of its unique character?

Read more: Back to Oxford

In a word – no. We drove the GTS over a series of wet winter days, taking it out into the empty lanes of the English countryside to drive it as Porsche intended. There is a little dial on the bottom right of the steering wheel that you can set to different modes to suit your driving style, and when we switched the GTS to “Sport”, we found it recreated the thrill of early 911s quite brilliantly, allowing the back of the car (the engine of the 911 is in the boot, allowing a pendulum effect as you swing around corners) to slip out most engagingly, challenging you as a driver, although the difference between this and early 911s is that if you don’t quite manage to have the driving skills to catch the car yourself as it lets go, the electronics will do so (unless you switch them all off).

‘We found it recreated the thrill of early 911s quite brilliantly’

It’s also very fast, the hybrid electric motor filling in the gaps before the turbos on the engine kick in and, more importantly for us, the new engine has a real character and edge to its sound and feel that the 3.0 litre twin turbo engine these cars have had in various guises for the past 10 years simply did not have. It feels gruffer, tougher, more 911. We also liked being able to whip down the roof electronically as soon as the sun came out briefly, and the snug but spacious feeling when the roof was up.

Read more: We visit the E1 race on the water in Monaco

Some might criticise the car for being too comfortable and luxurious inside – although it’s no limousine, and there are better cars for highway cruising – and because the hybrid also means the GTS does not come with a manual gearbox option. Still, we enjoyed it immensely, and, rather unexpectedly, it might just be our favourite 911 GTS since the original, introduced in 2010: in fact, we may even prefer it, which is high praise indeed from Porsche diehards.

porsche.com

LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai at dinner at the Oxford Union

Darius Sanai returns to Oxford University to experience an innovative new immersion course into the humanities, ancient and modern, at his alma mater

Returning to university after your experience. Who or what is still there, what has changed? More than that, though, you are in a place that was defined by its people, and by the experiences you had with those people – classes, tutorials, seminars, parties – and none of those experiences can be replicated, even though you are in the same physical space.

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Which is what made the new humanities experience at Wadham College, Oxford so engrossing. I attended Wadham as an undergraduate, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). Years later, in 2024, the college launched something called the Wadham Experience, a residential intellectual retreat for leaders.

Darius Sanai returns to his alma mater, Wadham College at The University of Oxford

It invites all comers to apply and go through a selection process, which, while rigorous, is nothing like as challenging as getting into the university as a student. Successful applicants are then immersed in classes, seminars, talks, dinners and other experiences, many of which mirror the life of an Oxford student (and some of which do not, as we will see below).

So it was with great curiosity that I sat in a set of rooms at Wadham dating from the early 17th century, facing an Oxford don (academic) speaking about a subject we would have learnt about as undergraduates, with a group of individuals I had just met. It was just the same as the first term as an undergrad – being immersed in the the kind of curated knowledge that only comes with human experience as an academic in this institution.

Champagne offered before you make your way across the quad

This was the first morning of the experience, and my fellow “students” – philanthropists, captains of industry and just the curious – were, variously, scribbling notes or listening agog. Polite questions were asked towards the end.

Read more: Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Review

In the coffee break, before coming back to experience more of this new type of Oxford world, I and a couple of other alumni were asked what the difference was between our own sessions on similar topics as undergrads and what we had just seen. Two things, I reflected: I thought the tutor was, if anything, even more engaged and enthused about the process than our (generally brilliant) tutors had been when I was a “real” student.

Wadham Experience “students” enjoy dinner with the dons in the college’s Jacobean dining hall

And, secondly, being at Oxford trains you to ask awkward, challenging questions. Despite the fact that the room was full of individuals who were extremely significant in their various fields, the questions were polite, informed and educated, but not challenging, argumentative or awkward. Maybe that would come later.

Learning about the humanities cannot just be done in a tutorial, however august the surroundings. Over the next four days, we were taken around the back rooms of the city’s celebrated Ashmolean Museum and given classes on how to differentiate between objects of different eras, and to guess exactly what the function of various artefacts from Greek and Roman times was, by passing them around a table, wearing white gloves, and examining them. A couple of our “students” proved quite brilliant at this, for the rest of us many of these objects, obvious in retrospect, remained a mystery.

Studying Greek and Roman artefacts at the Ashmolean Museum

We had dinner at the Oxford Union, a phrase that might make the flesh crawl of many Oxford students, when thinking about this famous but divisive institution that has seen Prime Ministers from William Gladstone to Boris Johnson to Benazir Bhutto debate there as students. For the first-time visitor, the most impressive debating society in the world is astonishing, with photographs of all its significant alumni on the walls and its mini Parliament debating chamber alongside.

Read more: We visit the E1 race on the water in Monaco

A highlight of most evenings was dinner in Wadham College Hall, also dating from the early 17th century and adjoined to the beautiful chapel. It’s a serene space that by dint of not being quite as old as some of the college halls, dating one or two centuries before, is almost overlooked in the rarified Oxford world, where being the second best, or the second oldest, just isn’t really good enough.

Taking new approaches to the arts through the Wadham Experience

The Wadham Experience has been created by my old college partly to increase exposure to the importance and brilliance of the humanities at Oxford and, importantly, of course, to raise funds. There was some worrying about whether it would be attractive to ask people to spend this amount of money on something that is not quite a leadership course and too short to be a further education course. In fact, by all reports, it is a victim of its own success, oversubscribed and with corporations asking for a privatised experience of their own.

I think it is successful precisely because it is not a leadership course and nor is it some second-thought sideline into academia by academic staff who have other things to do. Everyone we came across was not just enthusiastic but enthralled by being part of the course: tutors, museum curators, “students” and college staff. For me, the most special aspect was being back in my old college without any of the stress or social anxiety.

The Wadham Experience offers multisensorial classes to its “students”

I stayed in a rather luxurious bedroom in a building overlooking the second quadrangle of the college. From one of the windows I had a view up Parks Road to the leaves of the parks and the back of Trinity College opposite. After dinner, it was like a retreat. And because the college, is, well, a college, your morning commute was across a quadrangle, whose 17th-century clock was probably gifted by Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul’s Cathedral and a Wadham alumnus.

My only caveat is that Wadham College is historically and famously liberal, which can mean sometimes rather alarmingly left wing. The radical traditional liberal and the hyper left do collide in the college, and if you are on the right of the political spectrum, you should be an open-minded type in order to enjoy it properly. But that’s what education – and the humanities – are all about. Or should be.

I shall be returning to this magical experience, if it’s not all booked up by the LUX community.

we.wadham.ox.ac.uk

Cristina Lazaragga (ESP) / Tom Chiappe (FRA), Team Rafa, battles with Nerea Marti (ESP) / Rusty Wyatt (CAN), Team AlUla championed by LeBron James. (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images)

Annie Preston travels to Monte Carlo to visit the most glamorous event on the water and returns suitably impressed

There is nothing quite like watching a boat fly. That is precisely what happened in the waters of Port Hercule, as the E1 Series returned to Monaco for its third visit, delivering one of the most thrilling weekends yet in the young championship’s history. Team Drogba Global Africa, helmed by Kiwi pilot Micah Wilkinson and Spanish teammate Tara Pacheco, secured a historic maiden victory, while Tom Brady’s team moved into the overall Championship, lead by the narrowest of margins over Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

For those unfamiliar, E1 is the world’s first all-electric race boat championship, a UIM-sanctioned series that reimagines what motorsport can look like when built entirely around sustainability, gender equality and innovation. Each team fields both a male and female pilot, racing hydro foiling “RaceBirds” that lift gracefully above the water; silent but for the hum of electric propulsion.

LUX’s Annie Preston with E1 Series CEO Jamie Copas. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

It is easy, at LUX, to be sceptical of sporting spectacles dressed up in sustainability jargon. But E1 does not simply gesture at these values; it is assembled around them, and that distinction matters enormously. As CEO Jamie Copas explained, his own introduction to the series came from an hour-long conversation that left him convinced almost immediately, “within that one hour I thought, right okay, this is really exciting”.

Three seasons in, Copas is ambitious to scale up the championship, from 10 teams and 8 races today, to a target of “12 teams and 15 races over the next two years”. This growth trajectory will require a careful choreography of logistics, sea, rail and road, in order to move RaceBirds around the globe, especially with the possibility of a second fleet based in the US.

For Copas, the racing itself is almost secondary to the story it allows E1 to tell. “We race to tell our stories,” he said. “The foundational principles behind the championship are sustainability, gender equality and innovation, and we can only tell those stories through racing and through awareness.” He is quick to point out that E1 remains the only motorsport championship in the world with genuine gender parity built into its design. Drawing the comparison to Formula E’s role in accelerating electric road cars, he sees E1 doing the same for the water: “If marine transport can become more electrified, that has real benefits for sustainability… the bigger the awareness we have, the more drive there will be from consumers for electric boats”.

Rianna O’Meara-Hunt (NZL) / Timmy Hansen (SWE), Team Miami, leads Nerea Marti (ESP) / Rusty Wyatt (CAN), Team AlUla championed by LeBron James, and Cristina Lazaragga (ESP) / Tom Chiappe (FRA), Team Rafa, during the Race Off. (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images)

That philosophy runs right through to the boat itself. Sophie Horne, the Norwegian designer behind the RaceBird and founder of SeaBird Technologies, began her career at eighteen designing interiors and refits for superyachts, before a return to Oslo, then the electric-car capital of the world, sparked something in her. “I could see how far behind the electrification was,” she recalled, a realisation rooted in a childhood spent on the water with her sailing family. Designing the RaceBird in parallel with the race format, rather than adapting an existing boat to fit, gave her a rare blank canvas. “The beauty of this platform is that it is all new,” she said. Having kept technology standardised across the teams in the championship’s early seasons, Horne explained that the “gates are opening, slowly,” allowing the teams to begin altering their own technology as pilots grow more experienced together.

Read more: Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Review

Among the team owners, NBA star Kyle Kuzma brought a refreshingly grounded perspective. “This year is all about discovery for us and our team, finding what works and what doesn’t,” he told us, adding wryly that he has yet to actually sit in one of the boats himself, “I am a bit big for them.” On whether sport can bring sustainability conversations to a new audience, he was unequivocal: “Sports are the epicentre of culture and society, so having a sport like this and being able to talk about it openly, globally, is very, very important for the world.” It is, he added, “the community and people” that make the sport what it is.

The RaceBirds of Team AlUla championed by LeBron James, Team Rafa, Team Monaco and Westbrook Racing by Visit Angola. (Photo by Malcolm Griffiths/Getty Images)

Speaking with some of the pilots, including Tom Chiappe, Maxine Nocher and Oban Duncan, whose varied backgrounds, from offshore powerboat racing to professional kitesurfing, reflect the eclectic mix of talent E1 has drawn together on the water. What struck me most, walking through the paddock, was the complete absence of tension one might expect between rival teams. Every pilot we met seemed genuinely delighted to be there, and the camaraderie between competitors felt entirely unforced.

As for the day itself, there was glorious sunshine, a rather generous flow of Whispering Angel rosé, and racing that was genuinely gripping. It is rare that a sporting event can be described as both meaningfully important and thoroughly enjoyable, but E1 in Monaco managed both without breaking a sweat. Consider this our full recommendation to LUX readers for a day out to watch E1. A championship unlike any other; what, indeed, is not to love?

https://www.e1series.com

By Annie Preston

The launch of The Lighthouse, Brooklyn, which provides a creative campus and studio playground for the creator generation

Neil Waller is co-founder and co-CEO of Whalar, a company that started in 2016 as an agency for social-media infuencers and has now become a cornerstone of the nexus of luxury and social media. He speaks to LUX about how creators and influencers are helping shape the future of the luxury experience

LUX: What does Whaler Group do?

Neil Waller: We focus on shaping the future of the creator economy. My co-founder and co-CEO, James Street, and I explore opportunities that aren’t obvious yet by pushing ideas, testing bold bets and bridging the future with today’s reality. James looks 24 months out, exploring what’s next; I focus six to 18 months ahead, turning those innovations into actionable strategies.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

Our teams across the ecosystem turn the ideas into action, building the programmes, products and partnerships that creators and brands need. In short, we spot what’s next, help make it happen, and keep the business moving forward fast, creatively and a little ahead of the curve.

LUX: How have you stayed ahead of the game?

NW: Proximity to creators is our greatest advantage. That closeness gives us early insight into shifts in culture, platforms and monetisation, often before they’re obvious to the wider market. This agility allows us to anticipate change, move quickly and evolve alongside the creator economy, rather than react to it.

A portrait of Nick Waller, the co-founder and co-CEO of Whalar Group

LUX: Has Whalar Group helped create the new social-media marketing landscape?

NW: I remember when brands questioned if they even needed to be on Instagram, let alone invest in creators. Today, creator-led campaigns are multimillion-dollar, multi-platform initiatives integrated into the heart of brand strategy, spanning short-form, long-form and cultural activations. I’d like to think we’ve played a meaningful role in shaping today’s social-media marketing landscape and contributing to its growth in scale and sophistication.

LUX: How can luxury brands best benefit from social media now?

NW: Luxury brands today are moving beyond old top-down messaging to become culturally relevant, community-driven brands that reflect how modern luxury is experienced. Opportunity lies in honouring heritage while interpreting it through a contemporary lens, aligning legacy with the expectations of today’s audiences.

Brands like Jacquemus, Burberry and Loewe do this beautifully, approaching social and content with an entertainment-first mindset to capture hearts and reach broader, more value-driven audiences. These consumers spend half their watch time online with creators who make content for not to them, delivering experiences that resonate deeper than traditional ads, and are organically shared, discussed and remixed.

Creators enable luxury brands to speak to global audiences through diverse perspectives and lived experience. Brands can highlight craft, longevity and timelessness through culturally relevant storytelling. So don’t be surprised to see the rise of the Chief Entertainment Officer.

LUX: What do luxury brands get wrong?

Ontario-based TikTok dance stars and content creators Nathaniel James, Kadeem Hemmings and Nicholas McDonald of Basement Gang on CBC’s The Legacy Lounge

NW: Modern luxury consumers expect a 360° brand experience from goosebump-worthy social content to seamless in-store and online experiences. Some brands fall short in choosing creators based on personal taste, rather than strategy and cultural fit. The brands that win build ongoing cultural operating systems, not one-offs, and work with creators who authentically translate luxury for modern audiences. Online is prime time, so brands investing in creators over traditional ads can double ROI; those that don’t risk falling behind and losing consumer loyalty.

Ontario-based TikTok dance stars and content creators Nathaniel James, Kadeem Hemmings and Nicholas McDonald of Basement Gang on CBC’s The Legacy Lounge.

Read more: Making art in Palazzo Monti

LUX: What do creators get wrong?

NW: The key to success is clear alignment between creators and brands from the outset. Is the goal building an emotional connection with an audience or driving direct commerce? Both sides need to be explicit about objectives.

Impactful work happens when creators are treated as creative partners, not just distribution channels. We see more next-level collaborations where creators are integral to the brand ecosystem, like Dhar Mann being NFL Chief Kindness Officer. These “magic moments” show the power of integrating creators creatively and strategically. When brands and creators work with respect and shared vision, the result is culturally resonant and commercially effective.

Opening day at The Lighhouse, Brooklyn

LUX: Can you explain The Lighthouse?

NW: It’s Whalar Group’s first creative campus and studio playground for the creator generation, offering a platform to learn, make and belong. With Venice, CA, and Brooklyn, NY already open, it’s designed to empower creators and creative professionals with the space and tools they need to grow their businesses.

Each campus features state-of-the-art, mixed-use content studios and hosts programmes that encourage collaboration, learning and innovation. The Lighthouse gives creators and their teams a place to co-create, connect and lead, helping shape the future of creative culture while expanding their opportunities and capabilities.

LUX: What is your five-year vision?

NW: The most exciting aspect of the creator economy is creators evolving from solopreneurs into media and entertainment companies. They are not just building audiences but enterprises. I want us to be a supporting catalyst and active participant in building that future with creators.

LUX: What’s the greatest challenge with that?

NW: The challenge is maintaining ambition and innovation while ensuring ideas translate into business outcomes. It would be easy to coast, but we strive to keep an innovator’s mindset. Jeff Bezos was told he had “enough ideas to kill Amazon”, and that tension, making sure innovation drives growth, not just excitement, is what keeps the business moving forward.

whalargroup.com

A portrait by Simon de Pury. With thanks to Alia Al-Senussi for the LUX introduction to Kulapat

Kulapat Yantrasast is the “starchitect”of the art world, designing a new department of the Louvre in Paris, the upcoming National Museum in New Delhi, and Dib Bangkok, the recent contemporary art museum in his native Thailand. In a scintillating conversation, the Thai master speaks with LUX Senior Contributing Editor Maria Sukkar about his East Asian philosophy and South Asian awareness of how outdoors and indoors can flow

Maria Sukkar: You’re one of the most thoughtful voices working at the intersection of architecture and culture. I thought we could speak about your beginnings. You trained under Tadao Ando. What stayed with you most from that experience?

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

Kulapat Yantrasast: Thank you. I was born in Thailand and have lived in Japan for 15 years. And of those 15 years, eight were with Tadao Ando. So he’s my mentor and, to be honest, the only job I had until I started my own company. So, he really is my mentor in that strong sense. I think I learned most about the process of the synergy of discipline and freedom. It’s very Zen. So that’s a big part of what I feel. And his philosophy and his work go hand in hand. There’s a direct relationship between what he believes in and what the architecture conveys in terms of the philosophy.

MS: When did you realised that architecture could operate as a cultural and social force?

Dib Bangkok contemporary art museum, 2025 , by Kulapat Yantrasast’s Why Architecture

KY: I have always admired architecture that has the power to inspire and impact. When I was young back in Thailand, I was destined, like all Asian kids, to be a lawyer or a doctor. But I knew deep down I really wanted to work in creative fields and architecture.

I went to a lecture by a poet and asked him, “What’s your advice to someone who wants to become an architect?” He looked at the steps near where we were sitting and said, “If you can design these steps so that when people reach the top, they reach enlightenment, then I think you’re doing a good job.” That’s his answer.

Read more: Making art in Palazzo Monti

And I realised he meant that architecture has a power, that when you walk up something you can be inspired, you can be enlightened. So from that point on, I felt that it has such a potential, not only just to shelter people, but to inspire and to philosophise.

MS: How do you create these spaces that allow for contemplation, especially now, in a world that is increasingly fast and disconnected?

The Michael C Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025 by Why Architecture

KY: I think, like all art, it comes from the passion or the feelings you have in yourself. From then, the work or the art or, here, the buildings can be the vehicle that helps convey that to others. So it needs that foundation. I can only have my own senses and experiences, and they are the anchor. Within that, the tools are at your disposal. The tools – the use of light, proportion, materials, and other ingredients of architecture – allow you to create an environment and allow people to feel peaceful, or uplifted. But it has to be something I myself feel.

I spent a lot of time and I paid a lot of attention to things, to everything I experienced, whether buildings or cities or a park – or any place. So I always remember that moment when the light came through. I’m very much in love with gardens. So when I’m in a garden or park, I remember those moments and, in my head, I always go back to that place, that particular experience, that I want to recreate.

MS: The word that comes to mind is fluidity: for you to be able to go from one experience, trying to recreate it, to the other. But also, I can see fluidity between the projects you create between art museums and urban environments. Was that always your intention?

Grand Rapids Art Museum, 2007 by Why Architecture

KY: Thank you. I love it, I’ve never used it before, but now I’m going to adopt it with your blessing. Because number one, I love water. I think water is the source of life, as we know, and fluidity. Sometimes people use the word flexibility, and flexibility is not as good as fluidity. Flexibility is like a play dough that you play with. Fluidity is really transformative.

I feel I became that way because when I went to Japan – I lived in Japan for 15 years – I would try to figure out what my energy is. I see my Thai roots as fluid, very flexible and fluid, eclectic. It’s Indochina, which is between India and China, and because of that there is a sense of fluidity and this kind of eclectic adaptation, so that you can respond to both big influences from these two big giants.

Read more: Photography in conversation with the new American West

When I go to Japan, even though I love Japan and I love how I feel, I feel everything is so rigid, so precise and so minimal. Within that, even though I love it and I work within it and it’s part of me, too, I feel sometimes that it can be lifeless, so I long for that kind of immersion of taste and smells and everything. That’s when I say, it’s my Thai roots showing. I think the fluidity perhaps comes from that bridge between the maximalism of Thai style and the minimalism of Japanese style.

A view from the Louvre’s new Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art Department by Why Architecture, to open in 2027

MS: So I’m going to let you in on a little secret. My father was an architect and a civil engineer and my maternal grandfather was also an architect and I was raised in that milieu where it’s about beautiful lines and beautiful structures. I’ve always thought that architecture sits at the crossroads between engineering and art because it’s creating, it’s not only calculating how many concrete tons you need to build the structure, which is not as poetic and romantic as being an architect, and many of your projects sit at this intersection between architecture and contemporary art. Do you approach a museum differently?

KY: Thank you. I love what you said about being the marriage or the balance between the structure or the logic and the aesthetic, which is the art itself. I feel very strongly that this is part of architecture and we need to do both.

For building an art museum, or a museum in general, I feel it has the greatest potential to inspire people because the subject is the art. To be honest, a lot of architects like to become artists, and a lot of times they think of the museum itself as the art, at the expense of the art within. Sometimes it doesn’t give fair accommodation and experience to the art inside the building. So I feel strongly that the power of architecture is not to compete with the art. The power of architecture is to create an environment that integrates everything else, because way back when, architecture was like the big sister to accommodate everyone: painting, sculpture, opera, music, food, everything can happen in one architecture.

In modern times, things became fragmented: painting goes to the gallery, opera goes to the opera house. I feel that in our generation, it’s our job to bring everything together again, back to the fluidity aspect.

Kulapat Yantrasast with curator Naomi Beckwith and artist Bracha L Ettinger

Within that notion, when I design museums, I see myself as a matchmaker. How do I bring people together? I care a lot about people who don’t go to museums, because those people perhaps need my help the most. I want them to feel welcome, not intimidated, and able to explore and get their potential out. I want the design of the museum to be uplifting, friendly, and allow them to be themselves. On the other hand, I also want the art to feel elevated, within the right proportion, with light and other elements. So as a matchmaker, I make both parts look good, and then I stay in the background to make sure the magic happens.

Read more: Artists through the eye of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

MS: So, as the role of museums is changing, you’re part of the movement, which is redefining the museum’s role. They’re not repositories of objects any more, their role is beyond that, and you’re helping them change the definition of a boring, dingy, dark, old museum. If you wanted to define the new role of a museum, what would be Kulapat’s definition of that role?

KY: I think that the museum is somewhat an impact from 19th-century colonisation. It started, as you said, as a depository. So what I would say is it is moving from the museum as a temple to the museum as a cultural playground.

Kulapat Yantrasast photographed with artist Yoko Ono

What I like about the cultural playground is it’s not hierarchical. People know how to use it, and it’s not random. If you have 10 minutes, you can play with it. If you have an hour, you can do it. It becomes a place that allows you to get in touch with your own creative side. Just as a playground allows you to get in touch with yourself, the museum should be used that way.

The museum is one of our most important resources. People think about museums as a third place in the world today, a place between work and life. Sometimes we think about recreation and social life. But I feel the art potential is that we should go to museums to understand ourselves, to be ourselves.

Museums are also sites of empathy, which is so needed today. They are places where we go to see art from other people. We should be able to love not only art from our own people, but from others. I thought about that because I grew up in Thailand. My father’s Chinese, my mother’s Thai. Even though they’re close together and there’s no conflict, my mother didn’t actually like a lot of Chinese culture, except Chinese food.

Yantrasast with artist Kelly Akashi and art-world banker Agnes Lew

I say this because culture has the power to bring people together. We don’t care who they are, but we love that food, we love that music. I think that museums are – like the project we’re doing at the Louvre, where Byzantine, Roman and early Christian areas work together with the Islamic wing – trying to create that sense of empathy, so people can see that, if we look closely, we all come from similar roots.

Read more: Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Review

MS: This is beautiful what you just said, this democratisation of the museum space. Because museums could be quite intimidating for people, but we see more and more that people go to museums and they’re curious about what happens inside. But back to what you speak about, I spoke about empathy because your practice speaks about empathy. How do you think empathy translates into your architecture?

KY: First of all, people need to feel dignified. They need to feel that they’re welcome and can feel their own presence. Good spaces make you feel that, good spaces make you feel your life and your potential. Once you are comfortable, once you feel you have a place, then you are able to really look at other people in a loving and understanding way. That sense of care is important in architecture.

Kulapat Yantrasast with interior designer Kelly Wearstler, photographed in Jaipur

My pet peeve is that I really hate it when spaces are not designed well, when they make people hate each other. Even something as basic as a queuing system can make people feel peaceful and wait for their time, or make them rush and push each other. That’s something we can design. I sometimes joke in my office: you design a house for a couple, and they can love each other or hate each other, it’s in your hands. If you design something a little too small, or not the right proportion, or not the right layout of the bathroom or kitchen, people end up in conflict.

Within that, there is humanity and humility in design, in planning and in aesthetic architecture, which can really bring people to understand each other further, not only people from different backgrounds, but even people who live together, like a family.

I’m very interested in the seamless indoor-outdoor component, maybe because I’m from the global south, where the climate allows you, or wants you, to be indoor-outdoor. I’m not in a strict cold climate, where there’s a severity between the outside and the inside. So I have that view and experience of nature that way.

Kulapat Yantrasast’s personal sketch of DIB Bangkok, devoted to LUX

I want to go back to what you said, because the idea of ego, the idea of form, is so important in architecture. People love sexy forms. It’s like fashion, like other things. But what I always say in the office is: design the life, not the form. Don’t stop at form. Form is only your tool to design the life you want people to live.

MS: What about the role of landscape?

Read more: Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet Review

KY: We have a multidiscipline studio. One of them is landscape, and we include our landscape team in projects when we’re not working on landscape, because I like the way they think. It’s a very different approach, because landscape designers think holistically. They think about the context of the city, continuity from the city to the site, and they think about time.

A garden, when it is first created, may be the least beautiful, because it grows over time. Whereas architecture, the first day it opens may be the most beautiful, and then it degrades. Because of that, I want my architects to think about how a place works over time, when trees grow bigger, when materials degrade. I think the philosophy from landscape can inform a lot of architecture.

why-site.com

Pilotus, 2025, by Sara Berman. As part of Glyndebourne Festival 2026, the artist presents a solo exhibition, ‘Entanglements: Sara Berman on Billy Budd’, responding to Michael Grandage’s production of Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd.

The self-portraits of artist and former fashion designer Sara Berman explore the politics of presentation and performance alongside an attention to fabric worthy of an Old Master. Here, she presents a work as LUX’s artist in residence, and curator Catherine Loewe reflects on the artist’s feminist practice

“‘Pilotus’, from the Latin ‘to steer’ or ‘steersman’. This piece dances between genres, abstracting the figurative notion of both portraiture and paint. As character and performance play a subversive role, so do the formal concerns of painting itself, with patterning and abstract forms coalescing into a figurative notion” Sara Berman, London.

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“Sara Berman’s captivating work catechises multiple characters, often through the use of costume, with the form of the mischievous Harlequin from commedia dell’arte as underlying archetype. Unravelling the constructed nature of role-play, Berman engages herself as both protagonist and muse – a process she refers to as ‘auto-fiction’. Berman is currently working with Glyndebourne as its commissioned artist for the season, placing her practice in dialogue with the world of opera and performance” Catherine Loewe, curator and founder of Loewe Contemporary, London.

www.sarabermanartist.com

Edoardo Monti photographed with a 1750 fresco at Palazzo Monti

Since Edoardo Monti started his Palazzo Monti artists’ residency in Brescia, northern Italy, in 2017, it has evolved to become one of the most tasteful, sophisticated and respected artist residencies in the world, supported by patrons such as local hero Umberta Gnutti Beretta. Many of the more than 250 young artists he has featured have since exploded on to the global art scene, and collectors keep a careful watch. As the Palazzo opens its third space this year, in a Brescia bunker, Monti tells LUX the story so far, and two key collectors comment on what makes it important

“I started the Palazzo Monti Residency quite instinctively – I wanted to live surrounded by artists, to create a space where they could feel free, supported and genuinely at home while working.

An artists’ living room at the Palazzo Monti with Slick Submissions, 2018, by Bea Bonafini

In terms of discovering the artists for the residency, it’s mutual – we find each other. I am drawn to artists with a certain sensitivity and urgency, something you feel immediately, before you can even explain it.

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Often, the relationship starts quite intuitively, but it develops over time into something much more layered. Many of the artists who pass through Palazzo Monti don’t just come for a residency – they stay connected, come back or evolve with us in different ways.

The palazzo’s nearby second space, Fertile, with La cena del cacciatore, 2024, by Luca Ceccherini, and Then Glut Thy Sorrow on a Morning Rose, 2022, by Delphine Hennelly

There’s a sense of continuity that becomes very important. For example, there have been artists who arrived at an early stage of their practice, using the residency as a moment of experimentation, and then returned later with a much more defined body of work, sometimes even exhibiting in the same spaces where they started. In other cases, collaborations have extended beyond Brescia, through exhibitions, introductions to collectors or simply ongoing dialogue.

In 50 years time, I would like history to say that Palazzo Monti was a place where artists felt seen early on, where important practices were nurtured quietly and where meaningful relationships began and lasted over time.”

– Edoardo Monti

The programme’s Fertile space with Nobody But You/Nobody’s Gonna Fuck Me Like Me, 2019, by Sophie Spedding

“Palazzo Monti stands out for its ability to nurture artists at a pivotal stage in their careers, thanks to Edoardo’s thoughtful and hands-on approach. The residency brings forward compelling practices. I am glad to have works by Konstantina Krikzoni, Georg Wilson, Natalia Gonzalez Martin, Anna Ruth, Charlotte Edey, Diane Dal-Pra, Lindsey Bull and Nour El Saleh in my collection, discovered through the programme”

Read more: Artists through the eye of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

– Francesca Milani, collector and patron

The new gallery space Bundervik, set in a former air-raid shelter

“I see Edoardo Monti’s residency at Palazzo Monti as a vital platform for emerging artists, fostering meaningful dialogue and experimentation. His vision creates a rare balance between support and freedom. I have followed several artists from the programme closely and I am pleased to have work by Sara Birns, Oxana Tregubova, Konstantina Krikzoni and others in my collection”

– Warly Tomei, Venice-based collector and patron

palazzomonti.org

Reem El Roubi and Amir Daoud Abdellatif with 5.63° N, 0.00° E, 2025, by El Anatsui

Sudanese by birth, Reem El Roubi has become an influential and discerning advocate for African and West Asian art, and holds significant positions in some of the world’s most distinguished art institutions. She speaks to LUX about the importance of supporting culture

LUX: Why do you support artists?

Reem El Roubi: My husband Amir [Daoud Abdellatif] and I met many artists over the years, and see the art world as an ecosystem that fosters artists’ creativity, where collectors and patrons play a big role.

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LUX: Do you consider yourself a patron of the arts and when did you realise that, if so?

RER: When I joined the Tate Africa Acquisitions Committee and became a patron of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Sharjah Art Foundation in the UAE, though I have always supported artists.

Untitled, 1998, by Ahmed Shibrain. From the collection of Reem El Roubi and Amir Daoud Abdellatif

LUX: How can individuals best support artists in building their own collections?

RER: By investing in young, emerging and mid-career artists, as well as established ones. It’s powerful to see such artworks included alongside each other in private collections.

LUX: What mistakes have you made?

RER: Impulse buying without research and understanding of the artist’s practice.

LUX: African artists do not have the same infrastructure behind them as those from Europe or the US. Will this change?

RER: There are more and more galleries, institutions and foundations supporting artists from the African continent. Hopefully, that will lead to the development of an ecosystem to match that in Europe and the US. Artists such as El Anatsui and William Kentridge have shown the presence of such infrastructure.

LUX: Is there something called “African art” or is the continent too diverse for this term?

Figures from Procession, 1999, by William Kentridge.
From the collection of Reem El Roubi and Amir Daoud Abdellatif

RER: I do feel it is very difficult to generalise African Art. There is a clear distinction between each country with the richness of the culture, history and tribes. For example, I am a Sudanese woman who is an African and Arab.

LUX: What role has your committee at Tate played in supporting artists?

RER: Tate’s remits enable it to play a major role through building the national collection and bringing artists’ work to public attention. Tates Modern, Britain, St Ives and Liverpool have extensive partnerships and a global network.

Read more:

Read more: Photography in conversation with the new American West

LUX: What Sudanese artists do you admire?

RER: Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, who founded the Khartoum School in the 1960s alongside Ibrahim El-Salahi and Ahmed Shibrain. Kamala’s works focus on feminism, grief and zar rituals. Other significant artists include Mohamed Otaybi and Hussein Shariffe.

LUX: Government funding is in crisis. Are artists suffering?

Untitled, c 1964, by Ibrahim El-Salahi. From the collection of Reem El Roubi and Amir Daoud Abdellatif

RER: Yes, which is why art patronage has become increasingly important.

LUX: Will the Gulf ever have the institutional infrastructure of Europe or the US?

RER: This can already be seen in the UAE and Qatar. The Gulf has attracted top global and regional experts to form a unique relationship in creating institutional infrastructure. The success is also through the funding.

LUX: How is supporting artists best done?

RER: Institutions play a vital role in artists’ market valuation and the recognition of artists’ practices; individuals raise awareness and foster artists’ creativity through investments.

LUX: Do you have a strategy, or a dream?

RER: I see my role as more custodian than collector. I will continue my passion and see where this journey takes us.

tate.org.uk

louvreabudhabi.ae

sharjahart.org

Maryam Eisler and Alexei Riboud, whose photographs were at the heart of the exhibition The New American West: Photography in Conversation at 10 Corso Como, Milan

Myth, memory and a plurality of perspectives came together at 10 Corso Como, Milan, at events to celebrate the opening of The New American West: Photography in Conversation. The exhibition of photographs by Maryam Eisler and Alexei Riboud was presented alongside classic images of the genre by Paul Strand, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and more, revealing – across ever-intriguing evenings – the American West not as a single narrative, but an evolving and ever-intriguing idea

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Installation view of photographs by Alexei Riboud

“Presenting The New American West: Photography in Conversation at 10 Corso Como was truly transformative. With an amazing curatorial and architectural team, the show was designed like a solar system that placed the contemporary dialogue – between my and Alexei [Riboud]’s work – at its heart.

This arrangement radiated out into the art-historical context, giving fresh relevance to the story of the American West and helping viewers understand that unfolding dialogue between past and present, not to mention the ever-evolving narrative of the West.”

– Maryam Eisler, photographer

Howard Greenberg, Maryam Eisler, Alessio de Navasques, Tiziana Fausti, Gianluca Borghi, Carrie Scott and Alexei Riboud at the opening of The New American West: Photography in Conversation

“‘The New American West: Photography in Conversation’ has landed at the right spot: 10 Corso Como is a place of conversation; a global dialogue across time and among design, fashion, books and photography.

The American West is at a crossroads of cultures and populations and so is this historic concept store and space. The American West is a place of meditation and similarly 10 Corso Como invites you to reflect on global creation and to assess bridges between the arts”

– Alexei Riboud, photographer

Parker Calvert and Clayton Calvert with a photograph by Maryam Eisler

“This is the version of the exhibition I always dreamed we could launch. Alessio [de Navasques, co-curator] and Howard [Greenberg, co-curator] embraced it with such generosity and collaboration, and together we made it stronger.

Read more: Artists through the eye of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

At 10 Corso Como the photographs finally breathe – the story of the American West unfolding across the walls”

– Carrie Scott, co-curator, ‘The New American West: Photography in Conversation’

Harsch Kumar Sood, Carrie Scott, Robert Popper pictured at the opening

“Bringing together photographers across generations has been an exceptional experience, rethinking the West as a lens on what America means today.

Working with Howard Greenberg’s archive was a true honour, and engaging with Alexei and Maryam’s contemporary perspectives has been equally rewarding. I’m genuinely pleased with both the result and its reception.”

– Alessio de Navasques, co-curator, ‘The New American West: Photography in Conversation’

maryameisler.com

alexeiriboud.com