RENAISSANCE OF THE REAL | Milan Design Week
Porta Venezia, Fondazione Luigi Rovati | April 21 - 26, 2026
USM Modular Furniture x Snøhetta present RENAISSANCE OF THE REAL, an immersive installation by Swiss artist and experience designer Annabelle Schneider, debuting at Milan Design Week 2026
PRESSKIT
Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Corso Venezia 52, Milan
Tuesday - Sunday: April 21 - April 26
Opening Hours: 10 am - 7pm
In a hyper-connected world where algorithms decide our desires, and images multiply faster than meaning, people are increasingly craving real experiences. We see acceleration become the norm, while slowness and intention become acts of resistance.
Even in the world of design, the digital often replaces the tangible, but USM serves as a steady framework that holds space for real connection.
At Milan Design Week 2026, USM and the transdisciplinary architecture studio Snøhetta will present THE RENAISSANCE OF THE REAL: a multisensory installation in collaboration with the Swiss artist and experience designer Annabelle Schneider. The work invites us to return to calmness and re-enter the present moment through touch, sounds and vision.
“We are living in a moment where reality is increasingly mediated by algorithms, speed, and images that circulate faster than meaning.
Renaissance of the Real is my response to this condition. Instead of producing another image or product, the installationis an immersive permission.
A space where people can reconnect with their bodies, their senses, and each other. Structure and softness meet here:
the precision of the USM Haller system holds a breathing textile environment that invites visitors to slow down, listen, and simply be present. In a fragmented world, physical space can become a place where trust and attention are rebuilt.”
Annabelle Schneider, Artist & Experience Designer
PODCAST - MONOCLE ON DESIGN
CREDITS
Date: Tuesday - Sunday, April 21 - 26, 2026
Location: Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Corso Venezia, 52, 20121 Milano, Italy
Event Partner: Fuorisalone Milano, 2026
Category: Immersive Experience for connection and well-being
Press Contact International: Thomas Zulauf via eMail t.zulauf@usm.com
Press Contact US: Anna Caradeuc via eMail usm@thelast.agency
Concept, Design + Imagery: Annabelle Schneider
Fabrication Inflatable: Luft & Laune GmbH
Scent Design: Earth Stones
Soundscape: LAF Producers
Pillow Design: Annabelle Schneider (purchase in SHOP on this website)
Photos: Urs Bigler for USM
Renderings: Annabelle Schneider with Snohetta for USM
Press: Wallpaper, Designboom, Dezeen, Monocole, FRAME, Domus, Hypebeast, Archipanic, AN Interior and many more (see Press Category on this website)
BREATHE WITH PILATUS | An Immersive Experience for the Slow
Mount Pilatus, Switzerland | 16. January - 26. April 2026
ART ON THE MOUNTAIN
With her award-winning, multi-sensory installation ‘Breathe with Pilatus’, experience designer Annabelle Schneider invites visitors into a breathing cloud of fabric – a walk-in space that slows down time and combines the forces of nature and the present.
PRESSKIT
THE INSTALLATION
A living organism of light, sound and scent on Pilatus Kulm. In the heart of the Dragon Forum, a gently breathing, walk-in fabric cloud envelops visitors in an interplay of projection, sound and scent. A multi-sensory experience that invites you to pause and linger. Explore and experience the installation at your own pace: sit or lie down, surrender to the soundscape and world of scents, and find yourself. Every turn leads to a different mood and opens up new worlds.
The visual elements change like the seasons and show nature in a macro perspective: dripping water, moss, Swiss stone pine wood, snow. Images and patterns from nature are transferred in a surprisingly different, sometimes abstract way, in Annabelle's digital signature, onto fabrics that come into contact with the body and demand a second look.
The Grammy Award-winning and Lucerne based collective LAF composed the soundscape for the installation – a bridge between tradition and contemporary, made up of Swiss sounds, nature recordings and digital pulses.
The sensory experience is enhanced in collaboration with the Swiss fragrance house LUZI. The fragrance carries the pure, alpine essence of Mount Pilatus. It opens with cool brightness – clear mountain air, cold water on stone, a trace of snow heralding the awakening of the senses. Moss and damp earth anchor it, Swiss stone pine envelops it with quiet warmth. A fragrant backbone that expands the breath and centres the body.
REPORT IN SRF SWISS MAIN NEWS
‘Breathe with Pilatus is a bridge between spirituality, nature, innovation, design, and art – a place that slows down the pace and sharpens perception.’
Annabelle Schneider, Artist & Experience Designer
SOUNDSCAPE & PROJECTIONS
CREDITS
Date: 16. January - 26. April, 2026
Location: Mount Pilatus, Lucerne (Switzerland)
Category: Immersive Experience
Comissioned for: Mount Pilatus
Project Website: https://pilatus.ch/en/breathe-with-pilatus
Concept, Design + Imagery: Annabelle Schneider
Photos: Beat Brechbuehl & Roger Huegi
Soundscape: LAF Producers
Projections: Annabelle Schneider
Scentscape: LUZI
Fabrication Inflatable: Luft & Laune GmbH
Graphics: Creme Fraiche
Events:
Astrology Visons in January with Alexandra Kruse
Horizontal Concerts by Osomo
Fairytales for Adults
Movement Retreats
Breathwork
PR Agency:
Robin
contact@hellorobin.ch
+41 79 286 48 52
INTERLUDE: In Between is Now
Dubai Design Week, D3 Dubai | November 4 - 9, 2025
PRESSKIT
ArtKōrero and Therme Art proudly present INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now, an immersive installation by Swiss-born, New York–based artist and experience designer Annabelle Schneider, debuting at Dubai Design Week 2025.
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The installation invites visitors into an intimate, multi-sensory environment designed to restore calm, connection, and collective balance amid the intensity of contemporary life.
Following its acclaimed presentations at Art Basel Switzerland, recognition at the NYCxDESIGN Awards, and its distinction as a German Design Award 2026 winner, this newly expanded iteration of INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now transforms its Dubai setting into a living, breathing sanctuary—where art, architecture, and the science of wellbeing converge.
In an age defined by acceleration and sensory overload, INTERLUDE offers a sanctuary for stillness and awareness. The installation invites visitors into a soft, cocooned space designed to restore calm and connection amid the intensity of contemporary life.
Conceived as a “third space” — neither spectacle nor retreat — INTERLUDE bridges ritual, reflection, and reconnection. It redefines spatial design by merging physical and virtual realms, integrating technology with tactile elements to evoke belonging, comfort, and emotional balance.
PUBLIC WELLNESS SESSIONS HELD IN INSTALLATION
RENDERINGS
ABOUT THE INSTALLATION
The soft installation represents an ethereal cocoon, a responsive, inflatable structure that breathes with subtle shifts of light, sound, and scent. Inside, visitors are invited into an experience of slowed rhythm and shared presence.
Merging principles of sound therapy, sensorial design, and embodied movement, the installation supports nervous system regulation and emotional wellbeing. As a living organism of calm within the rush of contemporary life, INTERLUDE offers a gentle counterpoint to overstimulation and urban acceleration; A space to pause, breathe, and reconnect.
CULTURAL CONTEXT AND COLLABORATION
The presentation of INTERLUDE: In Between Is Nowat Dubai Design Week marks a major moment in the UAE’s evolving dialogue around design for wellbeing and human-centered environments.
Through this partnership, Therme Art — the cultural incubator of Therme Group — supports this vision by advancing its mission to promote physical and mental wellbeing through art and architecture that invites reflection, connection, and a renewed sense of balance.
More Info here.
“INTERLUDE: In Between is Now is a response to a world that feels increasingly fast, loud and disembodied. In the midst of this sensory overload, I believe desig must slow us down — not through silence, but through depth. Multi-sensory spaces engage more than just the eye — they awaken memory, sensation, and presence. This project is a quiet manifesto for spatial experience and for designing with and for the whole body — where touch, sound, scent, and breath become tools for inclusion, connection, and well-being.”
Annabelle Schneider, Artist & Designer
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Annabelle and Therme Art in bringing INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now to the region,” said Chimere Cissé from ArtKōrero. “The installation reflects our vision to champion artists whose work pushes the boundaries between experience, technology, and sensorial design. It’s about creating spaces that remind us of our shared humanity in a time of fragmentation.”
“INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now reflects Therme Art’s ongoing commitment to promoting art experiences that place physical and mental wellbeing at their core, creating immersive environments that restore balance to the mind and senses. We are pleased to collaborate with Annabelle Schneider and ArtKōrero in presenting this work at Dubai Design Week, furthering the Group’s shared vision of wellbeing for all.” - John White, Managing Director, Therme Art.
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Since its inception, INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now has garnered international acclaim. The work has been honored by the NYCxDESIGN Awards 2025, won the German Design Award 2026, and shortlisted for the Swiss Design Prize 2025, with coverage in Dezeen, Designboom, La Vanguardia, or NZZ Bellevue.
CREDITS
Event Partner: Dubai Design Week 2025
Date: November 4 - 9, 2025 | Dubai Design District (D3), UAE
Location: Building Atrium 7 - Dubai Design District
Category: Immersive Experience for connection and well-being
Concept, Design + Imagery: Annabelle Schneider
Fabrication Inflatable: Luft & Laune GmbH
Scent Design: FOVET by LUZI
Soundscape: LAF
Pillow Design: Annabelle Schneider
PRESENTED BY
Cultural Partner: Therme Art
Press: ArtKorero
Press Contact: info@artkorero.com
BREATHE WITH ME | Soft Clubbing During Art Basel
Singer Klub at Marktplatz, Basel, Switzerland | June 17 - 22, 2025
DISCOVERING STILLNESS THROUGH THE SENSES
BREATHE WITH ME — Basel Edition: Soft Clubbing
Art Basel Week · 17–22 June, 2025 · Basel, Switzerland
BREATHE WITH ME is an immersive, multisensory installation for wellbeing and community. Designed and conceptualized by the Swiss-born, New York-based experience designer Annabelle Schneider.
Originally commissioned by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, the installation has already been shown internationally – including in New York, Barcelona, Tashkent, and Gainesville – and now returns in an evolved form to its place of original inspiration: Switzerland.
In May 2025, BREATHE WITH ME was named a Finalist and Honoree of the NYCxDESIGN Awards, recognized as one of the year’s most outstanding installations and exhibitions.
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A BREATHING COCOON FOR PRESENCE
The installation invited visitors into a soft, cocoon-like space that offered stillness, reflection, and reconnection. Guided by an original soundscape composed by Luc Oggier and activated through intimate live performances by Braths and OSOMO, the experience unfolded through breath, light, scent, and an amorphous, inflatable textile sculpture that rised and fell rhythmically – an homage to the calming breath that unites us all. Entering the cocoon offered a shift in perspective: Away from an overstimulated, visually driven, and increasingly AI-smoothed world, into a space of deceleration and grounding.
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“In a time when we are flooded by sensations and accelerated by artificial systems yet rarely touched on an emotional level, we need places that allow us to process again,” says artist and designer Annabelle Schneider. “Multisensory elements – sound, scent, movement – gently guide us into a quieter state. The Bubble is not a spectacle, but a temporary home for what finds no space in everyday life: stillness, sensation, and conscious presence.”
Annabelle Schneider, Experience Designer
The breathing spatial sculpture was developed in collaboration with the Swiss studio Luft & Laune, which played a key role in shaping both the form and technical realization, and significantly contributed to the architectural language of the project.
At the entrance of Singer Klub stood the Breathing Drop – a scent-based sculpture developed by Annabelle in collaboration with the Swiss fragrance house Luzi. Inspired by the architecture of the breathing space, it translated the theme of breath into an olfactory experience.
The fragrance FOVET, specially composed by Luzi, made breath tangible on a deeper emotional level. Here, scent became an additional layer of breath – invisible, yet emotionally resonant – guiding visitors through the space with subtle accents.
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SOFT CLUBBING – RETHINKING SPACES OF GATHERING
Set in an unexpected venue – a club – the Basel edition reimagined how we gather. Through the lens of well-being, sensual presence, and emotional resonance, Soft Clubbing replaced strobes and bass with rhythm and atmosphere. Here, architecture breathes and connected, offering a radical rethinking of the club not as a site of excess, but as a space for inner tuning and intentional togetherness.
We are witnessing the beginning of a soft cultural shift – one that moves consciously away from sensory overload and toward deeper, more present modes of being together. As traditional nightlife fades and the desire for meaningful, multisensory experiences grows, BREATHE WITH ME offered a “third space” – somewhere between ritual, retreat, and reconnection.
In an age of urgency, disconnection, and visual saturation, BREATHE WITH ME made space not for doing, but for being – invited us to rethink the ephemeral nature of design as a tool for intimacy, sensory awareness, and collective calm.
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“BREATHE WITH ME is a response to a world that feels increasingly fast, loud,
and disembodied. In the midst of this sensory overload, I believe design
must slow us down — not through silence, but through depth.
Multi-sensory spaces engage more than just the eye — they awaken memory, sensation, and presence. This project is a quiet manifesto for spatial experience and for designing with and for the whole body — where touch, sound, scent, and breath become tools for inclusion, connection, and well-being.”
and disembodied. In the midst of this sensory overload, I believe design
must slow us down — not through silence, but through depth.
Multi-sensory spaces engage more than just the eye — they awaken memory, sensation, and presence. This project is a quiet manifesto for spatial experience and for designing with and for the whole body — where touch, sound, scent, and breath become tools for inclusion, connection, and well-being.”
Annabelle Schneider, Experience Designer
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Date: June 17-22, 2025 | Art Basel Week, Switzerland
Location: Singer Klub at Marktplatz, Basel
Category: Immersive Experience for calm and well-being
Main Partner: Diageo
Partners: LUZI, Die Mobiliar
Supportive Partners: LAUFEN, Eptinger
Product Partners: Zig Zag Zürich, 4 Spaces, Stadler Form, PIEGA, Stopptrop Fabrics + Henzi
Project Management: Reto Nussbaum
Fabrication Inflatable: Luft & Laune GmbH
Concept, Design + Imagery: Annabelle Schneider
Pillow Design: Annabelle Schneider
Visual Identity: W—E studio, Stephanie Specht, Annabelle Schneider
Sound: Luc Oggier
Mix + Mastering: Ben Mühletaler
Sound System: Piega
Live Performances: BRATHS + OSOMO
Photos: David Hubacher for JEFF Zürich Agency
Content Production: Noel Scheidegger
Press Contact: Robin PR Agency, contact@hellorobin.ch
Press: NZZ Bellevue, Blick, Basler Zeitung, Tele Basel, BZ Schweiz am Wochenende, BMQ, Drinks Magazine
Project Website: https://annabelleschneider.com/BreathewithMe-ArtBasel-Week-2025
BREATHE WITH ME | An immersive Installation
161 Water Street, 3rd Floor, WSA, New York | May 16 - 23, 2024
BREATHE WITH ME, is an immersive installation conceptualized by award-winning Swiss spatial designer and Parsons educator Annabelle Schneider. Presented by the Consulate General of Switzerland at WSA NY, the cutting-edge cultural hub in Downtown Manhatten, this multi-sensorial space features new and iconic designs by LAUFEN, Luft & Laune, PIEGA, PIN–UP HOME, Schaffner, Studio Christian Wassmann, Tisca, USM Modular Furniture, Vitra, and 4Spaces ZigZagZurich, capturing the essence of Swiss design by seamlessly blending timeless beauty with modern sensibilities, inviting moments of relaxation and reflection.
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Experience breathable textiles synchronized with contemplative sounds and soft furnishings, meticulously crafted to positively impact both body and mind. Fabrics swell and sway to the polyrhythmic soundscape by musician Luc Oggier, mimicking soothing breathing patterns and creating an oasis in the bustling heart of Manhattan.
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PROGRAMMING
We celebrated Swiss heritage, design, and innovation in a series of events set in a space to breathe, connect, and reflect. Visitors benefited from the unique opportubity to immerse themselves in BREATHE WITH ME, at WSA NY from May 17 - 23, 2024.
May 16 | 6 - 10 PM Press Preview + Opening-Party w/ DJ SHU-G: Invite
May 19 | 7 - 9 PM Listening Session w/ James K: Invite
May 17 - 23 | noon - 7 PM Experience presented for NYCxDESIGN
May 22 | 6 PM - 8 PM SWISSNEX x LAUFEN Panel Talk
on Spatial Wellbeing: Invite
“As an experience designer, it’s crucial to incorporate details that evoke a sense of safety, familiarity, calmness, and support for individuals in hectic, overstimulated cities and events. This approach enables me to anchor the designs and make deliberate choices in crafting forms and materials that contribute to a softer, warmer and more welcoming space”
Annabelle Schneider, Experience Designer
BREATHE WITH ME (2024)
BREATHE WITH ME (2024)
“BREATHE WITH ME reminds people the role of sound in creating calm & freeing environments. The placement of objects present architecture as more than just walls & boundaries but thresholds into different spaces for contentment. ”
N’Dos Onochie, Architect and Yale Graduate
INSTALLATION
“In today’s fast-paced world, achieving work-life balance is increasingly crucial as we try to navigate the relentless demands of modern life. Amidst the constant buzz of technology and external pressures, finding moments of tranquility and mental respite have become a necessity rather than a luxury. This quest for equilibrium has sparked a growing interest in neuroaesthetic design, aimed at creating environments that promote psychological well-being, alleviate stress, foster belonging, community and presence.”
Annabelle Schneider, Experience Designer
BREATHE WITH ME (2024)
PANEL TALK | MAY 20, 2024
OPENING EVENT | MAY 16, 2024
“Annabelle’s ethereal vision to create an immersive pranayama experience is simply beyond our times in the modern era of wellness. The fact that the inflatable bubble was controlled by two small air system fans also shows her technical brilliance in advancing the human perception and spatial design experience and getting all of us to simply breath and hold ourselves in a place of calm and tranquility, especially in a city like New York.”
Amanda Williams,
C-Medication Coach, Reiki Master, Soundhealing
C-Medication Coach, Reiki Master, Soundhealing