cyan – wesen 1 (les êtres / beings), 2026

Animals, plants, objects and fragments of human bodies merge into improbable creatures in wesen / beings / êtres. Ancient Babylonian reliefs appear alongside post-war kitchens, television, advertising and cosmetic surgery, collapsing distinctions between historical periods and visual hierarchies. Humour and unexpected associations interrupt habits of seeing, restoring to familiar images the complexity they often lose through endless circulation. Created specifically for the Biennale, the three large-scale collages respond to the distinct thematic and atmospheric qualities of its principal venues while sharing a common visual language. Across each composition, vivid pink geometric forms establish thresholds through which these beings seem to be passing.

Created by Daniela Haufe and Detlef Fiedler, cyan is a graphic design studio recognised for its distinctive approach to poster design and visual identity. Working since the 1990s with both digital tools – notably Photoshop – and traditional printing processes, the studio has developed a visual language defined by precision, saturation and layered composition. Rooted in the legacy of modernism while subverting expectations of immediate legibility, cyan positions graphic communication as a space of ambiguity, where images and text reveal themselves gradually through layered reading.