Arts & Culture Exhibitions — Ambar Maya Johnsson

Arts & Culture

Exhibitions

In Creative Partnership with Joseph Fowler,
Head of Arts & Culture

"I always felt the exhibitions deserved more space within the event. They offered something different: a way for people to engage with the issues being discussed, rather than simply listen to them."

Project Snapshot

World Economic Forum
2021 - 2026
Davos, Switzerland & Global
Exhibition Design & Experience
Spatial Design Lead

Organisation
Year
Location
Type
Role

Role

Working closely with the Forum's Head of Arts & Culture, Joseph Fowler, I led the spatial design and delivery of exhibitions and artistic installations across the Forum's flagship events.

Together, we developed the exhibition concepts, exploring how each artist's work could be translated into a spatial experience within the wider event. I was responsible for assessing feasibility, developing design proposals, and selecting materials, finishes and display solutions, working directly with artists to ensure the designs respected their vision.

Once the design direction was agreed, I led its technical development and production with PublicisLive, preparing layouts, elevations and print files, reviewing fabrication drawings, and coordinating final approvals and on-site installation. I also advocated for the exhibitions' visibility and integration within the wider event footprint.

The Brief

The Forum's Arts & Culture programme, as Joseph Fowler (Head of Arts & Culture) has described it, is a platform for reimagining how culture can shape society, bridge divides and act as a catalyst for dialogue. Art offered participants a different way to engage with the issues being discussed, beyond the traditional conference format.

When Joseph and I joined the Forum, we saw an opportunity to establish an exhibition standard that matched the ambition of the artists and the institution. Joseph developed the curatorial direction, while I developed the spatial and material language. The two evolved together.

The constraints were significant: short installation windows, complex technical requirements, existing architectural conditions and limited budgets for materials and finishes. Exhibitions also had to compete for space and visibility within an already demanding event programme. Part of my role was advocating for their place within the wider event footprint, ensuring the artistic ambition wasn't lost to operational priorities.

Alongside the individual exhibitions, I developed a consistent exhibition design framework, establishing standards for typography, content hierarchy, display structures, sightlines, reading distances and the integration of the Forum's identity with each artist's visual language. The challenge was to create consistency across events without imposing a uniform aesthetic on the artworks themselves.

Objectives

Establish museum-grade exhibition standards. Develop the spatial, material and technical quality expected by internationally recognised artists and cultural institutions, creating the conditions for ambitious collaborations and partnerships.

Give art a meaningful place within the event. Advocate for exhibition space, visibility and integration within the wider event footprint, ensuring installations were experienced as part of the programme rather than as secondary additions.

Translate artistic vision into spatial experiences. Work closely with Joseph, the artists and production partners to develop exhibition concepts that respected each artist's work, from material selection and display solutions to lighting, circulation and visitor experience.

Build a consistent yet adaptable exhibition framework. Establish standards for typography, content hierarchy, display structures, sightlines, reading distances and environmental graphics, balancing the Forum's identity with each artist's visual language.

Develop a co-curation approach for host-country events. Work with Joseph and local cultural partners, particularly in China, to accommodate different curatorial perspectives and cultural contexts within a coherent exhibition design and delivery process.

Protect design quality through production. Navigate short installation windows, structural restrictions, technical requirements and budget constraints without compromising the artistic intent or quality of execution.

The Approach

Joseph and I worked closely from the earliest stages of each exhibition. He would identify artists and explore potential collaborations, and together we would discuss how their work might translate into the event environment. My first responsibility was to assess what was spatially and technically feasible, considering the available footprint, architectural constraints, circulation and production requirements before an artist was formally engaged.

Once a collaboration was confirmed, I worked directly with the artist to understand their vision and introduce the particular conditions of the venue. Joseph and I would then develop the design direction together. I explored different spatial configurations through sketches, layouts and material studies, testing options with PublicisLive before presenting a proposal to the artist for feedback and approval. The intention was never to impose a standard exhibition format, but to find the right spatial response to each work.

Alongside these individual projects, I developed an exhibition design framework to establish a consistent level of quality across the programme. This covered typography, reading distances, content hierarchy, display structures, sightlines and environmental graphics, as well as the relationship between the Forum's identity and the artist's visual language. Material selection was equally important, from the finish of exhibition walls and display surfaces to the detailing of bespoke elements. The aim was to achieve a museum-grade standard within temporary environments, without losing the character of each installation.

Protecting that design quality through production was often the most demanding part. Installation windows were short, existing structures imposed restrictions, and budgets didn't always reflect the level of finish required. I worked with PublicisLive to resolve technical constraints, refine materials and construction details, and review production drawings and print files. Once the design had been approved by the artist, I took responsibility for its development through fabrication and on-site installation, coordinating final approvals where required.

At events in China, the process also needed to accommodate local cultural perspectives and partnerships. Working with Joseph and local collaborators, we explored how co-curation could be integrated into the exhibition programme while maintaining a coherent design approach. This required balancing the Forum's curatorial ambitions with the contributions of host-country partners, adapting the spatial and graphic language to suit the context rather than simply replicating the Davos model.

Selected Exhibitions

Refik Anadol

AM23 Davos — Artificial Realities: Coral
AM23 Davos — DATALAND: Rainforest
A data sculpture using approximately 100 million coral images — one of the most technically complex integrations in the programme. Developed multiple spatial configuration options for the location spanning 28-metre across the venues main corridor. Each proposal was drawn as a precise elevation with human scale figures and dimensional constraints. Screen format, depth, mounting, lighting, and viewer ratio all had to be resolved within a building that couldn't be structurally modified.
Refik Anadol's practice demands total spatial precision, the installation works when every element disappears into the experience.
When Anadol returned for AM24, the installation framework was largely established. The one significant change: we flipped the position of the two LED screens. A single spatial decision that changed the entire hierarchy of the encounter.
Marina Abramović

AM26 Davos — The BUS
The primary challenge was that the installation lived outside — a former school bus parked on a sloping path next to the Congress Centre entrance, in January, in Davos. Snow management, participant flow, and exposure to the elements were all design constraints. It was the first time an exhibition had been integrated into the external ecosystem of the event.
The solution was a bold, graphic design language that worked across various participant touchpoints: external totems outside the bus drawing participants toward the installation, a large-format explanatory backdrop along the main corridor inside with a clear call-to-action inviting participants to discover the experience outside. The goal wasn't wayfinding — it was building enough curiosity and presence that someone battling the cold would choose to board the bus and spend fifteen minutes in stillness. Artist image at full height, title and name in volume, text and credits at precisely specified reading heights. Creating a visual language across all of these meant that despite the different locations and touchpoints, the exhibition would still read as coherent.
When Abramović reviewed the designs and returned no notes, that meant something.
Ronen Tanchum

AMNC25 Tianjin — Seeds of Tomorrow
AM26 Davos — Human Atmospheres
The relationship with Ronen began at AMNC25 in Tianjin — a responsive environment reacting to participants' movements and proximity. The feedback was immediate: interactions were genuine, engagement lively, and the exhibition became one of the most animated spaces at the event. That response led Joseph to commission Human Atmospheres for AM26.
The spatial framework established in Tianjin largely held for Davos. The design principles remained consistent so that both installations read unmistakably as the same artist — different dimensions, different screen ratios, adapted to each venue's constraints, but the same spatial logic and design language throughout. The one refinement that made the most difference: repositioning the sensor camera to eye height, which transformed the quality of interaction.
Beyond the installation, I advocated for integrating Ronen's generative stills (atmospheric mountain landscapes composed through climate data) as large-format prints into the Alpine Lounge, a bespoke wooden structure with a distinct chalet feel. A thoughtful extension of the artist's presence beyond the exhibition.
Thijs Biersteker

AMNC25 Tianjin — Fungal Faculty
AM26 Davos — Forestate
Two entirely different installation types across two events. Fungal Faculty at AMNC25 was a free-standing sculpture — an AI-powered work exploring fungal intelligence and humanity's place in the intelligence hierarchy. Forestate at AM26, developed in collaboration with UNESCO, was a suspended installation tracking real-time global forest loss through a living data visualisation.
Thijs responded so positively to the design language developed in Tianjin that he asked us to carry it forward to Davos. The challenge was applying that same framework to a completely different spatial and technical reality. Three specific constraints shaped the work: suspending the installation in a way that made the supporting structure disappear into the background; navigating Davos's notoriously difficult hanging constraints — the Congress Centre makes any suspension a significant technical and budget undertaking; and maintaining a coherent design language across an exhibition space with multiple non-adjacent surfaces. The space didn't offer a single continuous wall. The design had to hold across fragments.
Jann Haworth & Liberty Blake

AM25 Davos — Work in Progress
A feminist reimagining of art history through collage — conceived by Jann Haworth in 2008 and built collaboratively with Liberty Blake, celebrating women who have been catalysts for change across culture, science, and public life. Seven panels were commissioned for the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2023. Two further panels were commissioned by the Forum for AM25. Additional panels from the wider series completed the installation.
For this installation we introduced something new to the design implementation: a floor treatment that defined the exhibition footprint. The first time the exhibition extended its design language to the floor. The panels were positioned slightly off the ground so viewers could engage with them directly at eye level — creating the intimacy the work required. A small spatial design decision that changed how the work was encountered.
The two commissioned panels now hang permanently in the Forum.
Gary Tyler

AM25 Davos — A Life Interrupted
No technology. No screens. No distractions. Quilts made in Angola State Penitentiary by a man wrongfully convicted at 16 and imprisoned for 41 years. Butterflies and self-portraits that carry the full weight of that story, and an unshakeable optimism that makes them even more powerful.
In a programme dominated by AI and data, Gary Tyler's work was the necessary counterpoint. The spatial design had one job: create stillness. Enough space around the work, enough light on the fabric, enough quiet in the layout that someone moving at conference speed would stop. His works were displayed with the care of gemstones — hung and protected behind floating plexiglass, highlighting the craft behind them and reinforcing the story and hope they represented.
The walls were painted light blue. Not as a neutral backdrop, but as a deliberate choice: the colour of sky and open space, for a man who had been denied both. Meeting Gary in person only deepened that understanding — his humanity, his warmth, his refusal to be defined by what was done to him shaped every decision about how his work was displayed.

The Result

The Arts & Culture exhibitions developed a stronger presence within the Forum's flagship events, bringing ambitious artistic projects into environments primarily designed for meetings and discussions. The programme included collaborations with internationally recognised artists, demonstrating the calibre of work the exhibitions could accommodate.

The exhibitions also became some of the most visible and engaging elements of the events, attracting press coverage and strong interest from participants. What had often been difficult to secure space and resources for became an important part of the event experience, offering a different way to engage with the themes being discussed.

Beyond the individual installations, the exhibition design framework established a consistent standard for spatial design, materials, display systems and environmental graphics. It provided a foundation for future exhibitions while allowing each artist's work and visual language to remain distinct.

For me, the achievement was not simply delivering exhibitions at this scale, but helping establish the conditions in which art could be given the space, attention and quality of presentation it deserved.

Artist Collaborations

Refik Anadol · Ronen Tanchum · Marina Abramović · JR · Thijs Biersteker · Krista Kim · Gary Tyler · Sougwen Chung · Jann Haworth & Liberty Blake · Harry Yeff · Sarah Cameron Sunde · Immy Humes · Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy · Benjamin Von Wong · Yaman Yamsonite Okur · Kevin Germanier · The Olympic Museum Lausanne · Jude Kelly / WOW Foundation · Artolution with Dr. Max Frieder

Arts & Culture

Exhibitions

In Creative Partnership with Joseph Fowler,Head of Arts & Culture

"I always felt the exhibitions deserved more space within the event. They offered something different: a way for people to engage with the issues being discussed, rather than simply listen to them."

When Joseph and I joined the Forum, we saw an opportunity to establish an exhibition standard that matched the ambition of the artists and the institution. Joseph developed the curatorial direction, while I developed the spatial and material language. The two evolved together.

Establish museum-grade exhibition standards. Develop the spatial, material and technical quality expected by internationally recognised artists and cultural institutions, creating the conditions for ambitious collaborations and partnerships.

Give art a meaningful place within the event. Advocate for exhibition space, visibility and integration within the wider event footprint, ensuring installations were experienced as part of the programme rather than as secondary additions.

Translate artistic vision into spatial experiences. Work closely with Joseph, the artists and production partners to develop exhibition concepts that respected each artist's work, from material selection and display solutions to lighting, circulation and visitor experience.

Build a consistent yet adaptable exhibition framework. Establish standards for typography, content hierarchy, display structures, sightlines, reading distances and environmental graphics, balancing the Forum's identity with each artist's visual language.

Develop a co-curation approach for host-country events. Work with Joseph and local cultural partners, particularly in China, to accommodate different curatorial perspectives and cultural contexts within a coherent exhibition design and delivery process.

Protect design quality through production. Navigate short installation windows, structural restrictions, technical requirements and budget constraints without compromising the artistic intent or quality of execution.

Refik Anadol

Marina Abramović

Ronen Tanchum

Thijs Biersteker

Jann Haworth & Liberty Blake

Gary Tyler

Beyond the individual installations, the exhibition design framework established a consistent standard for spatial design, materials, display systems and environmental graphics. It provided a foundation for future exhibitions while allowing each artist's work and visual language to remain distinct.

For me, the achievement was not simply delivering exhibitions at this scale, but helping establish the conditions in which art could be given the space, attention and quality of presentation it deserved.

See more work >

In Creative Partnership with Joseph Fowler,
Head of Arts & Culture