In Seoul this September, Samsung Electronics has opened its flagship devices to the hands of fourteen South Korean artist teams, asking technology to become art at Design Miami Seoul 2026. Held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the exhibition titled 'Design is an Act of Love' frames consumer hardware not as product to be sold but as raw material for human expression. The gesture is quiet but significant: a major technology manufacturer repositioning itself not merely as a sponsor of culture, but as a participant in it — offering its own creations as subjects worthy of transformation.
Samsung Transforms Galaxy Fold8, OLED TVs Into Art at Design Miami Seoul
The television becomes a design object in the room, not a window into content.
Mark
So Samsung is basically saying its phones and TVs are art now?
Mimi
Not quite. They're saying artists can use them as a starting point to make something new. The Galaxy Fold becomes material, like clay or canvas. Fourteen different artists, fourteen different interpretations.
Luke
But who decides what counts as art here? Samsung is still controlling the frame—literally, with those fourteen custom frames on the TV. Is this genuine artistic collaboration or is it marketing that looks like collaboration?
Mimi
That's the tension, isn't it. The artists did have creative freedom within the brief. But yes, Samsung set the parameters and is displaying the results on their own hardware in their own exhibition.
Mark
Why does Samsung care about this? What's the business case?
Mimi
They're positioning themselves as a company that understands design beyond function. Emotional value, cultural relevance. It's about brand perception in a market where everyone's phone does basically the same thing.
Luke
The article says some artists used AI as a tool. How much of the work is actually theirs versus the algorithm's?
Mimi
Samsung said AI was an aid, not the origin. But that's Samsung's characterization. We don't know how much each artist relied on it or what the actual creative process looked like.
Mark
And the TV itself—this SH95 with the float layer design. Is that new technology or just a different aesthetic choice?
Mimi
Different aesthetic. The screen appears to hover. It's treating the TV as a sculptural object rather than trying to make it disappear into the wall like most manufacturers do.
Luke
So the real innovation here is conceptual, not technical. Samsung is reframing how we think about their products.
Mimi
Exactly. They're saying: this is not just a device. This is something that belongs in a room as a design object.
Mark
Does it work? Does it change how people will think about buying a Samsung TV?
Luke
That's the unanswered question. The exhibition runs six days. We'll see if this translates into actual cultural impact or if it's a well-executed marketing moment that fades.
The Pulse
- Samsung risks blurring its commercial identity by handing flagship products like the Galaxy Z Fold8 to artists with no obligation to flatter them.
- The tension between utility and beauty runs through every installation — can a smart appliance carry genuine artistic meaning, or does the brand always win?
- Fourteen artist teams, each with distinct sensibilities, used AI as a tool rather than an author, keeping human vision at the center of the creative process.
- The SH95 OLED TV quietly disrupts industry norms by embracing its own physical presence — fourteen custom frames make one screen into fourteen different sculptural objects.
- Samsung's Chief Design Officer is set to speak on September 3rd, framing the entire event around a single principle: that design begins with understanding people, not specifications.
- The exhibition lands as a signal — tech companies are no longer content to fund culture from the outside, and Samsung is staking a claim to belonging within it.
In Seoul this September, Samsung Electronics has opened its flagship devices to the hands of fourteen South Korean artist teams, asking technology to become art at Design Miami Seoul 2026. Held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the exhibition titled 'Design is an Act of Love' frames consumer hardware not as product to be sold but as raw material for human expression. The gesture is quiet but significant: a major technology manufacturer repositioning itself not merely as a sponsor of culture, but as a participant in it — offering its own creations as subjects worthy of transformation.
For six days this September, Samsung Electronics has transformed its presence at Dongdaemun Design Plaza into something harder to categorize than a product launch. Design Miami Seoul 2026 carries the title 'Design is an Act of Love,' and its premise is unusual: fourteen Samsung products, including the Galaxy Z Fold8 and the Bespoke AI Family Hub, were handed to fourteen South Korean artist teams and asked to become something beyond their original purpose.
Each team brought their own perspective to the assigned device. Some incorporated artificial intelligence as a creative aid — a way to expand what could be expressed and materialize ideas that might otherwise remain out of reach. Samsung was deliberate in framing AI's role as supportive rather than originating; the artists' vision remained the foundation, and the technology served it.
The exhibition's most quietly inventive element is the display itself. Samsung's flagship 2026 OLED television, the SH95, was paired with fourteen custom frames, each made from different materials. A single screen becomes fourteen distinct objects. The SH95's 'float layer design' — where the panel appears to hover above a metal plate — leans into physical presence rather than away from it, treating the television as a sculptural object in a room rather than a transparent window into content.
President and Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini will speak at a design talk on September 3rd, articulating the philosophy behind the event: that design begins with deep understanding of people, and that AI amplifies human imagination rather than replacing it.
What the exhibition ultimately signals is a shift in posture. Samsung is not sponsoring art happening elsewhere — it is offering its own products as subjects worthy of artistic transformation. For technology manufacturers, that is a meaningfully different claim about where they belong in the cultural world.
Samsung Electronics has turned its Seoul design pavilion into something between a gallery and a showroom. For six days this September, the company is hosting Design Miami Seoul 2026 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and the centerpiece is a deliberate act of artistic reinterpretation: fourteen of the company's products—from the Galaxy Z Fold8 foldable phone to the Bespoke AI Family Hub smart appliance—have been handed to fourteen South Korean artist teams and asked to become something other than what they were designed to be.
The exhibition carries the title "Design is an Act of Love," and Samsung frames it as an expression of human-centered design philosophy. The company's argument is straightforward: understanding people comes before everything else. What makes this particular exercise notable is not that Samsung is showing off its products—that is the baseline expectation at any tech company event. Rather, the company is explicitly positioning its hardware as raw material for artistic vision, a move that signals a shift in how technology manufacturers see their relationship to culture.
Each of the fourteen artist teams approached their assigned product through their own sensibilities and lived experience. Some used artificial intelligence as a tool to help materialize their ideas and expand what they could express. Samsung was careful to note that AI functioned as an aid, not as the originating force—the artists' perspectives and creativity remained the foundation. The products themselves were transformed: the Music Studio 5 audio device, the Galaxy Z Fold8, the Bespoke AI Family Hub, and eleven others all emerged from this collaborative process wearing new stories and new visual language.
The artworks are displayed on Samsung's flagship 2026 OLED television, the SH95. But here is where the exhibition design becomes clever: the company created fourteen custom frames for the television, each one crafted from different materials and forms. A single TV becomes fourteen different objects depending on which frame surrounds it. The SH95 itself was engineered with what Samsung calls a "float layer design," where the screen appears to hover above a metal plate. Rather than following the industry convention of minimizing bezels to disappear the television into the wall, Samsung made the structure and materials themselves into sculptural elements. The television becomes a design object in the room, not a window into content.
Mauro Porcini, Samsung Electronics' President and Chief Design Officer for the DX Division, will speak at a design talk on September 3rd. His framing of the exhibition centers on a principle he attributes to Samsung: that design originates in deep understanding of people. He has also articulated the company's stance on artificial intelligence in creative work—that creativity begins with humans, and AI amplifies imagination and helps develop ideas further. It is a careful positioning, one that acknowledges AI's utility while insisting on human primacy.
What Samsung is signaling through this exhibition extends beyond the specific products on display. By opening flagship devices—foldable smartphones and premium televisions—as material for artistic creation, the company is making a statement about where it sees itself in the cultural landscape. Technology companies have long sponsored art and design; Samsung is doing something slightly different here, treating its own products as subjects worthy of artistic transformation rather than as sponsors of artistic work happening elsewhere. The move reflects a broader shift in how technology manufacturers are engaging with the cultural sphere, emphasizing emotional and artistic value alongside the functional specifications that have traditionally defined consumer electronics.
Notable Quotes
Design begins with a deep understanding of people— Mauro Porcini, Samsung Electronics Chief Design Officer
Creativity starts with humans, and AI helps amplify our imagination and further develop our ideas— Mauro Porcini, Samsung Electronics
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Culture & Arts