mcbw 2026

For mcbw, the archi­tec­ture col­lec­tive Stu­dio Car­ral­do is acti­vat­ing the South Lawn of the Alte Pinakothek with not just one but two inter­ac­tive pavilions—open, exper­i­men­tal, and invit­ing par­tic­i­pa­tion. An mcbw pub­lic space installation.

With Cap­pel­la del Suono, Stu­dio Car­ral­do cre­ates a space that can be expe­ri­enced both acousti­cal­ly and visu­al­ly. Sound rods of vary­ing lengths form a del­i­cate acoustic struc­ture, gen­er­at­ing a con­stant­ly shift­ing inter­play of light and shad­ow. The pavil­ion can be under­stood as a space of permeability—open enough to remain part of the sur­round­ing land­scape, yet clear­ly defined as an archi­tec­tur­al place. It responds to the pres­ence of peo­ple, allow­ing them to become part of the con­struc­tion. Archi­tec­ture here is not con­ceived as a sta­t­ic object, but as an indi­vid­ual, lived experience.

In coop­er­a­tion with Stu­dio Car­ral­do, empow­ered by bay­ern design.
With the kind sup­port of the Bavar­i­an State Paint­ing Col­lec­tions and Kun­stare­al Munich.

On view until May 17, 2026, on the South Lawn of the Alte Pinakothek, Gabelsbergerstraße.

In the sec­ond pavil­ion by Stu­dio Car­ral­do, the mcbw annu­al theme becomes direct­ly tan­gi­ble: the instal­la­tion invites vis­i­tors into a walk-in labyrinth that embraces joy­ful dis­ori­en­ta­tion. Fun guaranteed!

DELU­LU (derived from “delu­sion­al,” illu­so­ry) describes a retreat into wish­ful think­ing when real­i­ty becomes too com­plex. The term orig­i­nates from the youth slang of a gen­er­a­tion that has grown up amid mul­ti­ple crises and deep-seat­ed anx­i­eties about the future—shaped by cli­mate change, social inse­cu­ri­ty, and dig­i­tal over­load. Rather than giv­ing up, this gen­er­a­tion trans­forms escapism into a play­ful sur­vival strat­e­gy, where imag­i­na­tion and humor become tools of self-empow­er­ment. Glob­al crises can pro­voke a sense of over­whelm; philoso­pher Tim­o­thy Mor­ton describes them as “hyperobjects”—phenomena so vast and per­va­sive that they exceed our capac­i­ty to ful­ly grasp them.

The Delu­lu instal­la­tion trans­lates this con­di­tion into a walk­a­ble labyrinth: a con­stant­ly chang­ing spa­tial expe­ri­ence in which dis­ori­en­ta­tion becomes a cre­ative moment. Vis­i­tors nav­i­gate between iso­la­tion and encounter, between still­ness and move­ment. Con­ceived as an exper­i­men­tal space, Delu­lu is a play­ground of pos­si­bil­i­ties. The instal­la­tion pos­es the ques­tion of how we can take respon­si­bil­i­ty while con­tin­u­ing to design boldly—amid uncer­tain­ty, change, and illusion.

In coop­er­a­tion with Stu­dio Car­ral­do, empow­ered by bay­ern design.
With the kind sup­port of the Bavar­i­an State Paint­ing Col­lec­tions and Kun­stare­al Munich.

On view until May 17, 2026, on the South Lawn of the Alte Pinakothek, Gabelsbergerstraße.

The mcbw hub becomes a design shop! In the pop-up store at Ruffini­haus, Rin­der­markt 10, a curat­ed selec­tion of dis­tinc­tive design pieces inspired by this year’s theme awaits—assembled by Frisches­De­sign / Edi­tion MUC.

Ear­rings, pearl bracelets, mag­net­ic mol­e­c­u­lar brooches, office, fash­ion, and home acces­sories, ceram­ics, seat­ing fur­ni­ture, toys, paper wal­lets, mouth-blown glass ves­sels, ready-mades, and prints—a design cos­mos full of imagination.
Designs by: Anna Cere­zo, Anni­ka Joachim, Bal­ly und Bal­ly, Cari­na von Reich­mann, Cheers Isa, Ein­fachde­sign, Frisches­De­sign, Herr & Frau Rio, Humuz Jew­els, Inke Für­beth, Into, Lena Beigel, Les Ampoules, Munge­nast x Mor­roni, Njus­tu­dio, Pizzi­ni Design, Same­same, San­dra Voll­brecht, Stel­la Wanisch, Stu­dio Vin­cent Marx, Sylvie Lud­wig, and Tomoe Hikita.

The offi­cial mcbw info point is also locat­ed in the mcbw hub at Ruffini­haus: here you’ll find the lat­est mcbw mag­a­zine, infor­ma­tion from our media part­ners, and answers to all your ques­tions about the fes­ti­val. Stop by, dis­cov­er design from Bavaria, and get inspired.

The mcbw hub is open from Tues­day, April 28, to Sat­ur­day, May 9, 2026 (exclud­ing Sun­days and pub­lic holidays).

With the kind sup­port of Kreativ München.