SUPERFLEX reimagines the future with ‘There Are Other Fish In The Sea’ at Palazzo Strozzi

From April 14th to August 2nd, 2026, the Palazzo Strozzi courtyard is hosting a new site-specific installation by SUPERFLEX. Rooted in the idea of rethinking architecture through ecological awareness, the project places biodiversity and architecture at the heart of a speculative future shaped by environmental change.

A Renaissance courtyard reimagined through rising waters

Curated by Arturo Galansino, There Are Other Fish in the Sea is a dialogue between the past and the future. Eight pink travertine columns rise in quiet defiance within a monumental water basin, reflecting both the architecture and its viewers.

The installation references the Florence flood of 1966, marking its 60th anniversary as both a memorial and a warning. SUPERFLEX invites visitors to consider a world in which rising sea levels reshape not only landscapes, but also the purpose of human-built environments, proposing that marine life could become the future inhabitants of architecture.

Biodiversity and architecture: towards an interspecies future

At the heart of this installation is an Interspecies Architectural Manifesto—a set of principles that challenge the notion of human-centred design. SUPERFLEX proposes a radical shift, reimagining architecture not just as shelter for humans, but as a shared ecosystem.

From maximising surface areas to support marine biodiversity to rejecting rigid right angles in favour of fluid, inhabitable forms, the manifesto reimagines buildings as evolving habitats. Pink surfaces echo coral ecosystems, while porous structures invite movement, nesting and coexistence, blurring the line between structure and organism.

Material, reflection and the poetics of coexistence

The columns themselves are designed as potential habitats and are constructed from modular blocks with faceted planes. Their reflective surroundings create a constantly shifting visual field that merges the sky, water and stone into a single, immersive experience.

This reimagining of architecture transforms the courtyard into a speculative environment where human presence is part of a broader, interconnected system rather than central to it. The installation suggests that the future of design lies in adaptability and transformation rather than permanence.

Produced in collaboration with Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati and Kunsthal Spritten, the project extends beyond Florence, with a future iteration planned in Denmark.