Arch Hades photographed in her studio by Eva Herzog

In her newest exhibition ‘Return | Ritorno’, the poet and artist Arch Hades has transformed the historic site of Scoletta Battioro e Tiraoro di Venezia into a stage for her artworks. Displayed amongst the building’s architecture, paintings, and sculpture, Arch Hades has created an immersive environment of large-scale works and soundscape for the 61st Venice Biennale

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Return | Ritorno  unfolds across three floors of the Scoletta Battioro e Tiraoro di Venezia, a decommissioned church on the Grand Canal in Venice. Photograph by Eva Herzog

Arch Hades uses fibreglass and acrylic polymer to create a ‘marble’ finish for her piece I want to return to the past but no one will be there, as part of her Confessions Series. Photograph by Eliot Gelberg-Wilson

Return, 2025. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a monumental 22-panel painting spanning 13 metres which pays homage to Greco-Roman sculpture. Photographed by Eva Herzog

LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai with Arch Hades at the opening of Return | Ritorno for the 61st Venice Biennale

Arch Hades combines her poetry with visual art in her display of Sphinx, 2026. Photography by Eva Herzog

Arch Hades, Rain, 2025, exhibited alongside the site-specific work of Scoletta Battioro e Tiraoro di Venezia. Photography by Eva Herzog

Exhibition details:

Return | Ritorno  
Scoletta Battioro e Tiraoro di Venezia
Supported by Erarta Foundation 
7 May - 30 October 2026 

archhades.com

Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar’s sculptures stand alongside Jean Cocteau’s murals in Villa Santo Sospir

Last week saw the private view and opening of French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar’s latest exhibition. LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai was entranced.

The mesmerising Villa Santo Sospir on Cap Ferrat in the south of France, once home to Jean Cocteau, played host to Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar’s private view of his Oneness Wholeness with Jean Cocteau exhibition; LUX was privileged to be invited.

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The villa itself is something of an anomaly on Cap Ferrat, perhaps the swankiest real estate spot in Europe. Walk down the steep drive from the little road (just around the corner from the Four Seasons Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat) and you are transported into the 1950s. No bulletproof glass or architect-designed pavilions here: just a low-rise villa, its gardens festooned with bougainvillea and bamboo, and, inside, walls decorated with intricate murals by Cocteau himself.

Those attending included Lily Cole, Richard Biedul, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kiera Chaplin and Jo Wood.

From right to left: Natalie Rushdie, Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar, Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, Melissa Tarling, Richard Biedul and Nathalie Emmanuel

Kate Slesinger, Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar and Darius Sanai

Tyrone Wood and Jo Wood

Guests were scattered through the cosy living room, onto the terrace, down the stairs on another garden terrace, and on a final, lowest level near the sea, but the stars of the show were Behnam-Bakhtiar’s sculptures (which also adorn one of the special covers of this issue of LUX magazine) and a soundtrack which featured Cocteau himself, present among us.

Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar with Nathalie Emmanuel

Silhouettes of guests merge with Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar’s sculptures as the sun sets

As a storm cleared and the sun set over Cap d’Antibes and the Massif de l’Esterel in the distance, the melancholy and joy of Behnam-Bakhtiar’s creations added an extra note to the end of summer in an area that has inspired artists for generations. Who knows, perhaps its the start of a new life for the Cote d’Azur as an artistic hub, generations after the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Dufy were mesmerised by the light, shapes and people here.

Oneness Wholeness with Jean Cocteau runs until 30 September at Villa Santo Sospir