[Interview] Art Made for the Senses: Karim Noureldin x Samsung Art Store

[Samsung Newsroom]

“Space and art, as well as artworks and their built surroundings, are inexorably related to each other.”

– Karim Noureldin, contemporary artist

Can a work of visual art be experienced as sound? For Karim Noureldin, it can. The Swiss artist creates abstract works that guide the eye across the composition like rhythm in music, revealing new details the longer they are viewed. Noureldin describes this as “a visual sound,” an idea rooted in drawing and reflected across works shaped by line, color, surface and space.

Noureldin’s “Brea” (2025) will be presented to view digitally as part of the new Art Basel in Basel 2026 Collection. Available exclusively on Samsung Art Store, the collection presents 24 works by Swiss and Switzerland-based artists represented by eight galleries participating in the fair. “Brea” was chosen for its distinct color palette and use of bold pattern, both central to Noureldin’s broader practice. Samsung Newsroom spoke with Noureldin about drawing, abstraction and what changes when art is experienced at home.

The Sensory Language of “Brea”

▲ “Brea” (2025) reflects Noureldin’s interest in line, color and rhythm, creating what he describes as “a visual sound.” Photo by Finn Curry, courtesy of the artist and von Bartha.

Q. “Brea” (2025) is part of the Art Basel in Basel 2026 Collection on Samsung Art Store. What can you share about the process behind this work?

“Brea” began with the process of drawing as a way to build an imagined space. I created it with pencil because drawing allows me to think, plan, imagine and picture at the same time. I have worked with pencil for a long time and I still see it as one of the most direct ways to begin an idea. The movement of drawing also feels close to writing words by hand.

Working on paper allows me to see a space that is not fully physical yet. I find it easier to create a three-dimensional world in this format than by painting on canvas. This is why drawing has remained so important to me. Its energy has been with me since early in my work as an artist and it is present in “Brea.”

▲ Noureldin works with colored pencil to build spatial density with repeated lines and shifts in color. Photo by Ariel Huber, courtesy of the artist and von Bartha.

Q. How do line, surface and structure work together in “Brea”?

In “Brea,” line, structure and surface are not separate elements. They build on each other. The lines create movement, the surfaces create depth and the structure holds these parts together. Through this relationship, the work can begin to feel like a space the viewer enters through their own perception. The author George Stolz has described “Brea” as creating a kind of spatiality through the way its surfaces come together. I think that is close to how I see the work.

▲ Karim Noureldin’s practice begins with drawing, a medium he describes as a way to think, plan, imagine and picture at the same time. Photo by Ariel Huber, courtesy of the artist and von Bartha.

Defining a Spatial Language

Q. How has your approach to making art stayed the same over time?

My approach has stayed the same through a steady commitment to the work. I studied fine arts, later served as an associate professor at ECAL/University of Arts and Design Lausanne and have tutored younger Swiss artists. Those experiences shaped how I think about art, but they did not change the reason I make it. I still approach each work with the same motivation and focus I had early on. Being able to make art is something I always dreamed of doing and I continue to do it with dedication and gratitude.

▲ Noureldin’s works speak to each other through line, surface and scale. Photo by Finn Curry, courtesy of the artist and von Bartha.

Q. What connects the different forms you work in?

No matter the form, my work applies the same abstract language and creative process to different media. I often think of each medium as a different instrument. The sound changes, but the composition comes from the same place. The works can appear at a small or large scale, within a specific site or as independent pieces. What connects them is the same attention to line, color, rhythm and space.

Q. What does abstraction allow you to do?

Abstraction allows for timelessness and universality. It’s not fixed to one subject or moment. It can remain open, so each viewer can meet the work through their own perception.

“Being able to make art is something I always dreamed of doing and I continue to do it with dedication and gratitude.”

Q. How do you think about the relationship between an artwork and the place where it is seen?

Space and art, as well as artworks and their built surroundings, are inexorably related to each other. Whether a work was created for a specific site, placed within one or simply viewed there, each condition shapes what the work can express and do.

▲ Presented on The Frame at Samsung Art Store’s Art Basel in Basel 2026 exhibition, “Brea” brings Noureldin’s visual language into a digital viewing experience. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics.

How Art Forms Unity Within a Home

“When we have art in our homes, it becomes part of one’s daily life.”

Q. What feels meaningful to you about viewers encountering your work at home through Samsung Art TV?

Living with art brings art back to a private and personal space. With Samsung Art TVs, the work moves from the artist’s studio into a home, where it can be experienced daily rather than only during a visit to an institution. It helps keep visual creativity top of mind for everyone, even if they aren’t an artist.

Q. When an artwork becomes part of the home, what can repeated viewing reveal that might not be noticed at first?

When we have art in our homes, it becomes part of one’s daily life and changes with the conditions around it. Different times of day, different lighting shifts or even moods changing each time a piece is viewed. These small details can change the appearance of a work over time, making it a unified element of the home.

Q. Samsung Art Store will introduce your work to some viewers who may not know your practice yet. What would you hope they notice first in “Brea”?

I would hope they first notice “Brea” as a visual sound. By that, I mean a composition that can be felt through rhythm and movement much like music can be felt without words. Before trying to define it, I hope they spend time with every element of its structure to understand how it can speak to more than one sense.

Samsung Art Store is an art subscription service available on Samsung Art TVs including The Frame, Micro RGB and Neo QLED, offering more than 5,000 works in 4K resolution from more than 800 partners across 117 countries. As Art Basel’s official display partner, Samsung Electronics offers another way to experience contemporary art beyond the fair through exclusive Samsung Art Store digital collections featuring artists from Art Basel’s Hong Kong, Basel, Paris and Miami Beach editions.

To experience “Brea” and the rest of the Art Basel in Basel 2026 Collection, visit a Samsung Art Store on your compatible Samsung TV today.

View the full article