Casa Axis International Open

C.A.I.O. began with a court. During his residency at Casa Axis, Lucas Benarroch — MRKA — turned the tennis court into Hard Court, and the court was loved. When summer came around he proposed repainting it. The answer was no: nobody here has ever repainted a graffiti — if paint gets bought again, it is to paint something new. So there was only one way for him to keep his court: defend it. If someone else wants to paint it, beat them at tennis and remain king of the court. That idea escalated into a tournament.

In June 2026 Casa Axis held the first edition of the Casa Axis International Open. Thirty-two artists competed on Hard Court, each at their own level — no portfolios, no rankings, no categories: just instinct and frustration, and maybe one shot that wins it all. For one weekend — June 13 and 14 — the house opened its doors: tournament on Saturday; open play on Sunday, King of the Court style, with rackets and balls courtesy of HEAD and a special prize from Mahou. Umpires, scoreboards, a champagne shower and a golden trophy included.

The ending was better than any script. Benarroch had quietly spent the year taking tennis lessons — and won. Hard-fought and by the book, he kept his own court. Then, not one to hold on to everything, he announced a remix with an artist of his choosing, and picked one of the defeated: Spok Brillor, who is now reimagining Hard Court for the next chapter.

C.A.I.O. was more than tennis. A few metres from the court, the Exhibition Space hosted a show devoted to tennis and its visual culture: works from the Muñoz Collection — David Hockney, David Shrigley, Harold Edgerton, Roe Ethridge, Gusmão & Paiva and Lucas Benarroch, among others — in dialogue with archival material from Lacoste Heritage, including designs by Robert George. At the Oficina, a Lacoste pop-up personalised garments live with tournament-exclusive patches and embroidery. The second edition of C.A.I.O. is already in the works. The original tournament site lives on at caio.casaaxis.com.