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Shigeru Ban:
Architecture for Humanity

Pritzker Prize-winner Shigeru Ban has spent over four decades redefining what architecture can achieve, creating spaces that humane and visionary.

Photography and Kinship

In Brussels, Family Stories highlights contemporary photographers who are pushing beyond a traditional documentary approach to tap into shared humanity.

Contemporary Still Life:
A Genre Reimagined

These five photographers turn the tradition of still life photography on its head, creating playful scenes that highlight the absurdity of modern life.

A Highlight of the Year:
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition

We look back at the 2025 Aesthetica Art Prize, a major moment in our calendar and an important platform for emerging figures in contemporary art.

Nan Goldin:
Intimacy and Memory

A fresh look at the work of Nan Goldin, who has spent her career documenting intimacy, friendship, addiction and loss with an honest, unflinching eye.

2026 at a Glance:
Must-See UK Exhibitions

We recommend one show for every month of 2026, spanning retrospectives and group shows across art, design, photography and more. Mark your calendars.

Iris van Herpen:
Sculpting the Senses

Kunsthal Rotterdam’s retrospective of the designer offers not only a reflection on an extraordinary career, but also a vision of fashion’s future.

A Lens on the City:
Architectural Photography

Foregrounding five architectural photographers whose work redefines how we see urban spaces, experimenting with light, texture and abstraction.

Into the Woodland:
The Magic of Photographing Trees

We spotlight five photographers who capture the quiet magic found in woodlands, reminding audiences why it’s important to connect with nature.

Looking Forward:
Aesthetica in 2026

We’re looking forward at an exciting year full of opportunities for creatives, writers, filmmakers and games developers across the twelve months.

Seydou Keïta’s Studio Reimagined

The Brooklyn Museum presents the most expansive North American exhibition of the legendary Malian photographer’s work to date, with over 280 works.

Celebrating our
2025 Award-Winners

Championing our 2025 award winners, each one represents the very best of emerging talent across contemporary art, film, writing and music.

Aesthetica Wrapped:
Fairs of the Year

Today, Aesthetica highlights the top international Art Fairs that have shaped conversations around contemporary art and design throughout 2025.

Highlights from Our Year

These highlights reflect our ongoing commitment to championing innovation across art, film, music and design, while creating space for new voices.

2025: A Year in Covers

From dense green foliage to obscured portraits, Aesthetica takes a look back at the remarkable photographers that made it onto this year’s covers.

Cosmic Dreaming
at Fotografiska Shanghai

When Chen Chuanduan was a child, he often dreamt of the stars. Now, he’s presenting a work of docu-fiction that attempts to recapture these lost visions.

Aesthetica Wrapped:
12 Months of Print in Videos

We’re looking back at a year of magazines, sharing the remarkable photographers and creatives who have been part of the publication throughout 2025.

Wayne McGregor:
Infinite Bodies at Somerset House

Dance once belonged to the stage. But in the hands of Wayne McGregor, it has quietly begun to outgrow architecture. Somerset House shows audiences how.

Meet the Aesthetica Art
Prize Alumni: Ayo Akingbade

Ayo Akingbade’s film explores intersecting narratives of legacy, labour and architecture, focusing on a Guiness factory based in Nigeria.

The Art of the Fashion Show
at Vitra Design Museum

The latest exhibition at Vitra Design Museum traces more than 100 years of fashion show history, from intimate Parisian salons to today’s digital spectacles.

Behind the Lens:
2025 in Photography

Aesthetica shares some of the world-class photographers featured during 2025, including Margeaux Walter, Reuben Wu and Tamara Dean.

Gregor Sailer:
The Future of Agriculture

The photographer’s new book documents massive greenhouses in the USA, Swedish data centres, plus algae, insect and jellyfish farms all across Europe.

Figures in the Landscape:
Five Inspiring Images

We bring you five contemporary photographers who capture people in the landscape, transforming a beautiful view into a compelling narrative.

Marina Abramović:
The Art of Presence in Vienna

Marina Abramović is unequivocally one of the most important living artists today. Now, a major retrospective is on display at Albertina Modern.

Aesthetica Wrapped:
Books of the Year

We highlight five fascinating books from 2025, each one driving forward conversations about the future of contemporary art, architecture and design.

Micaiah Carter:
Identity and Legacy

Amerikahaus in Munich foregrounds one of the most exciting photographic voices of recent times, who shows how representation can be a force for change.

Meet the Aesthetica Art
Prize Alumni: Vlad Hrynko

Vlad Hrynko experiments with traditional still-life forms and projected light, challenging how we see ordinary objects such as paper and cardboard.

Seriously at Sprüth Magers:
Humour as Art and Insight

A new group exhibition in London considers the subversive power of humour, wit, pun and playful disruption in contemporary art and photography.

2025 Wrapped: Interviews
that Shaped the Year

Aesthetica looks back on the insightful and inspiring interviews with artists that have been featured in the magazine throughout 2025.

Shows of the Year:
10 Key Exhibitions from 2025

These selections amplify voices marginalised within the canon, honour posthumous legacies, and tell powerful life stories through sculptural forms.

The Art of Slowing Down:
5 Exhibitions for the Season

n the midst of a busy season, we’ve selected five exhibitions that offer a welcome change of pace. They invite viewers to reflect on the passage of time.

Ben Cullen Williams:
Rethinking Portraiture

Ben Cullen Williams creates digital artworks that questions what self-portraiture and reflection means in an current era defined by generative AI.

London Art Fair 2026:
Expansive Curation

London Art Fair returns this January for its 38th edition, bringing together a curated selection of leading Modern and Contemporary galleries.

Meet the Aesthetica Art
Prize Alumni: Kate Hrynko

Artist and photographer Kate Hrynko documents the abstract scenes that are left behind after colourful, painted ice evaporates to become a gas.

Authentic Voices

Thames & Hudson published a comprehensive new book that spotlights the bold, vibrant photography coming out of Australia and New Zealand.

Constructing Stories

A new book, published by GOST, brings together the work of Lorenzo Tugnoli, a photojournalist known for documenting everyday life of people in Afghanistan.

The Coded Light of Leo Villareal

Ceilings full of stars: a new book traces the artist’s evolution from early experiments in code-based art to monumental achievements in the public realm.

Vibrant Cityscapes

National Gallery of Canada presents the work of more than 100 photographers, each one documenting the vibrancy of modern city life.

Meet the Aesthetica Art Prize
Alumni: Monica Alcazar-Duarte

Mónica Alcázar-Duarte is a Mexican-British visual artist, who explores current ideals of progress while acknowledging her indigenous heritage.

Dynamic Illumination

Southbank Centre’s outdoor art trail is back for 2025, uniting international artists to rethink the idea of what traditional festive illuminations can look like.

Personal Reflections

Aesthetica spoke to artist and filmmaker Manjinder Virk, whose new project uses her own family history to explore community, migration and activism.

Beneath the Surface

Tate St Ives presents the work of Emilija Škarnulytė, an artist who blends documentary and imaginary to reveal realities often hidden from view.

Meet the Aesthetica Art
Prize Alumni: Bart Nelissen

Bart Nelissen takes cloud-like digital images and breaks them into small geometric fragments, reflecting our desire to make order out of chaos.

Marshmallow Laser Feast:
The Hidden World of Trees

Experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast has created a “digital double” of Kew Gardens’ Lucombe Oak, on view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Turner Prize 2025:
Winner Announced

The Turner Prize 2025 has been awarded to Nnena Kalu, an artist best-known for creating bold and abstract site-specific sculptures and drawings.

Rethinking Africa
Through Portraiture

This show traces how photographers across mid-20th century Africa and its diaspora contributed to broader movements for Pan-African solidarity.

Women Behind the Lens:
Exhibitions Redefining Documentary

This winter, exhibitions across Europe, the UK and USA showcase influential documentarians, past and present. This list offers a snapshot of what’s on.

Meet the Aesthetica
Art Prize Alumni: Sof

Italian artist Sof creates works that invite audiences to interact, shaping and moving the piece to create something that is always in the process of creation.

Breaking New Ground

The inaugural Togo Photo Festival provides an international platform for new and emerging photographers from across Togo and West Africa.

Archives Rediscovered

Jack Smith discovered more than 80,000 of his grandfather’s photographs in the family garage, beginning a project to bring the works to light.

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