Art Prize Jury 2025
Since 2007, we have worked with thousands of artists, putting their work in front of curators and gallerists from across the world, including those from Tate Modern, Barbican, Guggenheim, Brooklyn Museum, British Journal of Photography, Creative Review, YSP, Frieze, London Art Fair and more.
We are delighted to present the Jury for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2025. The panel comprises influential art figures, including curators, academics and artists whose expertise spans all media.
Emma Dean
Senior Curator, BALTIC
Emma Dean is Senior Curator at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. Exhibitions include mid-career surveys of Thomas Scheibitz, Caroline Achaintre, Huma Bhabha and Sutapa Biswas and major presentations by Jesse Wine, Jumana Emil Abboud, Sofia Stevi, Mounira Al Solh and Ali Cherri. Emma heads Baltic’s international residency programme.
Baff Akoto
Artist
A former winner of Aesthetica’s Main Prize, Akoto’s practice explores collective futures and the nuances of human and ecological memory through still & moving images and cultural expression. He examines how emerging technology can avoid the prejudices, exclusions and inequalities which characterised our industrial and colonial eras. Image: A. Jalloh
Kay Watson
Head of Arts Technologies, Serpentine
Kay Watson is a producer and curator specializing in art, advanced technologies, photography, and video games. In addition to serving as Head of Arts Technologies at London’s Serpentine, Kay is also a Trustee for Mediale and The Photographers’ Gallery, London, and a committed advocate for innovation and experimentation in contemporary art.
Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf
Producer & Commissioner
Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf is a British-Ghanaian producer of site-responsive performance, audio, and moving image in non-gallery contexts. Her practice seeks collaboration and is informed by the formation of protective networks. She serves on the Art on the Underground Advisory Panel and is Engagement and Participation Lead at the Wellcome Collection.
Luke Kemp
Associate Curator, Barbican
Luke Kemp’s most recent productions include leading on the curation and development of Our Time on Earth (2022) and AI: More than Human (2019). Prior to working at the Barbican, Luke worked with galleries and organisations across the world on programming and projects including for the Venice Biennale and The Armory Art Fair, amongst others.
Poppy Bowers
Senior Curator, The Whitworth
Poppy Bowers is a contemporary art curator and currently Senior Curator of Exhibitions at the Whitworth, Manchester. She has worked with artists including Alison Wilding, Barbara Walker, Imran Perretta, Isaac Julien and William Kentridge, and is currently working with Yuki Kihara on a new iteration of the artist’s installation Paradise Camp.
Hadeel Eltayeb
Interim Displays Curator, the Design Museum
Hadeel Eltayeb is a curator, writer, and oral historian exploring identity and cultural production. She is Interim Displays Curator at the Design Museum and a 2025 fellow of the New Architecture Writers with The Architectural Review and the AA. Her recent writing appears in Wes Anderson: The Archives, Tim Burton: Designing Worlds, and Recessed Space.
Farah Dailami,
Assistant Curator, THW
Farah Dailami is a Bahraini-British curator and writer based in Leeds. She works at The Hepworth Wakefield on major exhibitions and collection acquisitions. Passionate about artists from Bahrain, SWANA, and the North of England, she has also curated at BLANK_ gallery and previously worked with the independent film platform Shasha Movies.
Juliana Kasumu
Artist and Filmmaker
Juliana Kasumu is a Nigerian-British artist and filmmaker whose work explores identity through non-linear narratives across film, photography, and installation. Her films (BABYBANGZ, Losing Joy, Adura Baba Mi) have screened at major festivals like BFI, AFI, and BlackStar, earning awards and nominations. Her work has exhibited internationally, including at the V&A, Getty Images Gallery, and Whitechapel Gallery.