This issue of Aesthetica, ‘Listen and Respond’, invites you to engage with our times. Featured: Doug Aitken, Dawoud Bey, Eddo Hartmann and Tales of Us.

Faces appear from a crown of palm leaves. Bodies collide and make shapes. Butterflies scatter in minimal portraits. This is work by Ren Hang.

Ghana-born British filmmaker John Akomfrah’s ‘Vertigo Sea’ looks at humanity’s complex relationship with water throughout history.

A flock of arms reaches out from the side of the frame like blades of grass. Elia Pellegrini’s photographs ask audiences to stop, pause, consider.

Michael Wolf was a chronicler of life in cities. Across a career of over 40 years, he photographed expansive buildings from Paris to Hong Kong.

The climate crisis, community and the nature of reality are examined in these shows – recommended picks for the end of November.

The urban landscape is the focus of ‘Street. Life. Photography.’ at Kunst Haus Wien. The show charts the evolution of the genre since 1930.

Truth, myth and the spaces in-between. A new show at The Civic, Barnsley, explores the way the North of England is depicted and constructed.

Melbourne-based photographer Tom Blachford returns with ‘Centro Verso’. The series turns the city into an impossible, neon-bathed dystopia.

“To make a long story short, I’m not a very organised person.” So opens Bruce Gilden’s new monograph – New York negatives from 40 years ago.

A neon pink ladder rises towards the sky. Mysterious fog spreads across a river. Giant clouds hover above a crowd. Lumiere festival returns.

Physics, shamanism, artificial intelligence and astrology are listed among Haroon Mirza’s inspirations. A new show examines waveforms.

The shortlist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2020 is announced. Four artists interpret and respond to key global questions.

Seminal female artists, powerful social themes and the next generation of talent come together in this weekend’s top international exhibitions.

Tom Baker offers a playful glimpse at the shifting role of materials. Taking the role of the alchemist, he attempts to purify and transform the elements.

In the 1930s, the US was struggling through the Great Depression. The Art Institute of Chicago explore the era’s artwork and photography.

Magnum Streetwise, a new Thames & Hudson volume, features more than 300 examples of street photography pulled from the archives.

Aesthetica selects top art and photography publications for November. These books look at activism, belonging and pre-digital visual culture.

Art exhibitions are constantly evolving. The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition offers a new approach to curation, featuring 450 small works.

A new book chronicles the evolution of building, from the pyramids of ancient Egypt to the most contemporary sustainable constructions.