Review of The Mercy Seat, Part of York Theatre Royal’s TakeOver Festival

York Theatre Royal’s TakeOver Festival is certainly to be admired. A performing arts festival programmed and run by young people, it succeeds in bringing compelling, often lesser known works to the fore.

Tapa: Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific, Birmingham

Tapa – Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific, proposes a curious offering for a contemporary site. A timeless partnership, which transgresses history and the furthest reaches of the globe, is formed.

Interview with Alexander Lass & Nadia Papachronopoulou – Directors of Unrivalled Landscape

Scripted and produced by members of Orange Tree Theatre’s Writers Group, which nurtures the talents of professional playwrights, Unrivalled Landscape comprises six new short plays.

Venice Biennale Report: Interview with Gilad Ratman for Israeli Pavilion

Aesthetica speaks to Gilad Ratman, currently representing Israel at the Venice Biennale about politics, narratives and his project for the event. The Workshop is a five-channel video installation.

Venice Biennale Report: Interview with Tavares Strachen

Artist Tavares Strachen talks to Aesthetica about science, the North Pole and the desire to fit in. Entitled Polar Eclipse, the Pavilion for the Bahamas makes for a rich, multi-sensory experience.

Interview: Artist & Creator of Playlust, Play Hunter

Born and bred in Zurich, Play Hunter is an artist, author and creative entrepreneur. Studying Fine Arts at Saint Martins College of Art, London, Hunter set up her website Playlust back in 2007.

Review of Asymmetrical Cinema, Beaconsfield

Asymmetrical Cinema is a fitting title for the unsettling cacophony of noise and image currently on show at Beaconsfield. The exhibition is curated by Dale Holmes and Kirsten Cooke.

PINTA, London

Returning to Earls Court Exhibition Centre for its fourth edition, PINTA offers visitors the chance to view and purchase work by eminent artists from South America, Spain and Portugal.

PHotoEspaña, Madrid

For 2013, PHotoEspaña expands its programme as it opens 74 exhibitions and activities in Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Alcobendas, Cuenca, Lanzarote and Zaragoza. Running 5 June until 28 July.

Gilad Ratman, The Workshop, Venice Biennale Report: Israeli Pavilion

The Workshop comprises a five-channel installation by Gilad Ratman. The piece interacts with the pavilion’s architectural structure to create a work that draws the viewer along on a narrative journey.

10 To See: Degree Shows

At Aesthetica we like to keep an eye on emerging artists, and one of the best ways to do that is to take note of the numerous degree shows open this summer. Here are our 10 favourite shows to see.

Last Day to See Polaroid Factory

Tomorrow is the last day to see Polaroid Factory at Printhouse Gallery. The series is a collection of photographic images made at one of the world’s last production facilities of traditional instant film.

Interview:Brian Dillon, Curator of Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing

Curiosity: Art and the Pleasures of Knowing, an exhibition curated by UK editor of Cabinet magazine, Brian Dillon, has transformed Turner Contemporary into a labyrinthian cabinet of sorts.

Notes from the Underground, Short Film from ASFF

Directed by Lukas Demgenski and produced by Valerie Hanson, Notes from the Underground is a 10 minute documentary on the people who run the London underground system.

Miles Aldridge

Enamoured by colour and glamour, Miles Aldridge makes work dripping in jewels, lipstick and fluorescents, transporting his subjects into a surreal feminine space.

Searching for the Seventies

The DOCUMERICA Project began as an Environmental Protection Agency programme, and evolved into a striking historical document of the environmental problems and achievements of the 1970s.

Rodney Graham

Rodney Graham’s exhibition at Lisson Gallery, uncovers the sculptural and cinematic nature of his practice, and the continued influence of music, painting and film upon his work.

Radical Architecture

An innovative new exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles charts radical experimentation in southern Californian architecture since 1980.

Jasmina Cibic

Creating a distinct visual language of her own, Jasmina Cibic represents the Slovenian Pavilion at Venice this year with For our Economy and Culture.

James & Karla Murray

James & Karla Murray photographed street after street of retail history in New York City, finding that the evolving shop windows transformed neighbourhoods.