Experimental Botany

Over 180 years since Anna Atkins’ pioneering cyanotypes were published, artists are still grappling with how to depict organic shapes and forms.

Documentary Photography:
Shows To See This Season

Embark on a visual journey with these five exhibitions, which spotlight documentary photographers who prompt us to look at the world with fresh eyes.

A Major Retrospective:
VALIE EXPORT in Berlin

Few artists have made a more profound impact on performance art than Austrian-born VALIE EXPORT. Now, she’s getting the recognition she deserves.

Agents for Change

We speak to Ayrton Mendes, also known as SAM, about his shortlisted video work, Ayaba – Rainha – Queen, a finalist of the Aesthetica Art Prize.

Extraordinary Encounters:
Photographs to Discover

Chance encounters. Uncanny experiences. Discover 10 photographer from our Art Prize that create images to make sense of a rapidly changing world.

Playful Anachronism

Photographer Romina Ressia revives Renaissance and Baroque portraiture with a contemporary twist by giving 21st century props to 17th century sitters.

A Flooding World

Aesthetica interviews Nick Brandt ahead of his exhibition ‘Sink / Rise’, a series that portrays the effects of rising sea levels in South Pacific Islands.

The Power of Place

Worcester Art Museum presents a show dedicated to landscape photography, with impactful work from Dawoud Bey, Meghann Riepenhoff and Penelope Umbrico.

Wall of Nature

Under Vietnamese photographer Viet Ha Tran’s lens, a living wall becomes something else entirely. Her pictures are like stepping into a hallucination.

Interdisciplinary Textures:
5 Films from the Art Prize

Moving image offers up captivating experiences, inviting us to lean into new worlds. In this round-up, we highlight 5 artists’ films from the Art Prize.

Sustainable Practice:
Klima Biennale Wien

In response to the urgency of the climate crisis, Vienna launches “the first ever climate-focused art festival in the world,” promising innovation.

Vessels for Colour

Franco Fontana is a master of colour, whose work is instantly recognisable for bold, eye-catching cityscapes of Ibiza, Havana and Los Angeles.

Abstraction: The April / May Issue

We must unplug, disconnect and savour the things that bring us joy – from the macro to the micro. Inside this issue we explore these ideas further.

Joyful Contrasts 

Sarah Doyle plays with visual harmony. Torn paper, wooden sticks and cut-out circles pop against colourful block-painted backgrounds.

Memory Illuminated 

The current Dan Flavin retrospective in Basel demonstrates how a simple fluorescent tube
could make a radical impact on the art world.

Building the Image 

Colourful lights are projected onto various household objects, transforming cluttered spaces into entirely different compositions.

Outside Perspective 

A small town on the fringes of Pittsburgh is at the centre of a photo series that asks us to
consider what happens behind closed doors.

Portrait of Emotion 

Djeneba Aduayom’s bright photographs take bubbles as a metaphor, featuring subjects who find themselves caught in translucent spheres.

Visionary Storyteller 

Tyler Mitchell is making waves across art and fashion with portraits of Black life centring on self-determination and the joyous everyday.

Into the Unfamiliar 

Michelle Blancke takes us into dark, enigmatic and unusual woodland locations. They are all carpeted with mosses and lurid lichen growth.