Aesthetica takes a look at the second half of 2022. We spotlight one unmissable show for each month, in a selection which spans museums worldwide.

A new botanical encyclopaedia documents plants and flowers seemingly impossible in nature, with digital stems bending and twisting.

The UK generated 222.2 million tonnes of total waste in 2018. We’re sharing five Aesthetica Art Prize finalists using discarded objects in new ways.

Explore five exhibitions and events taking place in the UK and US, from photography shows and art tours to the launch of a brand new museum.

How can we reinvent design practices, and work towards a circular economy? A new generation of creatives looks to answer this question.

In the 1900s, popular culture imagined flying cars, robot assistants and artificial intelligence gone awry. Now, Getxophoto asks us: what happens next?

A new group show hones in on “contemporary photographers who delve into their own family history, examining and exploring their past.”

In Italian artist Marinella Senatore’s radiant installations, green, red, blue and yellow bulbs form intricate grids and decorative motifs across London.

Here are five photographers engaging with ideas of simulation and artificiality – presenting intriguing visions of landscapes and cities through the lens.

These artists explore the nostalgia – and future – of text-based signage and graphic design, from saturated paintwork to dazzling neon.

Art, design and film, as ever, hold up a mirror to our world. Discover those paving the way, with our round up of unmissable graduate shows.

Brussels-based neurodiverse abstract expressionist Cecile Lobert addresses consciousness in its raw form. Nonverbal and an outsider to conventional development, her impromptu style is best known for its emancipation from normative methods – challenging viewers to empathise with their true selves, untouched by their histories and upbringings.

Tyler Mitchell’s practice has moved from magazine pages to museum walls as the artist has developed a vision for what he describes as a “Black utopia.”

Our love for flowers has endured for millennia. They have become intertwined with human experience. A new book explores this through photography.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art presents two photography exhibitions in tandem, exploring the diverse perspectives of women behind the lens.

Wuthipol Ujathammarat’s vibrant abstract images present the buildings, floodlights, security cameras and fire escapes of Bangkok as never before.

Florian W. Mueller abstracts perceptions of the city, inspired by the intersecting lines and colours used by Expressionist painter Lyonel Feininger.

Andrea Alkalay’s Landscape on Landscape series examines the radical act of observation through the poetic and political potential of photographs.

Anne Mason-Hoerter celebrates the vivid colour and unique details of plant specimens, from valerian roots and blue thistles to wild garlic.

Florida is a complex place with many contrasting ideologies. Anastasia Samoylova investigates the inner-workings of this subtropical fever-dream.

In the ethereal works of KangHee Kim, windows become invitations to the imagination, portals to sun-drenched locations just beyond our reach.

Digital illustrator Adriana Mora constructs three- dimensional buildings within idyllic waterscapes. Brutalism is juxtaposed with seamless horizons.

Self-portraits by Spanish photographer Fares Micue – often looking skyward – are covered by bright blue balloons and flocks of paper birds.

The Rockies boast an expansive geography of dramatic alpine wilderness and diverse wildlife. Modernism has thrived there for over 100 years.

For over two decades, Hannah Starkey has honed and developed an attentive gaze, representing women with both candour and compassion.

Hayward Gallery presents speculative futures where fantasy is at the forefront, and both creative and cultural liberation are brought into effect.

UK-baed JR CHUO is is a paper cut and spray paint artist whose work explores the notion of façades in society that conceal harsh realities. His work is inspired by the tragic beauty and striking colours found in dying coral. CHUO cuts all of his designs by hand – thousands of individual shapes work in harmony to form large, seamless designs.

The notion of “seeing oneself” has become integral to Sharon Walters, a London-based artist whose work centres around celebrating Black women.

Driven by research, Jasmina Cibic creates multimedia artworks that probe how nations have wielded “soft power” through cultural diplomacy.

This issue captures the current zeitgeist, and is a reminder of how much the past forms part of the present. Dive into our preview of the new issue.

The expansive new exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria, titled Who Are You, considers “portraiture in Australia across time and media.”

Virtual events have increased in popularity by an estimated 35% since 2020. Given this increased appetite for digital, how can AR transform museums?

Ingrid Pollard unpicks complex notions of British identity whilst examining the relationship between human bodies, geology and deep time.

Artist and activist Poulomi Basu’s current exhibition discusses the need to speak up to create a world where women have true freedom and equal choice.

Cornelia Parker is best known for transforming everyday objects to address issues of violence, human rights and environmental disaster.

Serena Dzenis’s pastel-toned images question the idea of making humans multiplanetary, transforming everyday structures into otherworldly scenes.

Andreas Mühe is one of Germany’s best-known artists, recognised for his explorations of sociological, historical and political themes.

Katie Paterson condenses subjects of vast scope and significance into singular artworks – navigating the the geological history of our planet.

Refik Anadol is a pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence, creating immersive data sculptures and paintings to make invisible information visible.

“I love the way an image can escape its original tether and move through time to become something else.” Roy Mehta’s photographs are on view in London.

Gal Shahar is an Israeli photographer who looks at image-making as a form of literature – considering the stories which play out in our daily routines.

Visual artist. Stylist. Editor. Photographer. Trevor Stuurman is all these things and more – recognised as “the king of creativity” and “a cultural force.”

Artist duo Feipel & Bechameil are influenced by our growing dependence on technology, considering the consequences of a robotised world on humans.

Afrofuturism is a movement combining science fiction, history and fantasy. Amongst today’s artists working with its legacy is Darryl DeAngelo Terrell.

At a moment of unprecedented creativity in fashion and reflection on gender, London’s V&A museum brings the history of “menswear” into focus.

The 59th Venice Biennale reflects on the unpredictability of the contemporary moment. We select 10 must-see shows from the 2022 edition.

“Why do we feel that we belong in some places and not in others?” asks Lise Johansson, an award-winning photographer based in Copenhagen.

Namsa Leuba uses photography to question the western gaze and imagination, considering the complex ways cultural identity is recognised.

A new show in Denmark offers European audiences a chance to re-engage with Diane Arbus’ body of work – enduring for its emotional complexity.

“Photography is magic, and at night it can be even more so,” says Rankin, the renowned documenter of British culture. Now, he’s teamed up with Three.