Housewife (or After ‘She, The Ultimate Weapon’), 2023
Augustina Wang
Moosey
Flores, 1986
Olga de Amaral
Shari Brownfield Fine Art
Last January, 15 leading curators predicted that 2024 would be defined by a tense international sociopolitical climate, especially given ongoing global conflicts and the U.S. election.
These political themes were featured prominently at major art events throughout the year, including the Whitney Biennial, where Kiyan Williams’s large sculpture Ruins of Empire II or The Earth Swallows the Master’s House (2024) portrayed a deteriorating White House fashioned from steel and dirt. For 2025, these social and political statements in the art world, particularly on the topic of the environment, are likely to continue, according to some of the world’s top curators.
Curators also predict that the work of women and Indigenous artists will play a central role in these discussions, pushing the boundaries of activism.
This year, they said, technology will continue to influence artistic expression and engagement, a trend that has evolved from the surge in AI use noted in 2023. That said, several curators have noted that this influx of digital and technology-assisted art coincides with an increased interest in craft and natural materials, ranging from textiles to ceramics.
Here, we asked 12 leading curators for their predictions of what to expect in the art world throughout 2025.
Larry Ossei-Mensah
Curator and co-founder, ARTNOIR
The Bronx, New York
Kaipum Madhuravum, 2024
Melissa Joseph
Charles Moffett
“In 2025, I anticipate a continued and growing focus on exhibitions that highlight and center artists using fiber as a key material in their artistic practice,” said Larry Ossei-Mensah. “Artists such as Melissa Joseph, Sagarika Sundaram, and Sarah Zapata—[the latter of] whose solo project ‘Upon the Divide of Vermilion’ I had the privilege of collaborating on during Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 with UBS and ARTNOIR—are just a few examples of a dynamic constellation of creators redefining our relationship with textiles.”
Ossei-Mensah noted many artist exhibitions from the past year that “redefined how we experience and interpret art,” citing Lauren Halsey’s exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries, “emajendat,” and Torkwase Dyson’s presentation at the Whitney Biennial 2024.
“Halsey’s visionary work seamlessly integrated architecture, community, and Afrofuturism, while Dyson’s exploration of space, geography, and the environment pushed the boundaries of both material and conceptual practice,” he said. “These presentations highlighted the transformative potential of interdisciplinary art, dissolving boundaries between creative disciplines—particularly art and architecture—while amplifying diverse narratives. I look forward to seeing these innovative approaches continue to evolve and thrive in 2025.”
Ossei-Mensah is particularly excited about three exhibitions in 2025: a group show inspired by the art and philosophy of musician Alice Coltrane, “Monumental Eternal” at the Hammer Museum; Rashid Johnson’s “A Poem for Deep Thinkers” at the Guggenheim; and Lorna Simpson’s “Source Notes” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Blanca de la Torre & Kati Kivinen
Co-curators of Helsinki Biennial 2025
Madrid and Helsinki
“We’re sure that the state of the planet is still very much on the agenda also in contemporary art in 2025,” said Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen. “But in general: queer ecologies, Afrofuturisms, speculative realism, lots of attention to textile works and other crafts and artisan traditional techniques, new materialities, and discourses that tackle the socioecological complexities of ecology and the climate crisis that we face.”
Looking ahead, the two curators of the Helsinki Biennial 2025 are particularly excited about the 2025 iteration of the Sharjah Biennial this February.
Zeynep Öz
Co-curator, Sharjah Biennial 16
New York and Istanbul
“2024 was a year where it seemed we were pulled equally from the shadows of larger narratives of destruction, construction, and rebuilding and the mushrooming of the spontaneous declarations and exclamations of hope and despair formed around collective cries,” said Zeynep Öz, noting that “artists and thinkers are trying to make sense of the uneasiness of our current times by the tools that we have at our disposal.”
“I think there will be an equal emphasis this year on how to deal with the planetary and societal destruction that we find ourselves in as well as the many futurities that we might attach to them,” Öz continued. “Proposals on how to be more in flux with our identities…is something I believe and hope that we will see more of. I’m curious to see thinkers articulate more of their navigation of the conflicts and ambiguities in a fluid time like this and moving beyond the deterministic binaries that we get caught up with.”
Öz, who is a co-curator of the Sharjah Biennial 2025, also highlighted several other major biennials worldwide this year, including the Istanbul Biennial, the Hawaii and Mercosul Biennials, and the Aichi Trienniale.
Stefanie Hessler
Director, Swiss Institute
New York
Stefanie Hessler forecasts that 2025 will be defined by the ongoing integration of new technologies and unconventional exhibition spaces. “New technologies are going to continue to play an important role, which at Swiss Institute we are exploring through exhibitions by K Allado-McDowell, whose work in AI and creative technologies will propose a speculative anti-monument to extinction, and Bagus Pandega, whose kinetic installations create natural-technological responsive ecosystems,” said Hessler.
Hessler also underscored the continued relevance of artists whose work embodies “fugivity, abstraction, and refusal,” reflecting critical theories by thinkers like Saidiya Hartman. Here, she cited the film and painting practice of Basel-born artist Deborah-Joyce Holman.
“I look forward to the Bukhara Biennial, which will launch with its first edition under the artistic direction of Diana Campbell,” she said. “Another highlight will be the São Paulo Bienal, led by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, which asks us to fundamentally rethink what humanity means amid intersected sociopolitical, economic, and environmental crises.”
Shai Baitel
Artistic director, Modern Art Museum Shanghai
New York and Shanghai
Despite the increasingly mainstream discourse about AI, Shai Baitel asserted that 2024 marked “a shift away from AR/VR and AI as audiences sought more tactile, material, and conceptually grounded experiences.” He noted that the buzzy show “Arte Povera” at the Bourse de Commerce, featuring major names from the 20th-century Italian movement, “perfectly captured this trend, emphasizing simplicity and materiality,” he said.
“As we move into 2025, I anticipate that while a demand for immersion might persist, there will be a continued departure from such formats that are merely technology-driven,” Baitel said. “Instead, there seems to be a renewed emphasis on painting and its capacity for storytelling,” he added, highlighting Amy Sherald’s upcoming exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
“Another trend I foresee is the rise of cross-disciplinary collaborations,” said Baitel. “Luxury and couture brands, eager to align themselves with the fine art world, will likely inspire innovative partnerships and curatorial concepts. These collaborations not only blur boundaries but also bring new audiences into the fold, which should be a continued focus for leading museums and institutions.”
Clare Lilley
Director, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Yorkshire, England
“In the U.K., work by female and global majority artists past and present has, I think, defined 2024,” said Clare Lilley. She highlighted the Tate Britain exhibition “Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920” and a slate of women artists that had major U.K. exhibitions last year, including Barbara Kruger, Judy Chicago, Haegue Yang, and Sonia Boyce, among many others. For 2025, Lilley stated: “Happily, we’ll see further representation of female and global majority artists—reinforcing the wealth of expression by some of those who have been marginalized and underrepresented.”
“Indigenous and First Nations art will continue to come to the fore, frequently intersecting with eco-sustainability and nature connectedness,” she continued. “And in this and other respects, I think we’ll see more artists embracing ‘craft’ and natural materials, such as clay and textiles. And we’ll see more art in natural surroundings, where physical and mental health join in a spiritual union.”
Mula's Ox, 1977
Leonora Carrington
Umeni
For 2025, Lilley was looking forward to the upcoming program of The Gund at Kenyon College in Ohio, including solo shows by Minnie Evans, Phyllida Barlow, and Joan Jonas. Additionally, she highlighted Leonora Carrington’s first Italian retrospective at the Palazzo Reale as a compelling reason to visit Milan. Another notable show there, also opening in September, is Yuko Mohri’s first institutional show in Italy at Pirelli HangarBicocca, featuring her renowned sound and movement works.
Aindrea Emelife
Curator, Museum of West African Art (MOWAA)
Lagos and London
“For 2025, I sense and hope for a deepening embrace of narratives that foreground the multiplicity of global perspectives,” said Aindrea Emelife. “Art is moving further away from singular, linear histories and toward a kaleidoscope of interconnected stories: stories of identity, migration, decolonization, and ecological urgency.”
Emelife is looking forward to several museum exhibitions of African art, highlighting the “Nigerian Modernism” exhibition at Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art’s “Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination,” both slated to open near the end of the year. “Artists from regions historically marginalized by Western art institutions are redefining the canon, not as an act of inclusion but as an assertion of their centrality,” she said.
INTERIOR: RED COUCH AND LANDSCAPE, 2024
Mickalene Thomas
MK CONTEMPORARY LTD
Emelife also predicts a return to materiality and craft in the art world: “There is a resurgence of practices rooted in the handmade, the tactile, and the labor-intensive: qualities that seem to counteract the rapid, intangible nature of our digital age. Artists are rediscovering textiles, ceramics, and traditional techniques, imbuing them with contemporary meaning to bridge past and present.” For instance, Emelife looks forward to Mickalene Thomas’s solo exhibition of rhinestone-bedazzled paintings at Hayward Gallery in London.
That said, Emelife thinks the collective focus on technology will persist, albeit more critically. “Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and blockchain technology are already reshaping how we think about authorship, ownership, and the audience’s relationship to the artwork,” she said. “Yet I suspect that in 2025, the most compelling technological art will be that which critiques, rather than glorifies, our digital lives.”
Noam Segal
LG Electronics Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York
As artists and curators grow more familiar with AI technology, curator Noam Segal anticipates the development of “more sophisticated and nuanced works.”
“Terms like ‘AI photography’ and ‘AI painting’ are becoming increasingly common,” Segal said. “I believe—and hope—that digital literacy will take center stage as society gains greater clarity and critical understanding of how these tools function. In this context, the role and aesthetics of photography and photorealism will gain renewed importance.”
Factory of the Sun, 2015
Hito Steyerl
MOCA
Segal is excited about the exhibition “The World According to AI” at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, a comprehensive survey of AI in art today, featuring work by Trevor Paglen and Hito Steyerl, among others.
Additionally, the curator is eagerly looking forward to Shu Lea Cheang’s show at Haus der Kunst in Munich. This medium-scale survey will showcase both old and new works by Taiwanese American filmmaker Cheang, who was recently awarded the 2024 LG Guggenheim Award for her contributions to technology-based art. “This is a perfect moment to revisit and celebrate her long, trailblazing career,” said Segal.
James Voorhies
Chief curator, The Bass
Miami
“I believe we’ll see more artists and exhibitions take up the idea of land, with all the physical, conceptual, and metaphorical connotations that word implies,” said James Voorhies. “As the impacts of environmental and ecological crises occupy our minds, questions around the use, occupation, and governance of land will become ever more prominent in art discourses. In turn, we’ll likely see the field of art intersecting more with other practices, like design, urbanism, architecture, and agriculture—and more activity away from the traditional, gravitational centers of the art world, into public and private realms.”
Voorhies singled out two projects working on the significance of land, both based in upstate New York: the Forge Project, led by curator Candice Hopkins; and Sky High Farm, co-directed by Josh Bardfield and Sarah Workneh. Voorhies is also looking forward to the innovative programming at The Campus, a collaboration involving six New York galleries: Bortolami, James Cohan, kaufmann repetto, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps, and kurimanzutto.
Voorhies also namechecked artists like Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Minia Biabiany, Brittany Nelson, Otobong Nkanga, and Ibrahim Mahama as ones to watch for 2025, as well as major events like the 2025 São Paulo Bienal and the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.
Catherine Wood
Director, Tate Modern
London
In 2025, Catherine Wood anticipates the art world will gravitate towards context-rich experiences that go beyond the typical “immersive” installations: “I predict a desire for singularity of experience in art, counter to overload; but beyond the ‘immersive.’ Painting will remain important but situated in the social and architectural.”
In her eyes, the upcoming Emily Kame Kngwarray survey at Tate Modern is in line with this direction, developed in collaboration with the National Gallery of Australia. The survey will feature vibrant batiks and monumental paintings, demonstrating Kngwarray’s spiritual engagement with her homeland.
Alhalkere, My Country, 1994
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
SmithDavidson Gallery
“I think art’s capacity for nuance, material touch, and the holding of contradiction and complexity will be vital against a fractured world of information and that artists will go even further in finding ways of including, connecting, [and] communicating with people whilst disrupting our ways of doing things,” said Wood.
Looking ahead to 2025, Wood awaits the Sharjah Biennial, noting that its curatorial team is made up of “five amazing women.” Other events she’s looking forward to include Hamad Butt’s retrospective at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, which is part of the “Technologies of Peace” research program; Grada Kilomba’s exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid; and notable painting shows in London: Arpita Singh at the Serpentine Galleries and Noah Davis at the Barbican.
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Artistic director, Serpentine Galleries
London
“2025 will see many more artists working with video games,” said Hans Ulrich Obrist. “Video games are today played by more than 3 billion people. It makes what used to be a pastime activity into one of the mediums of our time, and in a way, video games can become, for our time, the novels of the 19th century, or films for the 20th century.”
A key highlight for 2025, he said, is Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley’s upcoming exhibition at the Serpentine, featuring a new video game developed in collaboration with the Serpentine’s technology department. “What is so exciting about video games is that it brings all the disciplines together,” he said. “It’s an extremely collaborative practice, and it’s about world building and artists building worlds, and, now, the game engines are more accessible.”
“The future is not either, or—it’s not digital or analog, but it’s both,” said Obrist.
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