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Yesterday Somerset House announced Virtual Beauty (23 July - 28 September), a summer exhibition which will showcase as part of its special 25th anniversary program.
Somerset House has cleverly positioned itself to own a cool, cultured and slightly quirky sector of the London exhibition scene. When it comes to matters of ‘beauty’ specifically, its offerings aren’t just always terribly stylish, but thoughtful and boundary-pushing too. It not only showcases beauty, but dissects and interrogates its power, myths and constant contradictions.
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Highlights from the last decade include Hair by Sam McKnight, a celebration of hairspray and high-fashion, and an ode to the iconic London hairdresser’s vast portfolio of exquisite wigs and images.
Guy Bourdain: Image Maker, showcased the provocative gloss of the subversive photographer whose images defied conventional beauty norms by injecting surrealism, eroticism and unsettling narratives into high-fashion photography.
Then there was Black Venus, which explored the historical representation and evolving legacy of Black women in visual culture.
Meanwhile, CUTE dissected our collective obsession with all things pink and wide-eyed.
Virtual Beauty is set to present no exception to Somerset House’s unique approach. Curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Mathilde Friis and Bunny Kinney, the provocative exhibition will explore how digital technologies are reshaping our perceptions of beauty, self-representation and identity in a screen-dominated world.
Featuring the work of more than 20 artists from across the globe, Virtual Beauty will ask who holds the power to define beauty in this era of filtered, altered and enhanced realities.
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Works by ORLAN and Amalia Ulman will bridge the digital and physical in performance art, while Isamaya Ffrench will use AI to interrogate machine-led beauty ideals.
Blurring virtual and tangible, the exhibition is set to offer a very timely exploration of gender, sexuality and identity in the post-internet world.
