As part of Somerset House’s 25th birthday programme, Virtual Beauty explores how digital culture is reshaping our understanding of beauty and identity – offering fresh perspective on an urgent subject.
Curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Mathilde Friis, and Bunny Kinney, and featuring over 20 international artists working across sculpture, photography, installation, and video, Virtual Beauty delves into the influence of artificial intelligence, social media, and digital avatars on self-image, and questions who holds the power to define beauty.
Contributing artists include:
Sin Wai Kin, viral virtual influencer Lil Miquela, Arvida Byström, M.C. Abbott, María Buey González and Carl Olsson, Filip Ćustić, and Michael Wallinger, ORLAN, Amalia Ulman, Hyungkoo Lee, Qualeasha Wood + more.
In an age where digital self-curation is second nature, Virtual Beauty invites audiences to reflect on identity, empowerment, and the shifting boundaries of beauty in the post-internet era.
From social media filters and artificial intelligence to biometrics and dating apps, the works by emerging and established artists examine how we are more self-aware and calculated in the way we present ourselves publicly than ever before – and how these altered, enhanced, and filtered identities can both constrain and empower.
| Duration | 23 July 2025 - 28 September 2025 |
| Times | Sun–Wed 10am–6pm Thu & Fri 12–8pm Sat 10am–8pm |
| Cost | £19 |
| Venue | Somerset House |
| Address | The Strand, London, WC2R 1LA |
| Contact | / info@somersethouse.org.uk / www.somersethouse.org.uk |