Virtual Beauty

Featuring over 20 international artists, Virtual Beauty will delve into the influence of artificial intelligence, social media, and virtual identities on self-image.

The exhibition will feature interactive installations and pioneering works that challenge traditional beauty standards. Highlights include ORLAN’s Omniprésence (1993), a groundbreaking performance in which the artist live-streamed her own facial aesthetic surgery to critique Western beauty ideals, and Amalia Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections, a powerful commentary on the authenticity of social media personas. Artificial intelligence’s perception of beauty will be examined through AI-generated portraits by Minnie Atairu, Ben Cullen Williams, and Isamaya Ffrench, while Harriet Davey, Frederik Heyman, and Andrew Thomas Huang explore digital self-expression and the creation of avatars beyond human boundaries.

From social media filters to machine-generated faces, Virtual Beauty will question how technology influences self-representation and who holds the power to define beauty. In an age where digital self-curation is second nature, the exhibition will invite audiences to reflect on identity, empowerment, and the shifting boundaries of beauty in the post-internet era.

Contributing artists announced so far include Anan Fries, Andrew Thomas Huang, Angelfire, Amalia Ulman, Aleksander Nærbø, Ben Cullen Williams and Isamaya Ffrench, Bunny Kinney, Frederik Heyman, Harriet Davey, Hyungkoo Lee, Ines Alpha, Minne Atairu, ORLAN and Qualeasha Wood.

The exhibition, a project initiated by HEK (House of Electronic Arts, Basel), is co-curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Mathilde Friis, Bunny Kinney and supported by Claire Catterall, Senior Curator at Somerset House.

Header image: Hyungkoo Lee. Altering Facial Features with WH5 (2010). Courtesy of the artist.