Aesthetica Art Prize main prize winner Tobi Onabolu’s Danse Macabre, on show at York Art Gallery
YORK arts movers and shakers Aesthetica present two landmark exhibitions at York Art Gallery, the 2025 Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, featuring large-scale immersive installations by prize alumni Squidsoup and Liz West.
On show among work by 25 shortlisted entries are main prize winner Tobi Onabolu’s Danse Macabre and Emerging Prize winner Sam Metz’s Porosity.
Tobi Onabolu is an artist-filmmaker and writer from London, now based in Grand Popo, Benin Republic. Danse Macabre explores spirituality, mental health and the human psyche, combining combines poetry, music, archival audio and movement to represent the conscious and unconscious mind.
Emerging Prize winner Sam Metz’s Porosity
Dancers, singers, and unseen voices animate Onabolu’s portrait of healing and expanded awareness, wherein Yoruba Egúngún masquerades symbolise ancestral memory and energy.
The work synthesises elements from Yoruba traditions, European cinema and experimental music, creating a performance that draws from multiple geographies and timelines.
Porosity reflects Sam Metz’s sensory experience of the Humber Estuary. Bright yellow structures echo how the water’s reflection is seen through ocular albinism (a genetic condition that affects the eyes and often can cause visual differences, such as light sensitivity, reduced depth perception and involuntary eye movements).
Our Spectral Vision, by Liz West, 2016
Neurodivergent artist Metz uses sculpture to communicate non-verbally. Porosity challenges conventional ideas of sculpture by integrating disability and chronic pain into its core form, embracing difference as both method and message.
The exhibition showcases all 25 shortlisted artists whose work spans a diverse range of mediums, addressing urgent global themes including migration, cultural identity, ecological fragility, and the intersection of technology and the human experience.
In Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, Squidsoup’s Submergence immerses audiences in an ocean of 8,000 responsive LED lights, blurring the line between digital and physical space, while Liz West’s Our Spectral Vision surrounds visitors with a radiant spectrum of colour in a sensory encounter.
Submergence, by Squidsoup, 2023
Since its inception in 2007, the Aesthetica Art Prize has become a springboard for a host of dynamic and groundbreaking artists. Thousands of practitioners have been recognised through the prize, including such alumni as Larry Achiampong, whose multidisciplinary practice explores postcolonial identity; filmmaker Jenn Nkiru, internationally acclaimed for her work on Black To Techno and Beyoncé’s Black Is King and Noémie Goudal, known for her striking combinations of photography, film and installation.
Collectively, Aesthetica alumni have exhibited at Tate Modern, The Photographers’ Gallery, MoMA PS1, Foam Amsterdam, the V&A, Guggenheim, Barbican, Saatchi Gallery and Centre Pompidou, firmly establishing the Aesthetica Art Prize as one of the most important talent platforms in the world.
York organisation Aesthetica’s magazine – in circulation for more than 20 years with a readership of 550,000 across more than 20 countries – has been instrumental in shaping conversations around contemporary culture, championing innovation and amplifying diverse voices globally.
“The Aesthetica Art Prize prize continues to nurture artists whose practices make a lasting impact on contemporary art both in the UK and internationally,” says Aesthetica director Cherie Federico
Cherie Federico, director of Aesthetica and curator of Future Tense, says: “The Aesthetica Art Prize has always been about recognising and celebrating exceptional artistic talent and giving them a platform to share their vision with the world.
“Our 2025 winners, Tobi Onabolu and Sam Metz, exemplify the innovation, creativity, and relevance that the prize seeks to champion. Seeing their work alongside the broader exhibition, and in the context of alumni Liz West and Squidsoup, highlights how the prize continues to nurture artists whose practices make a lasting impact on contemporary art both in the UK and internationally.”
Cherie continues: “Aesthetica is a leading organisation in the UK offering this level of visibility to such a wide spectrum of contemporary talent. It continues to create platforms that propel artists from emerging practice to international recognition.
Light and shade: CharlesHutchPress visiting Liz West’s Our Spectral Vision at York Art Gallery
“York, a designated UNESCO City of Media Arts, provides the stage, but it is Aesthetica that drives this conversation forward – showcasing artists whose works challenge conventions, transform spaces, and inspire audiences on a national and international scale.”
Livia Turnbull, curator of contemporary art at York Art Gallery, adds: “Hosting both the Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense at the same time is incredibly exciting. These exhibitions transform our galleries with installations and artworks that speak directly to today’s world. It’s a unique chance for visitors to encounter art that is ambitious, thought-provoking and deeply relevant.”
To book tickets, go to: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.