The exhibition at London’s Somerset House brings together over twenty international creators to challenge conventional ideas of beauty shaped by machines and screens.
Hyungkoo Lee. Altering Facial Features with WH5 (2010)
What happens when beauty is curated through filters and algorithms instead of touch? That’s the central question behind Virtual Beauty, now open at London’s Somerset House until September 28. The exhibition features over twenty artists and designers who explore how digital tools are transforming our perception of bodies, identity and desirability through sculpture, video, photography and immersive installations.
filip custic – pi(x)el (2022)
Among the participating voices, Sin Wai Kin blends drag and speculative fiction in a piece that destabilises binary views of beauty and selfhood. Arvida Byström reflects on AI’s role in shaping gendered aesthetics through a filmic exploration of maternal absence. A life-size silicone body embedded with LED screens, created by Filip Ćustić, allows visitors to manipulate age, race and facial structure in real time. Lil Miquela appears as both subject and symptom of a world in which influencers no longer need to be human. Artists such as M.C. Abbott, María Buey González and Carl Olsson bring augmented reality into the conversation, inviting viewers to explore facial identity beyond the surface.
Ines Alpha. I’d rather be a cyborg (2024)
Ben Cullen Williams and Isamaya Ffrench. Past Life (2021)
Andrew Thomas Huang & James Merry. Bjork Virtual Avatars (2017)
Curated by Bunny Kinney, Gonzalo Herrero Delicado and Mathilde Friis, the show moves between speculative futures and contemporary anxieties, addressing phenomena like the Instagram face or Snapchat dysmorphia with a critical lens. Through a constellation of hybrid bodies, generative images and digitally enhanced skins, Virtual Beauty opens a space for questioning whether today’s tools expand creative freedom or reinforce aesthetic control.
Arvida Byström – Harmony (2022)
The programme extends beyond the gallery walls, with curator tours, artist talks and public events designed to deepen the dialogue around beauty in the digital age.
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