One of the most effective methods to struggle off the January blues is to start out plotting “shows to see” in your calendar. As images celebrates its 2 hundredth birthday, we’ve cherry-picked 10 of 2026’s hottest images exhibitions, spanning London, Paris, Beijing and past – in your perusal (and vacationing inspiration).
Kicking off the yr is an expanded iteration of Aaron Stern’s Hard Copy exhibition, co-curated by David Campany on the ICP in New York. Several of the taking part artists will get caught into this month’s set up themselves, embodying the DIY essence of this undertaking, which delves into the magic of Xerox printing. Highlights will embody Thomas Ruff’s reappropriated nudes from the Nineties, Stephen Shore’s portraits of Andy Warhol and a 50-foot-long mural by Gray Sorrenti. Stern guarantees us an expertise that’s bodily, immersive and old-fashioned. And talking of old-fashioned, when you’re at it, don’t miss the possibility to expertise work by the OG road photographer Eugène Atget within the rooms subsequent door.
Hard Copy New Yorkruns on the International Center of Photography, New York, from January 29 till May 4 2026.
The first exhibition of legendary photographer Martin Parr after his passing will likely be Jeu de Paume’s witty tackle our fraught relationship with our planet. Consumerism, mass tourism and globalisation have lengthy been key themes in Parr’s work, which options eye-poppingly gaudy colors to convey the excesses of latest capitalism. Although globe-trotting in scope, the presentation will function a stark reminder of our more and more “flat world”, the place you discover the identical quick meals chains and procuring malls wherever you go. A publication co-produced with Phaidon will accompany the present. It is certainly exhausting to think about the panorama of images with out Parr’s sharp eye. What a legacy he leaves us.
Global Warningruns at Jeu de Paume, Paris, from January 30 till May 24 2026.
Louisiana, the spectacular coastal museum in Denmark, will host the provocative French artist Sophie Calle this spring, and it’s set to be a crowd-pleaser. It will embody a number of new works, in addition to the newly acquired The Blind, for which Calle requested individuals who had been blind from start to explain their picture of “beauty”. Not a lot else has been introduced in regards to the present, however we are able to financial institution on the basic Calle cocktail of romance, want and intrigue – with a splash of suspense.
Sophie Calleruns at Louisiana, Humblebaek, from March 3 till August 8 2026.
Catherine Opie, To Be Seen
Gallery / 17 photographs
Catherine Opie’s first main UK exhibition will collect photographic portraits from her 30-year profession, which is devoted to notions of queer tradition, liberation and residential. Opie’s contribution to artwork historical past shouldn’t be underestimated, for she has made seen those that have usually gone unseen, and, in flip, challenged us to query the canon. As the title suggests, the present will give attention to concepts of illustration, visibility and identification. You’ll be invited to return head to head with Opie’s ennobling, Baroque-like portraits of her mates, whose statements are emphatic: “We’re here, and we’re queer!”
To Be Seenruns on the National Portrait Gallery, London, from March 5 till May 31 2026.
This forthcoming present in Paris will hinge on Daido Moriyama’s French connection, which started with the photographer’s 2008 pilgrimage to the town of Chalon-sur-Saône, the place Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of images, was born. Moriyama has since maintained a passionate relationship with the earliest surviving {photograph}, the well-known View from the Window at Le Gras, and is claimed to have a poster of the picture above his mattress. This present will unravel as a love letter to the medium of images – its aura, transformations and echoes throughout time. Emphasis will likely be positioned on Moriyama’s books and journal contributions, and his writings on images will likely be translated into French for the primary time.
Declarations to Photography runs at Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris from May 20 till October 4 2026.
Most audiences will likely be extra acquainted with Camille Vivier’s work on the web page than on the wall, however that is definitely set to alter with the MEP’s first main displaying of her work. The powerhouse of vogue images has developed a really distinctive visible language, wherein components of romance, fantasy, fetishism, mythology, underground tradition and horror collide. Exploring types and femininity, this dream of a present will showcase work throughout each industrial and private work, from nudes, puppets and vogue to self-portraits displayed on TV screens. Your flabber will likely be gasted.
Camille Vivier runs at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, from June 10 till September 20 2026.
Thomas Sauvin’s Silvermine undertaking will likely be coming to Shanghai this summer season, and will probably be its largest presentation to this point. The one-of-a-kind archive consists of negatives salvaged from a recycling plant on the sting of Beijing, and collectively captures on a regular basis life throughout China’s fast transformation from the mid-Nineteen Eighties to 2000s. Holly Roussell’s curation will characteristic an enormous set up of 1000+ photographs mounted on colored plexiglass (amazingly, representing simply 0.1% of the total archive), a light-weight wall to seek the advice of negatives, a reconstruction of Sauvin’s studio and a playful presentation of Until Death Do Us Part, the cult photograph e book documenting the forgotten customized of Double Happiness cigarettes at Chinese weddings.
Beijing Silvermine: Archive Anthology runs at Fotografiska, Shanghai from June 19 till October 18 2026.
Five years after his demise, the famend American conceptual artist John Baldessari will likely be honoured by his first institutional displaying in China. It will introduce his work to new audiences and encourage budding artists together with his many classes on life and artwork, whether or not that’s the significance of salvaging from mess or why we should always be taught from youngsters. The exhibition will likely be complete, ranging from Baldessari’s earliest experiments with textual content and picture, transferring by means of the Seventies (after he cremated all his work and made cookies from the ashes), to his later works which interact with popular culture and new media. There can even be an opportunity to find his rarely-seen maquettes, wherein Baldessari would reduce out and scribble on supply materials as a approach of exploring his artistic course of.
John Baldessariruns at UCCA, Beijing, from September 19 2026 till March 1 2027.
Another sure-fire hit from Tate will come at their different Thames-side gallery this autumn. Curated by none apart from Edward Enninful, it is going to journey not too far again to the heady days of 90s Britain, a decade of pleasure, risk and chaos. It noticed the rise of multiculturalism, new media and, after all, Kate Moss, the “cocky kid from Croydon”, whose ascent into the excessive vogue world coincided with the phenomenon of “Cool Britannia”, as she walked runways for British names equivalent to Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Excitingly, the collections of those designers will likely be exhibited alongside work by Juergen Teller and Corrine Day, Damien Hirst and Gillian Wearing. Brace your self for a giant fats dose of nostalgia.
The 90sruns at Tate Britain, London, from October 1 2026 till February 14 2027.
This winter, the Swiss museum Photo Élysée will remodel right into a zoo of kinds, telling a 200-year story of animals in images. Featuring canine, cats, cows, horses, zebras, birds, lions, monkeys and plenty of, many extra in a mixture of imagery that ranges from the novice to iconic, the scientific to creative, it’s sure to supply a much-needed various to the tiny screens we so usually eat animals by means of right this moment. Expect extra awe than aww.
Animal Model runs at Photo Élysée, Lausanne from December 4 2026 till April 4 2027.