From a survey of the queen of performance art to a gargantuan Tate Modern takeover, London has hosted an exceptional range of exhibitions spanning the immersive work of Anselm Kiefer to a powerful and political look at feminist art in Britain. Painting, photography, performance and sculpture, all feature in STIR’s favourite shows in the city this year.

It’s been a busy year for London’s galleries and museums with hundreds of exhibitions opening this year. In this article, we have selected our top picks from 2023.

1. Marina Abramović at Royal Academy of Arts (September 23, 2023 - January 1, 2024)

This exhibition featured videos of the artist screaming until her lungs give out and of her partner holding an arrow at full tension aimed at her heart, accompanied by a live performance positioning two naked individuals on either side of a narrow doorway so visitors have to squeeze through, brushing against them both. Marina Abramović is a pioneer of the understudied field of performance art and this retrospective represents the medium at its most intense, most uncomfortable and most memorable.

2. Mat Collishaw: Petrichor at Kew Gardens (October 20, 2023 - April 7, 2024)

What happens when nature and technology collide? Does one consume the other? Mat Collishaw puts a spotlight on nature using technology, animating 16^th century botanical prints so that they appear as though they sway in the wind, and creating a zoetrope where the flickering lights make static sculptures appear as if they are moving. The powerful centrepiece of this show is a skeletal outline of one of England’s oldest oak trees in Sherwood Forest. It’s 800-years-old and being held up by scaffolding, an allegory for the state in which the country finds itself now—in a post-Brexit economic slump.

3. El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon at Tate Modern, Turbine Hall (October 10, 2023 - April 14, 2024)

The Tate Modern’s gargantuan Turbine Hall is an imposing space to fill. El Anatsui hasn’t just filled it; rather, the hall is struggling to contain his giant textile works that are made from sewn-together bottle tops. The bottle tops are from multiple sources, including Nigeria’s liquor industry, built upon historic colonial trade routes. The artist’s works ensure you are hit with a sense of awe upon entering the Tate Modern and so it rewards viewing from a distance as well as close observation to see the fine detail in how the bottle tops are woven together.

4. Thomas J Price at V&A (July 22, 2023 - May 27, 2024)

Statues in the UK often celebrate some person of note, who is often white and born wealthy. That’s no exception for many of the portrait sculptures in the V&A, so it’s significant to have Thomas J Price’s sculptures of Black people in dialogue with them. Price’s works present a composite of multiple everyday individuals, elevating not one person but many. As Price has said himself, “I want people to recognise themselves and feel valued,” and that’s exactly why these works are so important.

5. Anselm Kiefer: Finnegan’s Wake at White Cube, Bermondsey (June 7 - August 20, 2023)

It’s rare to walk into a commercial gallery space and find the standard white-walled space completely transformed, but that’s exactly what Anselm Kiefer has done to the White Cube space in Bermondsey—with darkened walls, low lighting and works lining the normally empty corridor. The exhibition is a sequel to a similarly stunning exhibition in the same gallery back in 2016. One space contains huge landscape paintings that tower over us, including a piece that has items of clothing embedded within it; a central corridor of shelves is stuffed with items from his studio; and the largest space feels like the ceiling has caved in with chunks of rubble all over the floor. It’s art at its most epic.

6. Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism in the UK – 1970-1990 at Tate Britain (November 8, 2023 - April 7, 2024)

Charting the story of women artists in Britain from 1970-1990, this exhibition is punchy and it elucidates the limited rights and flagrant injustices women in the UK faced as recently as 1970—with casual, and often open, sexism rife, and no shelters for victims of domestic abuse. Importantly, the exhibition contains works on the overlapping but distinct struggles faced by women of colour, lesbian women and disabled women—including Marlene Smith’s powerful tribute to Cherry Groce, a Black woman who was wrongfully shot on her doorstep by the police. It’s an important show that people of all genders should visit.

7. Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography galleries at IWM London (permanent)

The opening of new galleries offers this museum the chance to showcase their fantastic collection of war art—including propaganda posters from both world wars, John Singer Sargent’s haunting painting of men blinded by a gas attack leading each other away from the battlefield, and Kennard Phillips’s much-shared, manipulated image of Tony Blair taking a selfie in front of an explosion. It’s not easy viewing and nor should it be: war is hell and here’s all the proof we need.

8. A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography at Tate Modern (July 6, 2023 - January 14, 2024)

Addressing the history and impact of religion, colonialism, mining and the climate emergency on the African continent ensures there’s lots of hard hitting imagery in this photography exhibition. But there are exceptional positive depictions too, as Hassan Hajjaj snaps members of an all female Muslim biker gang and Sabelo Mlangeni’s black and white photos celebrate gay love in South Africa. This exhibition offers a cross section of the brilliance and diversity in contemporary African photography.

9. The Cult of Beauty at Wellcome Collection (October 26, 2023 - April 28, 2024)

Who and what defines what is seen as beautiful? Taking us from the cosmetics used by the Ancient Egyptians to a life-sized mannequin showing the absurdity of Barbie’s proportions, this dense exhibition offers a fascinating look into the history of beauty. Whether it is how photography has historically been based on illuminating those with white skin, or Shirin Fathi’s critique of the Iranian obsession with cosmetic nose surgeries, the mix of historical artefacts and contemporary art makes for a varied and fascinating show.

STIRred 2023 wraps up the year with compilations of the best in architecture, art, and design from STIR. Did your favourites make the list? Tell us in the comments!