Best of 2023

This year saw the arrival of baby Alfie in August, so my resolution to read and write more has somewhat fallen by the wayside. But I’ve enjoyed diversifying my podcast listening, and we’ve still managed to visit a wide range of museums and galleries. National Trust properties proved a particular haven for both late pregnancy and newborn outings. I’ve also enjoyed realising how my assessments and interactions change seeing how Alfie engages with different spaces. As ever, below is my top 10 for the year, in the order in which I visited.

1. L’Etno - University of Valencia (Valencia)

   Among the varied offerings of a rich and vibrant city, this museum really stood out to me for its playful and intelligent approach to ethnographic collections. It used the stories of a changing Valencia to challenge you to think about the value of anthropology itself, and was beautifully designed.

2. Permissible Beauty - Hampton Court (Surrey)

   This collaboration between Historic Royal Palaces, University of Leicester Museum Studies, photographer Robert Taylor and members of the Black British Queer community showed me the power of research projects that use artistic and display practice. The exhibition featured a beautiful series of contemporary portraits in conversation with the historic ‘Windsor Beauties’ to question why and how we value some forms of beauty more than others.

3. Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940–70 - Whitechapel Gallery (London)

   This inspiring display introduced me to a raft of female artists of which I was previously unaware. It told the story of a generation working with gesture and paint beyond the well-known male Abstract Expressionists. The works included were a riot of colour and ideas, in beautifully curated juxtapositions.

4. David Hockney, Bigger & Closer (not Smaller & Further Away) - The Lightroom (London)

   I visited this because I expected not to enjoy it but wanted to challenge myself. I think there is both too much Hockney and too many bad immersive art experiences around at the moment. But I was blown away by the clever use of the space to animate Hockney’s works, the focus on the artist’s voice, and the use of this new approach as the next step in his lifelong engagement with new technology.

5. The Hunterian Museum (London)

   This wonderful small museum has reopened after a big refurbishment. The new galleries thoughtfully tell the story of eighteenth-century surgeon, anatomist and collector John Hunter through beautiful displays that raise important and challenging questions about the nature of such collections and their histories.

6. Hilma af Klimt and Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life - Tate Modern (London)

   This is my ‘art and science’ pick of the year, somewhat to my surprise. Not an obvious pairing, this exhibition sought to show how the two artists responded to shared currents of thought, particularly changing ideas of nature, to create their own visual languages. I particularly enjoyed the packed room focused on the network of scientific ideas to which they connected.

7. Crown to Couture: The Fashion Show of the Centuries - Kensington Palace (London)

   This exhibition was a stunning and exhilarating tour de force. Displayed throughout the palace, and also responding to the use and history of the rooms, it showcased a dazzling array of fashion to explain the complexities of the Georgian Court through reference to the modern red carpet.

8. El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon - Tate Modern (London)

   I’m not always convinced by the Turbine Hall commissions at the Tate. It’s such a large space, that’s hard really to fill. But El Anatsui’s monumental hangings are a visual treat. Made of thousands of metal bottle tops and fragments, the huge hangings shift and change as you move around the space, also raising questions about the global histories of such materials.

9. Palazzo Grimani (Venice)

   I thought I already knew all the ‘wow’ moments in Venice, but Palazzo Grimani has me corrected. The extraordinary marble-lined Tribuna, top-lit and filled with sculpture, is worth a visit on its own, but I was also deeply compelled by the exhibition of contemporary photographs by Ugo Carmeni (Venice Mapping Time) capturing new views of the city’s architecture during building work.

10. Young V&A (London)

    Alfie arrived with perfect timing to visit the newly re-opened former Museum of Childhood. The galleries make both playful and educational use of the rich displays to engage children of different ages through focus on ‘Play’, ‘Imagine’ and ‘Design’. Even for a 4-month old, the ‘mini museum’ was enjoyable, and I can see we will visit again and again with delight.