Several international curators and museum directors, including Connie Butler of MoMA PS1, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Julieta Gonzalez of the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Madeleine Grynsztejn of MCA Chicago, selected artworks that they believe define 2025. Highlights include Ayoung Kim's video installation 'Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0º Receiver' (2024), Beeple's 'Regular Animals' premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach, and Kerry James Marshall's painting 'Haul' (2025) from his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts. Julieta Gonzalez also pointed to a broader constellation of practices emphasizing collectivity, ecological thinking, and Indigenous cosmologies rather than a single emblematic work.
This article matters because it captures the zeitgeist of the contemporary art world in 2025, reflecting key themes such as the rise of generative AI and digital technologies, the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a renewed focus on ecological and Indigenous perspectives. The selections by prominent curators offer a curated snapshot of how artists are responding to dystopian political and technological shifts, making the piece a valuable barometer for current artistic trends and critical discourse.