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Viewing Prix Pictet 2025 – Storm at V&A

The Wick Culture - Alfredo Jarr, The End, 2025

Above Alfredo Jarr, The End, 2025

The Wick Culture - Balazs Gardi, 1:46 PM, January 6, 2021 Washington, D.C.

Above Balazs Gardi, 1:46 PM, January 6, 2021 Washington, D.C.

The Wick Culture - Baudouin Mouanda. Chez la marchande de legumes, (At the Vegetable Seller's), 2020

Above Baudouin Mouanda. Chez la marchande de legumes, (At the Vegetable Seller’s), 2020

The Wick Culture - Camille Seaman, The Lovely Monster over the Form, 19.15 CST, Lodgepole, Nebraska, 22 June 2012, 2012

Above Camille Seaman, The Lovely Monster over the Form, 19.15 CST, Lodgepole, Nebraska, 22 June 2012, 2012

The Wick Culture - Marina Caneve, Val di Zoldo, Destruction #02, 2018

Above Marina Caneve, Val di Zoldo, Destruction #02, 2018

Above Alfredo Jarr, The End, 2025

Above Balazs Gardi, 1:46 PM, January 6, 2021 Washington, D.C.

Above Baudouin Mouanda. Chez la marchande de legumes, (At the Vegetable Seller’s), 2020

Above Camille Seaman, The Lovely Monster over the Form, 19.15 CST, Lodgepole, Nebraska, 22 June 2012, 2012

Above Marina Caneve, Val di Zoldo, Destruction #02, 2018

Prix Pictet 2025 – Storm

V&A South Kensington
26 September – 19 October

The Prix Pictet returns to the V&A this week – opening to the public tomorrow in its new location in the Pictet Gallery, in the V&A South Kensington’s Photography Centre. The theme for the 2025 edition – the eleventh cycle of the international prize for photography and sustainability – is ‘storm’, and as ever, the exhibition presents twelve shortlisted artists selected by a jury, with the winner announced tonight at a special ceremony. The prize comes with an award of 100,000 Swiss Francs.

The 2025 show includes varied interpretations of the ‘storm’ theme, from extreme weather conditions, accelerated by climate change, and their devastating impact, to looser explorations of political agitation and destruction – among them a tribute to the resilient community of Odesa, Ukraine, by photojournalist Laetitia Vançon, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and the beautiful, painstakingly crafted daguerreotypes of Takashi Arai, made at the sites of former nuclear disasters in Japan.

Other highlights include an installation from Marina Caneve’s poetic series Are They Rocks or Clouds? The result of the artist’s research into the possibility of a future natural disaster in the Dolomites, questioning the role photography might play in visualising and preparing for crisis, and Baudouin Mouanda’s staged, brightly coloured portraits of families and the possessions they were able to salvage when floods destroyed their homes in Brazzaville after severe storms in 2020 during lockdown.

Viewing the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse

The Wick Culture - Bowie applying makeup as Ziggy Stardust. Photo by Mick Rock, 1973. © Mick Rock

Above Bowie applying makeup as Ziggy Stardust. Photo by Mick Rock, 1973. © Mick Rock

The Wick Culture - An acoustic guitar and case used by Bowie on
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and
Let’s Dance. Image Harptone 12-string
acoustic guitar and case used by David Bowie
on Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars and Let's Dance, ca.1970. Image
courtesy of the V&A.

Above An acoustic guitar and case used by Bowie on Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Let’s Dance. Image Harptone 12-string acoustic guitar and case used by David Bowie on Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Let’s Dance, ca.1970. Image courtesy of the V&A.

The Wick Culture - Lithograph of 1988 painting Self-portrait (Mustique), by David Bowie, 2002. © The David Bowie ArchiveTM

Above Lithograph of 1988 painting Self-portrait (Mustique), by David Bowie, 2002. © The David Bowie ArchiveTM

The Wick Culture - Replica of the 'Tokyo Pop' jumpsuit made by
Kansai Yamamoto and worn by David Bowie
as Ziggy Stardust on the Ziggy Stardust
Tour, made ca. 2013. Image courtesy of the
V&A.

Above Replica of the ‘Tokyo Pop’ jumpsuit made by Kansai Yamamoto and worn by David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust on the Ziggy Stardust Tour, made ca. 2013. Image courtesy of the V&A.

The Wick Culture - The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. Photo by David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

Above The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. Photo by David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

The Wick Culture - The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

Above The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

Above Bowie applying makeup as Ziggy Stardust. Photo by Mick Rock, 1973. © Mick Rock

Above Lithograph of 1988 painting Self-portrait (Mustique), by David Bowie, 2002. © The David Bowie ArchiveTM

Above Replica of the ‘Tokyo Pop’ jumpsuit made by Kansai Yamamoto and worn by David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust on the Ziggy Stardust Tour, made ca. 2013. Image courtesy of the V&A.

Above The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. Photo by David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

Above The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. David Parry, PA Media Assignments.

David Bowie Centre

V&A East Storehouse

Another free cultural offering from the V&A, the David Bowie Centre is the V&A East Storehouse’s newly opened home for Bowie’s archive. The centre hosts small displays by guest-curators offering new and personal perspectives on Bowie’s life and work: the first is a series of objects and items selected by Bowie collaborator Nile Rodgers, and Brit-Award-winning indie rock band, The Last Dinner Party.

This show is one for fans of Bowie’s music and fashion, with handwritten lyrics and instruments Bowie played and performed with throughout his career as well as the outfits that made him so utterly unique: such as the frock coat designed for Bowie to wear to his 50th birthday by Alexander McQueen, the Yamamoto Ziggy Stardust jumpsuit that became synonymous with Bowie’s unique style.

Incredibly, the archive contains more than 80,000 items in all – including 414 costumes and accessories and nearly 150 musical instruments, as well as objects, props and scenery for concerts, film and theatre, and even Bowie’s own desk, and fan mail. As Bowie himself once said: “I’m an instant star. Just add water and stir”.

Viewing Don’t Look Back at Unit London

The Wick Culture - Mary McCartney, Embrace, 2003. Chromogenic print, 104cm x 155 cm (framed)

Above Mary McCartney, Embrace, 2003. Chromogenic print, 104cm x 155 cm (framed)

The Wick Culture - Gavin Turk, Star, 2013, Neon, 190 x 200 x 10 cm

Above Gavin Turk, Star, 2013, Neon, 190 x 200 x 10 cm

The Wick Culture - Bex Massey William, 2022 Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm

Above Bex Massey William, 2022 Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm

The Wick Culture - Lakwena Maciver, Nothing can Separate Us

Above Lakwena Maciver, Nothing can Separate Us

The Wick Culture - Linder Sterling, Cosmic rays streamed through our coupled bodies, 2007, Collage from found negatives (framed), 34 x 51 cmLinder Sterling, Cosmic rays streamed through our coupled bodies, 2007, Collage from found negatives (framed), 34 x 51 cm

Above Linder Sterling, Cosmic rays streamed through our coupled bodies, 2007, Collage from found negatives (framed), 34 x 51 cmLinder Sterling, Cosmic rays streamed through our coupled bodies, 2007, Collage from found negatives (framed), 34 x 51 cm

The Wick Culture - Sarah Lucas, Self portrait with knickers

Above Sarah Lucas, Self portrait with knickers

The Wick Culture - Mark Titchner - September 22, 2016

Above Mark Titchner – September 22, 2016

The Wick Culture - Polly Morgan New Dish, 2023 Painted polyurethane, powder-coated steel 150.5 x 49 x 6

Above Polly Morgan New Dish, 2023 Painted polyurethane, powder-coated steel 150.5 x 49 x 6

Above Mary McCartney, Embrace, 2003. Chromogenic print, 104cm x 155 cm (framed)

Above Gavin Turk, Star, 2013, Neon, 190 x 200 x 10 cm

Above Bex Massey William, 2022 Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm

Above Lakwena Maciver, Nothing can Separate Us

Above Sarah Lucas, Self portrait with knickers

Above Mark Titchner – September 22, 2016

Above Polly Morgan New Dish, 2023 Painted polyurethane, powder-coated steel 150.5 x 49 x 6

Don’t Look Back

Unit London
25 September – 25 October, 2025

Curated by Beth Greenacre and Sigrid Kirk, this group exhibition at Unit, open from today, explores the visual culture of the 1990s & Noughties, with wit, wistfulness and just a drop of nostalgia. Moving dynamically between various mediums, Greenacre and Kirk have chosen artists who capture the essence of the Nineties & Noughties spirit.

The fashion world is already in the throes of its own Nineties and Noughties revival, and this show might have the same effect on the art world. Tracing parallels between the politicised urgency, audacity and youthful irreverence of the art of the Cool Britannia and YBA era and today, Don’t Look Back re-tells history, including voices less celebrated and often excluded at the time. Among the stellar line-up, the likes of Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin, Richard Billingham and Sarah Lucas rub shoulders with Lakwena Maciver, Thomas J Price and Bex Wade.

The curators say: “With Don’t Look Back, we set out to create a defining cultural moment that reflects on the evolving legacies of the 1990s and 2000s while looking decisively forward. Staged like a multi‐gig event, it rips up the rulebook on what an exhibition can be, reimagining that era’s defiance through today’s expansive artistic expressions. It avoids nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, instead foregrounding experimentation, humour, and the idea of a living legacy.”