Hyperallergic names best 2025 shows from Alexis Rockman’s environmental warnings to Coco Fusco’s cultural interrogations
A Year of Powerful Artistic Statements in America’s Cultural Capital
New York City’s art institutions delivered exhibitions in 2025 that reflected urgent contemporary concerns while pushing boundaries of artistic expression, according to Hyperallergic’s comprehensive year-end survey. The year showcased hometown heroes including Coco Fusco at El Museo and Joyce McDonald at the Bronx Museum, reinvented understandings of the sublime through Amy Sherald’s work at the Whitney, and explored bodies as battlegrounds in Nayland Blake’s exhibitions at Matthew Marks. From the Studio Museum in Harlem’s triumphant return after seven years to the Frick Collection’s expansion and facelift, the city’s cultural infrastructure underwent significant transformations. The New Museum’s planned expansion looms on the horizon as galleries adapted to shifting landscapes, with some closing while others opened, reshaping the ecosystem where artists, curators, and audiences engage with contemporary art.
Environmental Urgency Through Alexis Rockman’s Dystopic Vision
Alexis Rockman’s ambitious series taking on Thomas Cole’s epic “The Course of Empire” asked whether humanity deserved continuation, with paintings suggesting that humans represent the larger plague facing Earth. Hyperallergic’s Hrag Vartanian described the show’s impact as lingering for days, writing that each painting proposes that gold at rainbow’s ends will arrive only when humans disappear. The dystopic tone, Vartanian argued, fits appropriately as society confronts realization that this version of humanity may not deserve renewal for another season. The exhibition exemplifies how artists are increasingly engaging environmental crises not through hopeful messaging about solutions but through unflinching confrontations with potential consequences of current trajectories. Rockman’s work functions as mirror showing society its ugliness, a role Vartanian identifies as among art’s most vital functions.
Identity, Culture, and Historical Interrogation
Coco Fusco’s exhibition created uncanny experiences where viewers became the watched rather than watchers. Entering the show, visitors encountered filmed reenactments of maquiladora interrogations, then stepped into gilded cages to watch Fusco’s iconic performance “Two Undiscovered Amerindians” loop on box televisions while feeling themselves on display. The threading of surveillance throughout the exhibition pushed audiences to adopt the acute gaze Fusco has sharpened across years of practice, according to reviewer Clara Maria Apostolatos. The work demonstrates how contemporary artists are using immersive installations to disrupt comfortable viewing positions, forcing audiences to reckon with their own complicity in systems of observation and power. Kelly Sinnapah Mary’s paintings and ceramics at another venue constituted imaginative universes rooted in personal and cultural histories. The artist’s work in “The Book of Violette: Auntie Maryse” showcased how individual family stories can anchor expansive artistic visions that resonate beyond specific biographical details, creating entry points for diverse audiences while maintaining cultural specificity.
Reframing Art Historical Narratives
The Guerrilla Girls exhibition perfectly coincided with Inauguration Day, its no-holds-barred attitude providing fire for those needing warmth before a tough year ahead. The anonymous coalition of artists continues poking audiences from comfort of armchairs with works like “Top Ten Signs That You’re an Artworld Token.” Vartanian noted in his February review that not all superheroes wear capes; some don gorilla masks. The exhibition represented ongoing efforts to challenge art world’s exclusionary practices and biases, work the Guerrilla Girls have pursued for decades with distinctive combination of humor, data, and direct confrontation. Their sustained presence in contemporary discourse demonstrates both progress made in diversifying art institutions and significant work remaining. Nayland Blake’s “Sex in the 90s” focused on work created in AIDS crisis’s wake amid culture wars, examining how artists navigated hostile political environments while mourning tremendous losses. The three-part exhibition showcased Blake’s longstanding exploration of bodies, desire, and social constraints, with installations including leather, steel, aluminum, PVC, plastic, fabric, glass, mirrors, microphones, sound machines, wood, paint, and hardware creating immersive environments.
Dia’s Ambitious La Monte Young Retrospective
The Dia Art Foundation’s presentation of La Monte Young’s work at both Dia Chelsea and Dia Beacon represented major institutional commitment to avant-garde composer whose influence extends across experimental music, visual art, and performance. The exhibition, organized by Donna De Salvo, Emily Markert, and Randy Gibson in collaboration with the Laurenz Foundation and Schaulager, ran from September 2024 through July 2025, providing extended engagement with Young’s durational approach to artistic practice. Young’s work, characterized by sustained tones and extended time frames, challenges conventional exhibition models built around discrete objects viewed during brief museum visits. Dia’s presentation acknowledged these challenges while creating environments allowing audiences to experience Young’s sonic and visual compositions as intended, demonstrating how institutions are adapting to accommodate time-based and experiential art forms.
Celebrating Artistic Labor and Gallery Histories
Exhibitions highlighting gallery histories and artist-activist organizations provided crucial documentation of past struggles informing current practices. Shows featuring work from the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition and Where We At reminded audiences of organized efforts that challenged art world exclusions, creating opportunities for artists marginalized by mainstream institutions. These historical exhibitions serve multiple functions: honoring pioneering activists, educating younger generations about institutional change, and providing inspiration for contemporary efforts addressing ongoing inequities. The proliferation of such shows suggests growing recognition that art world histories involve not just masterworks and famous artists but also collective organizing, institutional critique, and sustained advocacy.
The High Line’s Controversial Pigeon
Iván Argote’s installation on the High Line finally gave pigeons their due, according to Hyperallergic’s assessment. The divisive NYC icon received monumental treatment in ways that prompted reconsideration of relationships between humans and urban wildlife. The work exemplifies how public art can intervene in everyday environments, using familiar creatures to prompt unfamiliar reflections. Argote’s pigeon joined long tradition of High Line commissions that bring contemporary art into contact with diverse publics beyond gallery and museum audiences. These installations create opportunities for chance encounters with art while also generating debates about public space, artistic value, and who gets to determine what appears in shared environments.
Institutional Evolution and Future Directions
The year’s exhibitions unfolded against backdrop of institutional changes including the Studio Museum in Harlem’s reopening after extensive renovation and expansion. The museum’s return after seven-year absence represented significant moment for institution dedicated to artists of African descent and broader Harlem community. The Frick Collection’s reopening after its own expansion demonstrated how legacy institutions are adapting historical buildings and collections for contemporary audiences. The renovations balanced preservation of distinctive character with improvements in accessibility, visitor amenities, and exhibition capabilities, navigating tensions between tradition and change. As 2025 concluded, the New York art world looked toward continued evolution of both established institutions and emerging spaces. The best exhibitions demonstrated that compelling art engages urgent questions while providing aesthetic experiences that justify physical presence in galleries and museums. From environmental warnings to cultural interrogations, from historical recuperations to formal experimentation, New York’s exhibitions offered diverse entry points into contemporary artistic practice while collectively suggesting that art’s role in fostering critical consciousness remains as vital as ever in politically turbulent times.
