Artforum magazine has released its highly anticipated annual Top Ten feature for 2025, showcasing the year's most significant exhibitions, publications, events, and ideas as selected by twelve prominent figures in the contemporary art world. The comprehensive year-end roundup appears in the December 2025 issue and represents one of the art world's most influential annual surveys.
The distinguished panel of contributors includes Pavel Pyś, Christophe Cherix, Carla Acevedo-Yates, Pablo José Ramírez, Eugenio Viola, Susanne Pfeffer, Manuel Borja-Villel, Daniel Muzyczuk, Emma Enderby, Joanna Warsza, Pauline J. Yao, and Léuli Eshrāghi. Each contributor was asked to identify ten of the most notable cultural moments that defined their experience of 2025, offering diverse perspectives from curators, critics, and cultural practitioners working across different continents and contexts.
This year's selection process invited participants to look beyond traditional exhibition formats and consider a broader range of cultural phenomena. Contributors were encouraged to highlight not only museum exhibitions and gallery shows but also publications, performances, digital projects, and conceptual developments that shaped artistic discourse throughout the year. The format allows for a comprehensive view of how art intersected with social, political, and technological developments in 2025.
The feature represents a continuation of Artforum's long-standing tradition of ending each year with this influential survey. Since its inception, the Top Ten has served as both a historical record and a barometer of critical opinion within the contemporary art world. The magazine's editors note that the 2025 edition reflects an increasingly global and interconnected art ecosystem, with contributors highlighting work from emerging art centers alongside established cultural capitals.
Among the highlighted works featured in accompanying materials is Steve McQueen's "Bass" from 2024, an installation incorporating LED lights and sound that was exhibited at Schaulager Basel in 2025. The piece exemplifies the kind of multimedia, experiential work that several contributors identified as defining characteristics of the year's most compelling artistic offerings.
The December 2025 issue also includes related content such as "Best Show 2025" features, portfolios by artists including Cassiljs and Dread Scott, and a "Year in Review 2025" essay titled "The War on Bohemia" by Diedrich Diederichsen. These additional pieces provide context and depth to the year-end assessment, creating a comprehensive portrait of 2025's cultural landscape.
The publication timing coincides with the art world's traditional year-end reflection period, when institutions, collectors, and critics assess the year's developments and anticipate future trends. Artforum's Top Ten feature has historically influenced museum acquisition strategies, academic curricula, and critical discourse well into the following year, making it one of the art world's most closely watched annual publications.
