ST.GALLEN.- The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstmuseum St.Gallen present Beyond the Manosphere. Masculinities Today, an international group exhibition unfolding in two distinct versions across the two museums. Having opened in the spring at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (April 17–August 2, 2026), it will now run from fall through winter at Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (October 3, 2026–January 24, 2027).
What does masculinity mean today? This question has gained renewed urgency with the rise of the “manosphere”, a loose network of online spaces where a dominant, misogynistic masculinity is asserted that, to many, feels threatening. Fuelled by the spread of Trumpism, this brand of masculinity has become increasingly mainstream—its ascendancy being defined, in some quarters, as progress—and been mobilized to capitalist and fascist ends.
So, how to navigate masculinity? How can it be approached anew when it’s always already present, its meanings already taken for granted? Masculinity may at times reveal itself to be a power, something that can hurt and be hurt, something that involves a sort of prowess and can be a source of anguish and trauma, but this exhibition hopes to show that it is also more than those things.
The title of the exhibition, then, was chosen not to affirm the manosphere but to break it open. The exhibition departs from the notion of the manosphere and reads it against the grain, asking: If we were to envision masculinity as a “sphere,” what would we see inside of it? What are the cultural imaginaries and realities that have shaped today’s masculinities, and what kind of space do they take up? Expanding and reimagining existing notions of masculinity, Beyond the Manosphere. Masculinities Today provides a critical perspective by bringing together artworks that speak of power, dominance, and violence but equally of their subversion and perversion. Throughout the exhibition you will encounter types, clichs, and cultural tropes—the sedimentary layers of the terrain, our received notions of masculinity, lingering, sticky, and tenacious—but also stories of love and desire that capture how visions of masculinity shape the interactions we have with each other, the ways we give value and are valued.
With selected works from the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, along with loans and new commissions, the exhibition explores masculinity as an agent and performance of power but also a lived reality that is variously conflicting, banal, unsteady, and tender.
With: Arlette, Karimah Ashadu, Sophie Calle, Miguel-ngel Crdenas, Sam Durant, Hans Eijkelboom, EMIRHAKIN, Hamishi Farah, Sylvie Fleury, Julio Galn, Solomon Garon, Sven Gex, Jasmine Gregory, Amanda van Hesteren, Zhana Ivanova, Mike Kelley & Paul McCarthy, Tetsumi Kudo, Basir Mahmood, Reba Maybury, Lucy McKenzie, Melle, John Miller, Marlie Mul, Sands Murray-Wassink, Eduardo Paolozzi, Paul Pfeiffer, Pope.L, Sara Sadik, P. Staff, Diamond Stingily, SoiL Thornton, Salman Toor, Alex Vivian, Bruno Zhu, and Selina Zrrer.
Curated by Melanie Bhler, Curator Contemporary Art, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Bierke Books and designed by Sabo Day. It includes a curatorial essay by Melanie Bhler; artist texts by Amanda van Hesteren, Tetsumi Kudo, Reba Maybury, Sands Murray-Wassink, and Bruno Zhu; essays by Hannah Black, Maurits de Bruijn, and Asa Seresin; and an interview with Judith Butler.
