Best Exhibitions about Social Impact in Europe

This summer, there are exhibitions about social impact that you simply cannot miss. From an exhibition that empowers the freedom of voices, to one that impressively displays the ever-changing, fragmented realities of the world, and one that turns on the light of reality regarding democracy, these exhibitions in Europe cannot be missed. If you are in Austria, Poland or Switzerland for the summer, do check them out!

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FREEING THE VOICES

Kunsthaus Graz
Graz, Austria
28 February 2025 – 24 August 2025

“Freeing the Voices” is a beautifully complex, transformative and powerful exhibition revolving around the concept of and what it means to have a voice. Beginning with the voice of artist Marina Abramović which blends with other voices and ends with artist Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec, it’s an exhibition that urges viewers to truly listen.

From a world of instability, crises, genocidal wars, emotions of suffocation and panic, a loss of freedom of speech and so many issues that seem to increase, blend, crush and add on to one another, “Freeing the Voices” calls for action, “even if it is as inarticulate as shouting or murmuring”.

The works presented in the exhibition is a liberation of the separate and collective voice. They “attempt to decolonise the different voices of particular traditions, nations and their communities and landscapes, the voices of women, people of colour, people from the edges of Europe, and the voices of our individual bodies”. Additionally, they also raise awareness regarding modernity’s crisis and its rational constructs.

The works, then, through the powerful emotion of art, urge the human body to finally breathe and speak again, to not be removed and disempowered by silence.

“Freeing the Voices” is an absolute masterpiece. If you’re in Austria for the summer, do check it out. It is not to be missed!

FRAGMENTS OF REALITY. BERLIN – TRICITY

The State Gallery of Art
Sopot, Poland
7 June 2025 – 24 August 2025

“Fragments of Reality”, a Group Exhibition currently taking place at The State Gallery of Art in Sopot, Poland, is an exhibition showcasing the powerful works of women artists connected to Berlin and the Tricity area. The artists, many of whom have migratory backgrounds – Turkish, Kurdish, Iranian, Afghan, Romanian, Polish or Mexican – evoke powerful works “that reflect the turbulence of the contemporary world, various crises, and the fragmentary nature of our perception”.

It’s an exhibition that showcases the need to reflect, look back and observe. What has become of our world, and what can we do about it? A display of political conflicts, ever-changing identities, hopes, dreams, instability, themes of violence, how oppressive the world can be towards women, and the state of what is going on in the world locally and globally, the exhibition’s artists “are united by their sharp insight into the anxieties of our time”. Due to this, the exhibition’s Berlin edition will be titled “Unruhe/ Disquiet”.

The title is a nod toward a passage from “The Queen’s Peacock” (Paw Królowej), a novel by Dorota Maslowska. It’s a novel that, post the 2000-era, provides a powerful, intriguing and accurate diagnosis of the human condition.

The work of the women artists not only touch on Maslowska’s novel, but they also speak to it, collaborate with it, work hand in hand with it. Through the confounding power of the literary and artistic metaphor, they make the human condition and processes of it come to life. Thus, “Fragments of Reality” is a must-see. If you’re in Poland for the summer, make sure to check it out before it ends on 24 August next month!

© Tamara Wyrzykowska for The State Gallery of Art in Sopot.

“DEMOCRACY? WHAT DEMOCRACY?!”

Caux Palace
Caux, Switzerland
8 July 2025 – 14 September 2025

This pivotal, must-see exhibition, “Democracy? What democracy?!”, which is part of the “Caux Palace Expos – Summer 2025” and presented by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, showcases press cartoons by artists Gado (Godfrey MWAMPEMBWA) and Willis from Tunis (Nadia KHIARI).

The exhibition, which was organised in collaboration with Freedom Cartoonists – Dessins pour la liberté, revolves around the current world’s “core values of democracy… being radically challenged”, a theme presented through the nearly-40 cartoons created by the artists.

The artworks reflect the empty meaning of democracy, how the very word itself has been abandoned by its original definition. Not only that, it was also “misappropriated, flouted, reinterpreted or exploited”, as quoted by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation. An exhibition that truly asks the question of “What democracy?!”, it urges those watching to reflect, observe and think.

What has happened to democracy, and why is it being exploited? Through the power of art, you will get to see the truth. If you are in Switzerland for the summer, don’t miss the chance to see this compelling, incredibly important exhibition! Truly a must-see.

“Through the sharp, ironic and sometimes cynical eyes of these two artists from the African continent, the exhibition shows snapshots of European and world political events in recent years.” – The Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation.