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. Fueled by the spread of Trumpism, this brand of masculinity has become increasingly mainstream.

The exhibition takes the notion of the manosphere as its point of departure and reads it against the grain, asking: If we were to envision masculinity as a “sphere,” what would we find inside it? What cultural imaginaries and lived realities have shaped contemporary masculinities? What kind of space do they occupy, and what happens when they are challenged, rejected, or reimagined?

Expanding and reimagining existing notions of masculinity, Beyond the Manosphere. Masculinities Today, curated by Melanie Bühler (Curator Contemporary Art Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), provides a critical perspective by bringing together artworks that speak of power, dominance, and violence but equally of their subversion and perversion. The exhibition is dotted with types, clichés, and cultural tropes—the sedimentary layers of the terrain, received notions of masculinity that linger, sticky and tenacious—but also with stories of love and desire that reveal how visions of masculinity shape the interactions we have with each other, the ways we give value and the ways we 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-Ángel Cárdenas, Sam Durant, Hans Eijkelboom, EMIRHAKIN, Hamishi Farah, Sylvie Fleury, Julio Galán, Solomon Garçon, Sven Gex, Jasmine Gregory, Amanda van Hesteren, Zhana Ivanova, Paul McCarthy & Mike Kelley, 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, Selina Zürrer.

The catalogue includes a curatorial essay by Melanie Bühler, texts by artists such as Amanda van Hesteren, Tetsumi Kudo, Reba Maybury, Sands Murray-Wassink, Asa Seresin and Bruno Zhu, essays by Hannah Black, Maurits de Bruijn, and an interview with Judith Butler. It is designed by Sabo Day.