While a large number of galleries close during the holiday season, others seize the opportunity to put on outstanding summer shows. If you’re the kind of traveler that likes to discover more than just beach life, make sure to visit these must-see exhibitions when you’re in town.
I
Alex Prager at The Photographers’ Gallery, London

While it’s always worth a visit, it’s even more so this summer, when the gallery plays host to »Silver Lake Drive«, the first career survey of American photographer Alex Prager. Effortlessly alternating between film and photography, she is known for her cinematic, stylized and emotionally loaded images that are clearly inspired by an old Hollywood aesthetic. Using highly saturated colors to dramatic effect, Prager depicts elaborately staged scenes with perturbing, eerie, and unsettling undertones, a distinctive visual style oftentimes reminiscent of Hitchcock. The exhibition, stretching across two gallery floors, brings together photographs from the last decade as well as the artist’s complete film works. It of course includes her celebrated Crowd series, a logistically ambitious project picturing large groups of people at the beach or at an airport while zooming in on their individual stories, conveying a strong sense of isolation despite being closely surrounded.
Until 14 October
II
Jürgen Teller at Fotomuseum Winterthur

Although since then he has had almost all the rich and famous in front of his lens, he rejects the usual polished glamour shoots, going for something more playful, unpredictable, and daring. Teller shows actress Charlotte Rampling naked at the piano, Björk swimming with her son in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, supermodel Kate Moss sleepy and makeup free in bed, Claudia Schiffer with smudged mascara and a soggy cigarette, and Vivienne Westwood eating a banana. Interestingly, »Enjoy Your Life« at Photography Museum Winterthur focuses on much more than just celebrity shoots: A room whose wall is graced with the telling word “Melancholia” assembles more personal works of Teller which reveal a different side of the German star photographer, including a selection of powerful self-portraits.
Until 7 October
III
Luigi Ghirri at Museum Folkwang, Essen

Until 22 July
IV
New Photography 2018 at MoMA, New York

Until 19 August
V
Ricardo Cases at Sala Canal Isabel II, Madrid

Until 22 July
VI
Real Worlds at MOCA, Los Angeles

Until 3 September
VII
Mark Shaw at Galerie MR14, Paris

From 7 July to 3 September