Blockbuster exhibitions in the North

Who will win the Turner Prize this year? Contemporary artists Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa are shortlisted for the 2025 edition of the prestigious visual arts award, named after one of Britain's most treasured artists, JMW Turner. Keep your eyes peeled on 9 December for the announcement of the winner.

Get playful in this interactive and multisensory sci-fi playscape for all ages. Harold Offeh creates socially engaged works of art that explore a range of themes, from pop culture to identity, while examining how politics, class, race and gender structure society. This latest installation continues Offeh's interest with Afrofuturism, joy and play.

Immerse yourself in digital installations by contemporary artists. Artist collective Squidsoup will present a mesmerising installation that combines light, sound and space to examine our relationship with technology. Alongside this, Liz West will present a vibrant installation that plays with light and colour, creating a joyful, communal space.

What do different colours mean to you? From the glittering golds of Bronze Age jewellery to the iconic shade of purple that represents Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, colour is an important way of understanding the world around us. Through art, interactive displays and stories, journey through histories and cultures in this technicolour, Art Fund supported exhibition.

Get playful at Pippa Hale's Pet Project, where you can cuddle larger than life squishy cats and dogs inspired by the Bowes Museum's collection of ceramic pet figurines. After you've got hands-on with these interactive works of art, dive into the museum's ceramics collection, displayed alongside pet ceramics donated by members of the public. And did you know? These newly commissioned sculptures have been supported by a grant from Art Fund.

Discover three contemporary artists who play with materials to create powerful sculptures. Emii Alrai, Mónica Mays and Dominique White each make works drawing on their personal and collective histories to examine themes of heritage, displacement and transformation.

Witness a historic first: a museum exhibition exclusively dedicated to William Kentridge's monumental sculptures outside of South Africa. Over 40 works go on display across the Underground Gallery and in the grounds of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, inspired by the artist's interest in puppetry, film and theatre props.

Meet an innovative feminist artist who broke traditions and taboos. Helen Chadwick's provocative works blended beauty conventions with the grotesque, employing materials such as bodily fluids and meat. And did you know? She was one of the first women artists nominated for the Turner Prize. And while you're there, don't miss Caroline Walker: Mothering, an exhibition of a contemporary painter examining the everyday lives of mothers.

Get a fresh perspective on the iconic and influential landscape painter JMW Turner, in this celebratory exhibition marking 250 years since he was born. Get up close to his staggering works that were expertly crafted to depict light in its most glorious form. Watercolours from the Whitworth's own collection are displayed alongside a lesser-known series of prints.

Through portraiture, self-taught artist Lela Harris reimagines six Black people connected to the transatlantic slave trade who lived in Lancaster during the 18th century. Harris has combed through archival material to produce visual records of these people who have been historically erased, crucially reminding us of their existence and humanity.