The relationship between Kapoor and Hayward Gallery began in 1998, when the gallery presented his first major UK retrospective. Twenty-eight years later, his works once again occupied its spaces and terraces, reshaping our perceptions of space and time, as well as our sense of presence within them.

Curated by Ralph Rugoff, Artistic Director of Hayward Gallery and curator of the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, the exhibition unfolded as a continuous journey. Each space offered a fresh perspective on Kapoor’s work, gradually revealing how the pieces interact with the viewer.

Beyond the Object

For more than forty years, Anish Kapoor has explored how space shapes human perception and how perception, in turn, transforms our experience of space. His practice cannot be reduced to a single technique or material. From black voids to seemingly boundless mirrored surfaces, Kapoor’s works engage with what he calls the “space of the object”, prompting viewers to look more closely and reconsider how they perceive their surroundings.

Stone, steel, wax, silicone, resin, pigment and mirrored surfaces serve as starting points for exploring more complex subjects: the limits of the visible, the experience of the physical, and states of being that resist rational explanation. Sometimes, what matters most lies beyond the surface of things.

Matter as Metaphor

At the heart of the exhibition were three large-scale installations, each responding to Hayward Gallery’s architecture in a different way. A gigantic inflatable PVC membrane filled the first room, challenging viewers’ sense of scale and their perception of their own significance.

In the second new work, a dark, mountainous threshold rised against a red landscape in the upper gallery. The third major installation was Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto (2022). This monumental form appears to defy gravity, descending from the ceiling and hovering just a few centimetres above the floor. Its emotional power reflects Kapoor’s interest in the sublime, while its scale elicits an almost physical response.

“Working across a wide range of scales and boldly experimenting with materials, Kapoor takes viewers on a journey of perception that touches on existential questions and reveals unexpected connections between experiences of the sublime and extreme disgust, the spiritual and the physical,” Ralph Rugoff notes.

What Lies Beyond

Another section of the exhibition explored optical illusions. Among the works were sculptures coated in Vantablack, a material that absorbs so much light that three-dimensional forms can appear almost flat, as though space itself has lost its depth. On Hayward Gallery’s outdoor terraces, this experience continued with large-scale sculptures in mirror-polished steel, creating a sense of discovery and disorientation.

The exhibition also featured paintings and sculptures created over the past decade. Made from silicone, resin and pigment, these works evoke the human body and its internal organs. They provoke instinctive and psychological responses, inviting us to consider what it means to live in an age when images of violence have become part of everyday visual culture.

To Be Continued…

An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, featuring contributions from psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and art historians Nancy Spector and Sandhini Poddar, as well as an in-depth interview with curator Ralph Rugoff. A limited-edition giclée print, signed by the artist, has also been produced to mark the occasion. One of Kapoor’s recent gouache drawings, The Dark (2026), revisits his iconic motif of the void: a soft, sensual presence shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow.

Exhibition Listing Information

Anish Kapoor
16 Jun 2026 – 18 Oct 2026
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX