With its reassuring sounds, smells and textures, stepping into ‘When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture’ at the Hayward Gallery, London, is almost like slipping back in utero. Sensation is the star here, with an eclectic roster of emerging and established artists experimenting with fertile forms and occasionally viscous, spiky or stretchy material for a deliciously multisensory group show.
‘When Forms Come Alive’ at Hayward Gallery
Tara Donovan, installation view
Twenty-one artists have explored the possibilities of movement – the full roster comprises Lynda Benglis (winner of a 2024 Wallpaper* Design Award for her Loewe jewellery), Drift, Franz West, Eva Fàbregas, Ruth Asawa, Nairy Baghramian, Phyllida Barlow, Michel Blazy, Paloma Bosquê, Olaf Brzeski, Choi Jeonghwa, Tara Donovan, Holly Hendry, EJ Hill, Marguerite Humeau, Jean-Luc Moulène, Senga Nengudi, Ernesto Neto, Martin Puryear, Matthew Ronay and Teresa Solar Abboud.
Holly Hendry, installation view
Works capture the unthinking instincts of an organism, appearing to undulate, breathe, float, ooze and squidge around the architectural angles of the Hayward. Unlike most exhibitions, visitors can take a free route, rather than following a prescribed one-way system; here, the gallery’s scattered spaces lend themselves to the offbeat works of the individual artists. With the sheer size of some of the pieces, there was a risk of encroachment on another work, a danger efficiently sidestepped in Ralph Rugoff’s curation, aided by assistant curator Katie Guggenheim and curatorial assistant Anusha Mistry.
Michel Blazy, installation view
Works are otherworldly forms, inhabiting their own dystopian universe. Eva Fàbregas’ tubular pink beings writhe around their own pink-lit room. Tara Donovan’s epic, vast molecular structures could be a joyful pile of glitter balls or marine lifeforms, an eloquent argument for the fluid nature of sculpture.
Elsewhere, Holly Hendry’s pipes are snaking their way out the window, while Lynda Benglis’ viscid forms emphasise materials’ ephemeral nature. Drift’s beautiful kinetic Skylights flutter open, greeting visitors; EJ Hill, too, reflects this motion in a large-scale rollercoaster sculpture, making for a smorgasbord of sensation.
'When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture', from 7 February – 6 May 2024 at the Hayward Gallery
southbankcentre.co.uk
Lynda Benglis, installation view
-
Inside the Shakti Design Residency, taking Indian craftsmanship to Alcova 2025The new initiative pairs emerging talents with some of India’s most prestigious ateliers, resulting in intricately crafted designs, as seen at Alcova 2025 in Milan
-
Tudor hones in on the details in 2025’s new watch releasesTudor rethinks classic watches with carefully considered detailing – shop this year’s new faces
-
2025 Expo Osaka: Ireland is having a moment in JapanAt 2025 Expo Osaka, a new sculpture for the Irish pavilion brings together two nations for a harmonious dialogue between place and time, material and form
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experienceIn ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate BritainIn his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desireIn a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
-
A portrait of the artist: Sotheby’s puts Grayson Perry in the spotlightFor more than a decade, photographer Richard Ansett has made Grayson Perry his muse. Now Sotheby’s is staging a selling exhibition of their work
-
Celia Paul's colony of ghostly apparitions haunts Victoria MiroEerie and elegiac new London exhibition ‘Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts’ is on show at Victoria Miro until 17 April
-
Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work
-
Sylvie Fleury's work in dialogue with Matisse makes for a provocative exploration of the female form'Drawing on Matisse, An Exhibition by Sylvie Fleury’ is on show until 2 May at Luxembourg + Co
