PSYCHO BUILDINGS at Hayward Gallery on artrepublic.com
Exhibition running from May 28 2008
until Aug 25 2008
As the highlight of the Hayward’s 40th anniversary season, ten artists from around the world will transform the entire gallery in PSYCHO BUILDINGS. The Hayward’s huge spaces will be filled with artist-designed architectural environments, which will spill onto the three outdoor sculpture terraces, radically altering the interior and exterior of the gallery. Inside a village made from over 200 dollhouses and a room frozen in a moment of explosive disaster are amongst the installations that will both enchant and disconcert visitors. Outside on the Gallery’s sculpture terraces, installations including a huge iridescent observatory and a working cinema will alter the exterior face of The Hayward. Visible from the surrounding area and across the Thames and illuminated by night, they add a significant public dimension to this major exhibition. The ten artists are: Atelier Bow-Wow (Japan), Michael Beutler (Germany), Los Carpinteros (Cuba), Gelitin (Austria), Mike Nelson (UK), Ernesto Neto (Brazil), Tobias Putrih (Slovenia), Tomas Saraceno (Argentina), Do-Ho Suh (Korea), Rachel Whiteread (UK). Borrowing its title from a book by the artist Martin Kippenberger, the exhibition brings together the work of artists who create habitat-like structures and architectural spaces that are mental and perceptual spaces as much as physical ones. The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in a series of ten atmospheric, enthralling and unsettling installations. Combining architectural and artistic design with the use of light, colour and smell to trigger responses, these dynamic constructions actively encourage viewers to become adventurous participants. The scale and ambition of the exhibition means many of the artists will be working in the gallery for over a month in order to realise their installations. Ralph Rugoff, Director of The Hayward and curator of exhibition "This ambitious exhibition takes the unique architecture of The Hayward as its starting point. The Gallery's 'brutalist' concrete exterior and the sculptural quality of its spaces have always proved an inspiration for artists. The extraordinary international artistic response to Psycho Buildings shows just how challenging, exciting and playful the The Hayward can be. It is a fitting way to celebrate our 40th birthday." Tomas Saraceno’s design for his observatory on The Hayward sculpture terrace © Tomas Saraceno Brazilian artist, Ernesto Neto will create a spatial and sensory labyrinth for visitors to explore. A ceiling of transparent fabric will divide the gallery space into two halves, linked by several openings. By climbing up ladders to elevated viewing platforms, visitors can scan the floating landscape of the upper level and also view the lower level from a different perspective, as if through a layer of translucent skin. OPENING HOURS: Daily: 10.00 - 18.00, Fri: 10.00 - 22.00 Image Credits: Image 1: Los Carpinteros ‘Frio Estudio del Desastre’ 2005 © Los Carpinteros, Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery Image 2: Rachel Whiteread ‘Village’ 2006-2008m Copyright © Rachel Whiteread. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery  |
