The mind-bending exhibition exploring perception and space

A hall of mirrors, eye-bending installations and a shimmering “Narcissus Garden.” The Hayward Gallery's Space Shifters exhibit is both visually disrupting and an oasis of calm - depending on your viewpoint...

Featuring artworks spanning a period of roughly 50 years, Space Shifters presents a range of historical and contemporary sculptures by 20 leading international artists, as well as immersive, site-specific installations that alter or disrupt the visitor’s sense of space.

Installation view of Alicja Kwade_ WeltenLinie, 2017 at Space Shifters, © copyright the artist, courtesy Hayward Gallery 2018. Photo, Mark Blower

The works in the exhibition focus the attention of the viewer on the act of perception whilst transforming their experience of the Gallery’s distinctive architecture. Often constructed from reflective or translucent materials like glass, resin and mirror, the artworks in the show aim to elicit responses that are both physiological and psychological. They also comprise an alternative history of minimalism: not a geometric, austere, serial minimalism, but one with a more alluring, elegant and playful sensibility.

Installation view of Richard Wilson 20:50, (1987) at Space Shifters, © copyright the artist, courtesy Hayward Gallery 2018. Photo, Mark Blower

Several artists – including Anish Kapoor and Yayoi Kusama – ponder the notion of reflection and that its definition holds a double meaning: the physical mirroring of an object and the contemplative act. The most dramatic example of this is Jeppe Hein’s 360° Illusion V, 2018, a huge rotating mirror sculpture that presides over the first gallery as viewers enter the exhibition. “This work reflects the surrounding architecture as well as groups of viewers, drawing them in with simultaneous inversions,” according to Hayward Gallery. Directly across from this work is a space-bending piece by Anish Kapoor, Non-Object (Door) (2008) which warps and distorts the space around the viewer. While wandering through the galleries, visitors will encounter Josiah McElheny’s Interactions of the Abstract Body (2012) dispersed stationary sculptures which are activated by trained dancers who wear the mirrored wooden costumes interacting with visitors and artworks in a continuous performance.

‘Space Shifters’ at the Hayward Gallery, running until 6th January 2019. To book tickets head to southbankcentre.co.uk

Photography
Courtesy of Hayward Gallery / Main Image: Installation view of Yayoi Kusama Narcissus Garden, 1966, at Space Shifters, © copyright the artist, courtesy Hayward Gallery 2018. Photo, Mark Blower