Extinction Beckons

From internationally acclaimed artists at the Hayward Gallery to free displays and iconic pop portraits, art and exhibitions can be found all around our site

Throughout the month

Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons

The first major survey of the artist’s work includes installations and sculptural works from the past 25 years.

Wed – Fri, 10am – 6pm; Sat, 10am – 8pm; Sun, 10am – 6pm (closed Mon & Tue); Hayward Gallery; Hayward Gallery supporter £16.50*; standard £15 (Wed – Fri); Hayward Gallery supporter £17.60*; standard £16 (Sat & Sun)

Poets in Vogue

Uncover the relationship between the language of poets and the clothes they wear at our free exhibition. For ages 16+.

Tue, 12 noon – 6pm; Wed – Sun, 12 noon –8pm (closed Mon); National Poetry Library, Level 5, Blue Side, Royal Festival Hall; Free

Souad Abdelrassoul:

Me You And The Journey

Appearing outside the Hayward Gallery, Me You And The Journey is a painting of two figures, partially shrouded in cloth, by the artist Souad Abdelrassoul.

Daily, 24 hours; Billboard Space, Queen Elizabeth Hall; Free

Klaus Weber:

Thinking Fountains

Thinking Fountains is an outdoor sculpture commission featuring two bronze figures.

Daily, 24 hours; Hayward Gallery Terrace; Free

Until Monday 3 Future Exhibition

Makers: Open Foyer Policy

Presented by the participants of our Future Exhibition Makers course, this archive display uncovers the history of the decision to open up the Royal Festival Hall.

From 10am; Archive Studio, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall; Free

From Thursday 6 Aladdin Sane: 50 Years Exhibition

Part of Aladdin Sane: 50 Years

This exhibition marks half a century of Bowie’s iconic album and its ‘lightning bolt’ cover image, created by Brian Duffy.

Mon & Tue, 10am – 6pm; Wed – Sun, 10am – 8pm (closed 9 & 10 Apr); Exhibition

Space, Level 1, Royal Festival Hall; £5

The New Heathen Archives

Part of Aladdin Sane: 50 Years

Retrace the connections between David Bowie and the Southbank Centre at our free archive display.

Mon & Tue, 10am – 6pm; Wed – Sun, 10am – 11pm (closed 9 & 10 Apr); Archive Studio, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall; Free

Until Sunday 16 The Hop

A luminous public pavilion almost four metres high grows from the side of the Hayward Gallery: Jyll Bradley’s interactive commission links our urban landscape to the hop gardens of Kent.

Daily, 24 hours; Hayward Gallery Terrace; Free

Our current five-star Hayward Gallery exhibition is the first major survey of work by internationally acclaimed British artist Mike Nelson

Mike Nelson’s installations and sculptures have been shown the world over. But there has never been a major survey of his work – until now.

Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons takes visitors on a journey into fictional worlds that eerily echo our own. Here are five things you need to know about this immersive exhibition. The exhibition is one of the most technically demanding the Hayward Gallery has ever staged

Working with a team of fabricators in a disused warehouse in south-east London, Nelson began fabricating and re-assembling the work for Extinction Beckons more than four months before it opened. And it took a team of over 30 builders and technicians more than four weeks to install the exhibition in the Hayward Gallery.

One installation comprises a maze of 20 interconnected rooms and corridors. Another features a sand dune made with 40 tonnes of sand, sourced from a river in Bedfordshire. Though much of the material in the exhibition was kept from the original installations –some of which have not been seen for several decades – we also needed to source a huge amount of additional materials, including over 5,000 feet of reclaimed timber.

Nelson’s large-scale installations are often site-related – constructed for and in the space in which they are shown. This can be a challenge when re-presenting the works, but rather than attempt to reconstruct them exactly as they first appeared, the artist has reconfigured and reimagined them. Elements of previous installations are combined to create new ones, fragments and materials from one work appear in another. And one major installation is present only in the form of its materials; arranged on shelving as if in storage.

The exhibition includes a reconstruction of the artist’s studio

It is presented exactly as it was in 2003, when he worked from the front room of his terraced house in south-east London. Rather than suggesting the physical process of creating his work, the objects, books and paraphernalia inside point to the artist’s influences and ideas.

Since 2015, Nelson has kept a small shop-front studio in Crystal Palace, although he uses this primarily as a space to think and plan rather than make art. That’s because Nelson typically works by responding to a particular place and embedding his work within that physical environment.

Also important to Nelson’s work is the idea of time as a fluid concept. He incorporates old materials that represent particular histories, times and places into installations in which the past, present and future are hard to pin down.

Often the abandoned-looking spaces Nelson creates contain traces of past activities and people, but their uncanny atmosphere makes them appear like visions of a dystopian future.

Among the artist’s inventions is a fictional biker gang

The Amnesiacs were invented by Nelson in the 1990s as the imaginary co-creators of a series of playfully improvised sculptures. Envisioned as a gang of Gulf War veterans who suffer post traumatic stress disorder and accompanying memory loss, the Amnesiacs are embodied only by their empty denim jackets and abandoned motorcycle helmets. The sculptural forms Nelson creates in their name often function as simple three-dimensional images, such as campfires assembled from found debris.

Booking fees apply online (£3.50) and over the phone (£4). There are no booking fees for in-person bookings, Southbank Centre Members, Supporters Circles and Patrons.

* Supporter tickets include a voluntary donation of at least 10% of the standard admission charge, to support the Southbank Centre’s work. If you buy a supporter ticket and make a Gift Aid declaration, we can claim the tax paid on the full ticket price, not just the donation.

This is the first ever exhibition to attempt to present a survey of Nelson’s previous work

Extinction Beckons is a unique opportunity to experience a wide range of Nelson’s works, many of which are presented here for the first time since they were initially exhibited, with several appearing for the first time in the UK.

Through taking this approach of a fictional collaboration, Nelson’s work becomes much more open-ended, and leads to installations which leave questions unanswered, inviting you to bring your own experience, memories and associations to bear to complete them.

Science fiction is an important influence on Nelson’s work

Nelson draws on science fiction for its narrative construction, which, as it’s not tied to representations of the real world, is often highly experimental. He has been inspired by authors such as William Burroughs, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, JG Ballard and Stanisław Lem.

Saturday 8

Friday 21