HAYWARD GALLERY ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL TOUR OF
LIGHT SHOW
Hayward Gallery’s Light Show - one of most popular exhibitions created in recent years and which
was visited by over 190,000 people in London in 2013 – is to tour internationally from 2014 to 2016.
Opening in New Zealand this October, the exhibition will then travel to Australia, the United Arab
Emirates and Greece. This is the first time a major Hayward Gallery show has been toured to four
venues across the Globe.
Light Show will be presented at Auckland Art Gallery (October 11 2014 – February 8 2015), the
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney (16 April – 5 July 2015), Sharjah Art Foundation
(September – December 2015) and Athen’s Benaki Museum presented by NEON Organisation
(February – May 2016)
The exhibition’s 21 illuminated installations and sculptures by major international artists from the
1960s to the present explore the medium of light and respond to each of the galleries' surrounding
architecture .
Light Show is curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Curator, Hayward Gallery.
Dr Lauson says: “Light Show is a visual and bodily experience of five decades of art that explores
light as a sculptural medium and that, ultimately, transforms how we see the world around us. From
atmospheric installations to intangible sculptures that you can move around and even through, visitors
to this touring show will experience light in all of its spatial and sensory forms. We are thrilled to be
co-presenting an exhibition, which was such a success in London, at such prominent international
venues over the next two years.”
Light Show includes Dan Flavin’s pioneering minimal fluorescent sculptures, Jenny Holzer’s iconic
LED signs, and David Batchelor’s use of bright, industrially-produced colour. It also features
immersive environmental installations by Carlos Cruz-Diez, James Turrell, Anthony McCall, and Ann
Veronica Janssens, among others. Recent works included are those by Olafur Eliasson, an
installation comprised of 27 fountains illuminated by strobe lights, and by Leo Villareal, a large
cylinder of light made up of 19,600 computer-controlled LEDs. Rare works re-created especially for
the exhibition include early installations by Nancy Holt and Brigitte Kowanz. Light Show presents
cutting-edge lighting technologies, such as custom made computer-controlled LED lighting, as well as
‘found’ illuminated advertising lightboxes that consider the role of light in everyday life.
Light Show includes work by include David Batchelor, Jim Campell, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Bill Culbert,
Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Ceal Floyer, Nancy Holt, Jenny Holzer, Ann Veronica Janssens, Brigitte
Kowanz, Anthony McCall, François Morellet, Iván Navarro, Katie Paterson, Conrad Shawcross, James
Turrell, Leo Villareal and Cerith W yn Evans.
For press information please contact: Nicola Jeffs on [email protected] / 0044 20
7921 0676 or Filipa Mendes on [email protected] on 0044 20 7921 0672
Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. Chairman: Rick Haythornthwaite.
Chief Executive: Alan Bishop. Artistic Director: Jude Kelly OBE
Southbank Centre is a Registered Charity No. 298909
Trustee: Southbank Centre Limited, Registered in England No.2238415
Light Show and its artists:
No artist was more pioneering or influential for his use of light than Dan Flavin (b. 1933 – d. 1996).
Over the course of three decades beginning in the 1960s, and using only standard off-the-shelf
fluorescent tubes, he achieved a remarkable diversity of colour mixtures and spatial configurations,
often in relation to architecture.
Around the same time that Flavin was working, French artist François Morellet (b. 1926) and
Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (b. 1923) began to explore the potential in illuminated neon and
coloured environments respectively.
In and around Los Angeles in the 1970s, as a part of the Light and Space movement, American artist
James Turrell (b. 1943) refined the relationship between light and architecture, developing spaces
that isolate the atmospheric qualities of light.
Since these forerunners, artists have continued to deploy light in many ways. New Zealander-British
artist Bill Culbert (b. 1935) takes on light as a theme in his multi-disciplinary practice, sometimes
creating self-reflexive puns along the way.
Seeking to alter perception and to control the spectator’s vision, American artist Nancy Holt
(b. 1938) uses holes and cylinders to narrow the field of vision and frame particular views, drawing
attention to the relationship between sight and light.
Works by Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz (b. 1957) and by British artist Cerith Wyn Evans (b. 1958)
take on the appearance of architectural features, surprising expectations of structural solidity.
British artist Anthony McCall (b. 1946) and Belgian Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956) each use
haze to make beams of light visible, using filmic and theatrical light sources respectively. Their
resulting sculptures are visible but truly ephemeral, hovering in mid-air and allowing spectators to
interact with them.
The study of perception is at the centre of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson’s (b. 1967)
practice. His immersive installations tease out the relationship between the viewer and sensory
phenomena, and often incorporate the natural elements.
Looking at the use of light and language in advertising, American artist Jenny Holzer (b. 1950) uses
LED signs to create sculptures that command space with illuminated information.
British artist David Batchelor’s (b. 1955) light-based works often relate to objects retrieved from the
urban environment, a part of his wider interest in commercially produced colour.
Chilean artist Iván Navarro (b. 1972) uses neon and one-way mirrors to alter perspective and create
the illusion of infinite space.
British artist Ceal Floyer (b. 1986) plays with the conventions of light as a medium, altering and
upending our expectations of how light inhabits our daily lives.
American artist Leo Villareal (b. 1967) designs and creates his own LED arrays and volumetric
sculptures, operating a multitude of light sources through sophisticated technology. Also taking a
bespoke approach to LED programming, American artist Jim Campbell (b. 1956) explores the
relationship between perception and the moving image.
British artists Conrad Shawcross (b. 1977) and Katie Paterson (b. 1981) both frequently refer to
celestial light and its associated sciences in their respective practices.
Hayward Gallery and Hayward Touring:
Hayward Gallery has a long history of presenting work by the world's most adventurous and
innovative artists. Opened by Her Majesty, The Queen in 1968, the gallery is one of the few remaining
buildings of its style. It was designed by a group of young architects, including Dennis Crompton,
Warren Chalk and Ron Herron. Hayward Gallery is named after the late Sir Isaac Hayward, the former
leader of the London County Council.
Hayward Gallery has gained a reputation for staging major solo shows by both emerging and
established artists and dynamic group exhibitions in it’s 46 year history. Key exhibitions throughout
Hayward Gallery’s history have included those by Martin Creed, Antony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Andy
Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Jeremy Deller, Anish Kapoor, Rene Magritte, Frances Bacon and David Shrigley,
as well as influential group exhibitions such as Africa Remix, Psycho Buildings, Light Show and The
Human Factor.
Southbank Centre:
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of
London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an
extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the
Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further
information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk.