The Hayward Gallery in London’s Southbank Centre is a modern art museum featuring rotating and permanent collections, interactive exhibits, and a focus on art as an experience. The gallery is housed in a unique concrete building with three main components: the main gallery, the Waterloo Sunset Pavilion, and the Hayward Gallery Project Space. The museum is child-friendly but some exhibits may not be suitable. The Hayward Gallery is known for its interactive approach to modern art and is located in an area known for its thriving arts scene.
The Hayward Gallery is a collection of contemporary art installations and so-called “art experiences” in London’s Southbank Centre. Everything about the gallery is modern, including its architecture. The gallery is housed in a huge concrete building featuring numerous cantilevered corners, stepped levels and glass awnings. Most of the Hayward collections are on a rotating basis and in this way the gallery is able to introduce a number of new artists each year. A smaller percentage of exhibits are considered permanent acquisitions.
Unlike many more traditional art museums, the Hayward Gallery focuses on art as an experience. Many of its exhibits are designed to be provocative and a large number of them are interactive. Featured artists commonly seek to engage the audience directly, providing tactile and physical experiences as well as visual stimuli. This very direct approach to art is not commonly seen in many types of museums.
Three main components make up the Hayward: the main gallery, the Waterloo Sunset Pavilion and the Hayward Gallery Project Space. The main gallery houses permanent and rotating collections. It consists mainly of open spaces which visiting artists are invited to transform into their own, often with curtains, hanging pictures and new flooring concepts. The dominant ideology in the main gallery is that there is art in almost everything, it just needs to be discovered.
Social interaction is the name of the game in the pavilion. This space opened in 2002 as a digital media-driven, interactive way for visitors to directly interact with cartoon art through touch screens and video cameras. Most of the cartoons on display in the pavilion are permanent, but the interactivity and computer manipulation vary according to the visitor.
The project space is dedicated to the work of a handful of commissioned local artists. Most of the time, the stakes here are put up by newcomers to the field of modern art exhibitions. The gallery does not typically charge entry to this space, nor are artists usually paid for their contributions. Artists however compete for space, as it is a great way to gain exposure and start an art career.
Modern art is often considered by many to be a little risqué. All forms of self-expression, including nudity, sexuality, and harsh language, are typically embraced by the modern art community. Most of the exhibits on view at the Hayward Gallery are child-friendly, but not all are. Museums and children generally get along, but the Hayward might need some research into the different galleries and their artists. Curators are also generally very proactive in warning parents of installments that they or their children may find offensive.
The Hayward Gallery is one of the few British museums focused on modern art. It is generally considered the most interactive, however, and usually boasts the largest range of art exhibitions and temporary installations a year. The gallery is located in London’s Southbank Centre, an area known for its thriving arts scene.
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