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Press releases

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The Hayward Gallery will present the first London retrospective of acclaimed British artist Linder (b. 1954, Liverpool, UK) from 11 February to 5 May 2025.

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The Southbank Centre is proud to announce the launch of its Technical Academy, a pilot training programme which aims to create new pathways into careers in Technical Production, attract new talent and improve the diversity of the workforce.

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Koestler Arts is proud to announce artists Jeremy Deller and John Costi as the co-curators of their seventeenth annual UK exhibition in partnership with the Southbank Centre. The show, taking place in the autumn, will display artwork by hundreds of individuals in prisons, secure mental health facilities, immigration removal centres, young offender institutions and on community sentences across the UK.

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The Southbank Centre today announces the first names for Chaka Khan’s Meltdown, taking place this summer Friday 14 June until Sunday 23 June. A rich selection of artists spanning jazz, R&B, soul and more, the line-up reflects the iconic influence of Chaka Khan and the global impact of her 50-year career.

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Launching in March 2024 at Arnolfini, Bristol, Hayward Gallery Touring’s major group exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood will plunge into the joys and heartaches, mess, myths and mishaps of motherhood through over 100 artworks, from the feminist avant-garde to the present day.

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The Hayward Gallery will present When Forms Come Alive, a playful and lively exhibition highlighting the ways in which artists have been inspired by movement, flux and organic growth, from a dancer’s gesture to the breaking of a wave, or from a flow of molten metal to the interlacing of a spider’s web.

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The Southbank Centre today announces its 2024-2025 Performance and Dance programme, featuring an array of international work, contemporary  collaborations and brand-new work from award-winning companies and artists from the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Poland, Australia, Canada and beyond.

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The Southbank Centre today announces that iconic singer and musician Chaka Khan will be the 29th curator of its annual contemporary music festival, Meltdown

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The Southbank Centre today announces a wide-ranging Spring 2024 Season of Literature and Spoken Word, from March to June 2024. As a major multi-artform centre in the heart of the UK’s cultural scene, the Southbank Centre offers visitors eclectic events.

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This summer the Hayward Gallery will present Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere (18 June - 1 September 2024), the first mid-career survey of the New York-based, Bahamian artist.

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The Southbank Centre today reveals the rising stars performing as part of futuretense, its free gig series providing a platform for emerging artists. In 2024, BBC Music Introducing joins as a partner to deliver this innovative new music programme, showcasing the next generation of talent.
 

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Launching in March 2024, Hayward Gallery Touring - the UK’s largest contemporary art organisation producing exhibitions that tour Britain - will present After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 - 2024. The exhibition will bring together working class artists who use photography to explore the nuances of life in all its diversity today, turning their gaze towards both their communities and out to the wider world.

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The Southbank Centre today announces a new series, South Asian Sounds, celebrating the rich and varied musical traditions of the wider Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan diaspora as well as ambitious UK-based artists and collectives working at the intersection of cultures and genres, from bhangra to jazz, Qawwali to club music.

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From 1 December 2023 - 7 January 2024, the Hayward Gallery presents Heecheon Kim: Double Poser, the first UK exhibition of South Korean artist and filmmaker Heecheon Kim. Developed in collaboration with Seoul’s Art Sonje Center, the exhibition presents a new moving image commission alongside existing video work, exploring how technology affects our perception of the world.

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Mickalene Thomas: All About Love will be the first major international tour of this pioneering artist’s work whose influences range from 19th-century painting to popular culture. Co-organised by the Hayward Gallery, London, and The Broad, Los Angeles, and in partnership with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, All About Love will be shown as a series of independent presentations, with further venues to be confirmed.

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The Southbank Centre’s renowned and celebrated Imagine Children’s Festival returns from 7 to 17 February with a programme of creative, imaginative and fun-filled experiences for all the family to enjoy this February half term.

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The Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival is back for 2023 and bigger than ever before, showcasing a programme bursting with festive family fun. Visitors can come together this winter and experience magical dance, cabaret, music and comedy performances from the likes of Nutcracker and Christmas Actually, alongside free workshops, dazzling Winter Light art installations and a variety of food and gift markets.

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Opening on 2 November, the show curated by award-winning poet Joelle Taylor, features nearly 200 artworks by artists in prison and other secure establishments from across the UK. The exhibition, in partnership with the Southbank Centre, draws attention to themes of separation and connection through a series of glass cases and vitrines, inviting the public to metaphorically ‘break the glass’ and overcome barriers to creativity.

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From sculptural exhibition When Forms Come Alive which will ooze, undulate, blossom, erupt and sprawl across the gallery’s walls, floors and ceilings, to solo exhibitions of work from pioneering artists Tavares Strachan and Haegue Yang, the Hayward Gallery will be a space for visitors to immerse themselves in a range of topics and mediums in 2014.

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The Southbank Centre and its family of Resident Orchestras today announce its Classical Music Spring/Summer 2024 programme. 

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From 11 October to 19 November 2023, the Hayward Gallery, the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation and the Kochi Biennale Foundation present The Politics of Skin and Movement by Amol K Patil. The exhibition commemorates Patil as the first recipient of the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation/Kochi-Muziris Biennale (DBF-KMB) Award, a multi-year exhibition and lecture programme spotlighting emerging South Asian artists.

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From 11 October 2023 — 7 January 2024, the Hayward Gallery will present Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine, the largest survey to date of the internationally renowned artist.

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The Southbank Centre announces its Winter 2023 Literature and Spoken Word Season, taking place from November 2023 to February 2024. From memoirs by iconic musicians to the first ever anthology of bi+ poetry, plus new novels from award-winning authors, celebrated poets and new writers, this season offers audiences unbeatable cultural experiences.

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This Winter, the Southbank Centre presents a packed programme of exciting new shows for everyone to enjoy featuring a mix of family events, cabaret, dance, music and comedy. 

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Today, the public is invited to experience the powerful responses of 77 Black and Black mixed
heritage artists to climate change through an immersive exhibition titled Reframe: The Residency Exhibition, created as part of the Southbank Centre’s landmark career acceleration programme Reframe: The Residency.

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The Southbank Centre today announces a stellar Autumn/Winter 2023/24 Performance and Dance season, featuring new commissions and premieres from adventurous and influential artists and up-and-coming names from around the world.

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The Southbank Centre today announces London Literature Festival 2023, showcasing the explosive popularity of spoken word poetry alongside new partnerships with literary lovers from across the UK.

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From 21 June to 3 September 2023, the Hayward Gallery presents Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis, a timely exhibition exploring how international contemporary artists are helping to reframe our responses to the climate crisis. 

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The Hayward Gallery and the Bagri Foundation present वेणु[Venu], a new, immersive and striking bamboo structure by Indian artist Asim Waqif, exploring themes of urban space, ecology and community.

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The Southbank Centre today announces that legendary composer, producer and musician Brian Eno will perform his new live concert programme, ‘Ships’, in a UK exclusive.

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The Southbank Centre today announces that pioneering DJ and producer Honey Dijon is taking over its venues for two exceptional evenings of live music and club nights.

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Over 2500 Key Stage 2 schoolchildren in Newcastle, Norwich, Kendal, Sunderland and London will work with award-winning children’s author Sita Brahmachari and Caribbean-English illustrator Lucy Farfort. 

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The Southbank Centre today announces an ambitious free multi-artform programme as part of Christine and the Queens highly anticipated Meltdown festival.

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The Southbank Centre announces its Summer 2023 Literature and Spoken Word Season taking place from June through to October.

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These 80 emerging artists will present their artwork at a free exhibition, which opens on Tuesday 18 July at the Southbank Centre and runs for several weeks during Planet Summer, a multi-artform season that explores themes of care, hope, connection and activism in response to the climate emergency.

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The Southbank Centre today announces that acclaimed fashion designer Nicholas Daley, renowned for his intricate, colourful knitwork and interplay with music and culture, is taking over the Southbank Centre. 

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The Southbank Centre and its family of six Resident Orchestras, who together reflect the full spectrum of classical music, announces its Autumn/Winter 2023/24 programme.

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The Southbank Centre today announces additional performances and the lineup of exciting late night events and parties, as part of Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown. 

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The Hayward Gallery café undergoes a bright and bold refresh courtesy of new public art commission macule (2023) by Taiwanese artist Michael Lin.

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The Southbank Centre today announces the launch of a new multi-artform artist development initiative, Southbank Centre Studio, along with the first cohort of artists supported under the programme.

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The Hayward Gallery, Moët & Chandon and urban rewilding organisation SUGi are joining
forces to install a pocket forest, Natura Nostra Forest — Southbank, a 130 metre-squared
patch of 390 trees created as a new, permanent feature of the Southbank Centre. 

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The Southbank Centre today announces the return of its free gig series futuretense, featuring performances from some of London’s most exciting underground and emerging artists, as well as those from further afield.

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From 21 June to 3 September, the Southbank Centre presents Planet Summer, a landmark multi-artform season that explores themes of care, hope, connection and activism in response to the climate emergency.

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The Southbank Centre’s popular Art by Post scheme, in partnership with the National Academy for Social Prescribing, which delivered free activity booklets to those most isolated during COVID-19, returns with six new creativity booklets providing free poetry and art activities to support anyone with long-term physical and mental health needs.

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The Southbank Centre today announces the highly anticipated first acts performing as part of Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown. Reflecting the wealth of Christine and the Queens’ influences and inspirations, the 28th edition of the world’s longest-running artist curated festival will take place this summer, Friday 9 June until Sunday 18 June.

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The Southbank Centre today announces a raft of events celebrating the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s iconic 1973 album, Aladdin Sane . Aladdin Sane: 50 Years will feature a two-month long exhibition (6 April - 28 May) exploring the creation of the album’s iconic artwork, including the legendary lightning flash portrait by photographer Brian Duffy, as well as a stellar line-up of live music and talks inspired by the album.

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Aaron Wright has been appointed Head of Performance and Dance at the Southbank Centre to lead its performance arts programme including dance, theatre, comedy and live art. Currently Artistic Director at Fierce in Birmingham, Aaron will join the Southbank Centre’s Artistic Programming team in April and will report to Mark Ball, Artistic Director.

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Showing until 7 May 2023, the Hayward Gallery presents Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons, the first major survey exhibition of large-scale immersive installations and sculptural works by the internationally acclaimed British artist.

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The Southbank Centre today announces it is the first UK venue to be awarded Attitude is Everything’s highest possible accolade in its efforts to improve access and inclusion to live events. The Attitude is Everything Platinum Award, given by the disability-led charity, recognises the art centre’s commitment to providing the best possible experience for audiences and understanding the potential access requirements of Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and people with health conditions.

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The Southbank Centre and Apple today announced national partners and further details of REFRAME , its pioneering new talent development programme to support emerging Black and Black Mixed heritage creatives in London, Manchester and Birmingham. This partnership between the Southbank Centre and Apple helps address and remove the systemic barriers to career development Black creatives face in the arts and creative industries.

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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders will discuss his new book It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism on 23 February 2023. 

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The Southbank Centre announces the return and last ever performances of Hackney Showroom & Travis Alabanza’s Burgerz and the London Premiere of Australia’s Circa’s Humans 2.0 as part of its 2023 performance and dance programme, featuring international work and cross artform collaborations.

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The Southbank Centre announces its Spring 2023 Literature Season taking place from the new year until the end of May. The season welcomes a brand new partnership with Intelligence Squared which brings together leading experts to tackle today’s most topical debates, as well as a powerful line-up of authors, activists, poets and politicians in conversation.

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The Southbank Centre’s annual Imagine Children’s Festival returns from 8-18 February 2023 with a vibrant cross-arts programme, offering creative and playful experiences for families to make memories together and enjoy the February half term.

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The Hayward Gallery presents an exciting programme of exhibitions and installations for 2023, including the first major survey of work by the internationally acclaimed British artist Mike Nelson, a pioneering new group show Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis, providing an in-depth exploration of the climate emergency featuring themes of care, interdependence, emotional and spiritual connection, and activism, and the largest retrospective to date of renowned Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

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The Southbank Centre has today announced that the next curator of its annual, award-winning Meltdown festival – the longest-running artist-curated festival in the world – will be French phenomenon Christine and the Queens. Announced ahead of his Southbank Centre debut this evening, Christine and the Queens will curate the next edition of the legendary festival, which will run Friday 9 June until Sunday 18 June 2023.

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The Southbank Centre is delighted to announce the appointment of five new members to its Board of Governors. The new Board members bring in significant new expertise, particularly in the fields of social change, digital communication and philanthropy. They officially take up their posts in early December 2022.

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The Southbank Centre today announces the return of Cowpuncher My Ass, the genre-defying performance piece commissioned by the Southbank Centre with choreographer Holly Blakey, original score by Mica Levi and costume design by Andreas Kronthaler for Vivenne Westwood.

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The Southbank Centre has today announced its latest line-up of genre-blurring, pioneering artists who will perform in early 2023 as part of its experimental multi-artform series, the Purcell Sessions . Hosted in the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the series spotlights emerging artists, ambitious auteurs and more to explore the boundaries of their creativity in the space.

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A firm fixture of London’s seasonal festivities, the Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival returns with a joyful programme of events, exhibitions and performances plus the ever popular Winter Market. From curling to choirs, Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol to Hey Duggee: The Live Theatre Show, the Winter Festival is set to bring festive cheer to the South Bank for people of all ages to enjoy.

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Showing until 8 January 2023, Hayward Gallery presents Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, the first large-scale group exhibition in the UK to explore how contemporary artists have used the medium of clay in inventive ways.

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The Southbank Centre, its six Resident Orchestras and wider orchestral partners have today announced Classical Music Spring/Summer 2023, an exciting, varied programme of over a hundred events featuring a wealth of established and emerging artists from the UK and internationally.

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The Southbank Centre today announces new comedy shows this Christmas; two popular podcasts brought as live shows bringing merriness and mirth out of the headphones and onto the stage.

The Royal Festival Hall hosts Off Menu: The Christmas Dinner Party (20 December), a festive edition of the hugely popular ‘Off Menu’ podcast, which returns after its sell-out shows last summer, while The Guilty Feminist Presents Camp as Christmas (3 December), brings a star-studded, all LGBTQ+ line-up to the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

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The Southbank Centre is incredibly pleased to announce a surprise double-bill performance from neo-soul icon Erykah Badu, her only UK dates scheduled for the remainder of the year.

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Apple and the Southbank Centre today launched a groundbreaking partnership to support Black creatives in the UK.

The ambitious programme is part of Apple’s global Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) — and represents Apple’s first REJI expansion into Europe. Together, Apple and the Southbank Centre will support emerging Black talent, helping to provide the tools and resources for aspiring creatives in the UK to develop their own voices and position themselves for long-lasting careers in their chosen fields.

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Adem Holness has been appointed Head of Contemporary Music at the Southbank Centre to lead its contemporary music programme.

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The Southbank Centre and pioneering independent labels Ninja Tune and Big Dada have today announced the launch of a free joint education programme, Emerging Music Professionals to develop the next generation of diverse talent in the music industry.

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Koestler Arts is proud and thrilled to announce that their fifteenth Annual UK Exhibition in partnership with the Southbank Centre this October will be curated by Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist, Ai Weiwei. 2022 marks the 60th anniversary of the Koestler Awards and Ai Weiwei wants this landmark exhibition to be ‘the most ambitious yet’.

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A new and striking commission from artist Monira Al Qadiri is unveiled on the Southbank Centre's iconic Riverside Terrace, launching the second year of a three-year commissioning partnership with the Bagri Foundation.

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British Art Show 9 (BAS9), Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark contemporary art exhibition, will culminate in Plymouth this autumn (8 October – 23 December), after successful showings in Aberdeen (10 July – 10 October 2021), Wolverhampton (22 January – 10 April 2022) and Manchester (27 May – 4 September 2022).

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The Southbank Centre announces a major new autumn programme for its innovative contemporary culture series Purcell Sessions, which champions artistic expression across music, performance, visual art, literature and spoken word, and features an exciting mix of creatively adventurous and diverse artists.

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Gillian Moore CBE is to become the Southbank Centre’s Artistic Associate, taking up the role in the autumn of 2022.

Gillian will report to Mark Ball, Artistic Director, and among her responsibilities she will develop new, large scale projects and collaborative initiatives that support music and creative engagement at the Southbank Centre, as well as create new music-focused digital content for the Southbank Centre’s digital channels.

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The Southbank Centre’s biennial Unlimited, the major UK festival celebrating the work of disabled artists in partnership with the Unlimited commissioning fund, today announces details of its ambitious multi-art programme platforming the extraordinary creative work of artists who identify as being disabled, D/deaf, neurodivergent and those experiencing chronic illness or mental health conditions.

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From 29 June to 18 September 2022, the Hayward Gallery presents In the Black Fantastic, the UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to the work of Black artists who use fantastical elements to address racial injustice and explore alternative realities. 

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Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book features crucial climate voices including Kate Raworth, Naomi Klein and Margaret Atwood. The event, in collaboration with Penguin Live at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, will be live streamed for free around the world. The festival lineup features UK & international literary names such as Malorie Blackman, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Karl Ove Knausgård and George Saunders. Well-known names include YouTuber Adam B, Minnie Driver, Graham Norton and Jon Snow.

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Music legend, fashion icon and film star Grace Jones delivered a stunning performance to close her curated edition of the Southbank Centre ’s Meltdown festival. 

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Artist Jyll Bradley connects the urban landscape of the South Bank to the rural hop gardens of Kent with a vibrant, interactive outdoor installation, The Hop.

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Following sold-out seasons in the 2018 Perth Festival and Black Swan’s 2019 season, award-winning play You Know We Belong Together brings its celebrated portrayal of living with Down syndrome to the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room from Thursday 18 - Saturday 20 August for its UK Premiere.

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This summer the Southbank Centre is exploring Black art and popular culture with an extraordinary season of multi-artform events, featuring outdoor art installations, music, literature, poetry and performance as well as a wealth of free-to-attend events.

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Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark exhibition British Art Show 9 ( BAS9 ) will continue its national tour, opening in Manchester on Friday 27 May, following its successful iterations in Aberdeen (10 July – 10 October 2021) and Wolverhampton (22 January – 10 April 2022).

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From Friday 29 April, riverside pop-ups from Truffle, Oh My Dog!, SNOG, The Hop Locker and Elephant Juice will provide the perfect sun-soaked spot to hang out all summer long.

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Rachel Thomas has been appointed Chief Curator of the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre. Rachel joins the gallery on 28 April 2022 from the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), where she was Head of Exhibitions and Senior Curator since 2002.

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The Southbank Centre today announces a programme to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Taking place across Wednesday 1 - Sunday 5 June 2022, the Southbank Centre’s eclectic programme of Jubilee events encompasses both “Official” and “Alternative” Royal Command Performances alongside classical music, punk, dance, performance and parties, to appeal to diverse and wide-ranging audiences.

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The Southbank Centre and Grace Jones have today revealed the third and final names of artists who are performing during this year’s Meltdown festival, running Friday 10 to Sunday 19 June 2022. In addition to the new acts, the eclectic free public programme, which brings together a huge number of performers and activities inspired by Grace Jones’ career, has also been announced.

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The Southbank Centre has today revealed its Autumn/Winter 2022/23 classical music programme – the first edition under the curatorship of Head of Classical Music Toks Dada since arriving at the Southbank Centre. The Autumn/Winter programme, which runs from September 2022 until January 2023, emphasises the Southbank Centre’s commitment to innovation and diversity.

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The Southbank Centre announces its Summer 2022 Literature Season taking place from May to September, featuring a diverse range of musicians and authors, renowned thinkers and contemporary poets.

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Amy Ross has been appointed Director of Development at the Southbank Centre. Currently Director of Development at Art Fund, Amy will join the Southbank Centre in June 2022 and will report to Elaine Bedell, CEO.

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PRS Foundation and the Southbank Centre announce today pieces of new music to be performed at their critically acclaimed free festival, New Music Biennial 2022.

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A new 24-hour-long film, Primetime, 2022, by Anthea Hamilton has been unveiled this week on the elevated terrace next to the Hayward Gallery, overlooking the Royal Festival Hall. The film launches this year’s expanding programme of striking outdoor installations, offering free access to art for all.

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In solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to support the Ukrainian community in London, the Southbank Centre is delighted to announce Slava Ukraini - a specially curated night of music, poetry and spoken word with a line-up that includes Ukrainian and British artists performing in person and via live link-up from Ukraine.

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Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme 2019-22, concludes with a series of exhibitions at Firstsite, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange and Sunderland Culture

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The Southbank Centre and Grace Jones have today revealed the next wave of artists who will be performing during this year’s eagerly anticipated Meltdown festival, running Friday June 10 until Saturday 19 June. Spanning hard hitting punk to folk and experimental electronica, the latest additions capture Grace Jones’ unparalleled influence and connection to the world’s music scene.

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As part of Social Prescribing Week (4-11 March 2022), the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) and the Southbank Centre are hosting The Social Prescribing Show on Friday 4 March, bringing together expert contributors from a variety of sectors.

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Continuing its popular programme of striking outdoor installations, offering free access to art for all, the Hayward Gallery announces a series of newly commissioned artworks from award-winning artists Anthea Hamilton, Jyll Bradley and Monira Al Qadiri .

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From 29 June to 18 September 2022, the Hayward Gallery presents In the Black Fantastic, the UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to the work of Black artists who use fantastical elements to address racial injustice and explore alternative realities.

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The Southbank Centre is relaunching its free monthly dance sessions in the form of a new series called ‘ Mix & Move. ’ The initiative is part of the multi-arts centre’s Arts & Wellbeing programme, which is committed to finding innovative ways of increasing access to free enriching social encounters that offer wellbeing benefits.

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From 9 February to 15 May 2022, the Hayward Gallery presents Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child, the first major retrospective of this legendary artist to focus exclusively on the works that she made with fabrics and textiles during the final chapter of her storied career.

These works, many of which have never been shown before in the UK, comprise one of the greatest late career chapters in the history of art.

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Running from 30 March until 3 April 2022, the eclectic festival of paid and free events celebrates daring new frontiers of sound on topics from climate change to the female body

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British Art Show 9 ( BAS9 ), curated by Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar, continues its UK tour, opening to the public on Saturday 22 January 2022 at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and University of Wolverhampton School of Art.

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Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid CBE explores modern city life from a female perspective. 

Launching at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in May 2022, this large exhibition of over 60 works presents a wide array of modern and contemporary art, including painting, sculpture, photography and film.

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Arts Council Collection presents The World We Live In: Art and the Urban Environment, an exhibition of painting, sculpture, photography and film that explores urban life. Featuring 29 works created between 1950 and 2020, the exhibition launches at Leicester Museums & Art Galleries in February 2022 before touring to other venues across the UK.

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Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein: Live podcast, Matt Forde and Arabella Weir join Jenny Eclair and Simon Munnery as part of the Southbank Centre’s February comedy line-up.

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Spring highlights include:

  • A UK exclusive with literary phenomenon Margaret Atwood: Burning Questions
  • Akala discusses his book The Dark Lady at an in-conversation event with special readings and performances from The Hip Hop Shakespeare Company
  • A book launch of Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise

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The Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival turns twenty in 2022 but has no intention of growing up any time soon! Imagine returns 9 – 20 February 2022 to provide the very best in children's theatre, comedy, family parties, hands-on activities, music, literature, dance, immersive experiences, relaxed mindfulness sessions and full-on fun for children and their grownups in the February half term. With over 160 events jam-packed into twelve days and over fifty percent of the festival completely free, Imagine is the biggest festival of its kind in London. 

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Yung Ma has been appointed Curator, Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre to work on the gallery’s dynamic programme that showcases the world’s most adventurous and innovative artists.

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The Southbank Centre today announces additional performances for its new artistic series, Purcell Sessions. The Purcell Room opens its doors for curious audiences to witness artists explore new creative frontiers.

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Celebrating its 75th anniversary year, the Arts Council Collection is launching Right About Now, an exhibition featuring highlights from its recent contemporary art acquisitions, including a number of works presented publicly for the first time.

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Following the return of live classical music performances in September, today the Southbank Centre unveils its Spring/Summer programme (February - June 2022), featuring stand out projects from great artists, thought-provoking world premieres and inventive ways of looking at modern masterpieces.

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Brightening up the riverside this Winter, the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival features nine weeks of festive events, exhibitions and dazzling performances. Visitors of all ages can embrace the seasonal spirit with a packed schedule of activity.

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Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark exhibition British Art Show 9 (BAS9) will continue its national tour, opening in Wolverhampton on 22 January 2022.

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Winter Market at the Southbank Centre: Celebrate the holiday season with delicious food, warming drinks & festive cheer from 4 November – 24 December

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Koestler Arts are proud to present their fourteenth annual London exhibition at the Southbank Centre this October. This year’s edition, entitled The I and the We curated by Camille Walala and Sarah Ihler-Meyer, will take place from 29 October to 5 December 2021. 

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Opening in February, Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child launches the Hayward Gallery’s 2022 programme which, as well as a series of free outdoor art commissions, includes two major groups shows: In the Black Fantastic, an exhibition of contemporary artists from the African diaspora whose works engage with the speculative and the mythic, and an autumn exhibition exploring how contemporary artists have used the medium of clay and ceramics in inventive and unexpected ways.

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From 9 February to 15 May 2022, the Hayward Gallery will present Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child, the first major retrospective of this legendary artist to focus exclusively on the works that she made with fabrics and textiles during the final chapter of her storied career.

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Launching in October 2021, Georgia O'Keeffe: Memories of Drawings is a brand new Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition which presents a remarkable collection of work from the pioneering American artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

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Post-punk pioneers, The Tiger Lillies, return to the Southbank Centre this Christmas with the UK premiere of a brand new concert inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

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Art by Post: Of Home and Hope launches today at Southbank Centre before touring nationwide for five months to showcase the power of art and culture on health and wellbeing.

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A glistening waterfall and sculpture installation from German contemporary artist Klaus Weber will be unveiled this week outside the landmark Hayward Gallery. 

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In a world exclusive event, the Southbank Centre in collaboration with Penguin Live presents ‘The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation’, which will see Paul McCartney in conversation about his new career-spanning book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, on Friday 5 November, 7.30pm GMT at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

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From 9 September through 12 December 2021 the Hayward Gallery presents Mixing It Up: Painting Today, an exhibition that brings together 31 contemporary painters who exploit the unique characteristics of their medium to create fresh, compelling works of art that speak to this moment. Simultaneously, Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space will present the most extensive exhibition of Gerhard Richter’s drawings ever shown in the UK.

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A brand-new installation from art collective Slavs and Tatars will be unveiled against the iconic backdrop of the Hayward Gallery, inaugurating a new three-year commissioning partnership with the Bagri Foundation.

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Purcell Room to reopen for the first time in 18 months to become London’s destination for contemporary culture with major new series ‘Purcell Sessions

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Currently Creative Director at Manchester International Festival (MIF), Mark will join the multi-arts centre in January 2022 and will have overall responsibility for the artistic direction of the largest cultural centre in the UK, leading the organisation as it enters a new era.

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Sadly, Jess Thom’s #SCSummerReunion weekend on the Riverside Stage (30 Jul - 1 Aug) is postponed.

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The Southbank Centre today announces its autumn season, headlined by a global exclusive event with Sally Rooney (QEH, 7 Sep) who inspires the theme of friendship for the 2021 London Literature Festival (21 – 31 Oct), returning for the first time since 2019.

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British Art Show 9 (BAS9), curated by Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar opens to the public on Saturday 10 July 2021 at Aberdeen Art Gallery, offering a barometer of the UK’s contemporary art landscape today.

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A three-year partnership, announced today, between t he Hayward Gallery and t he Bagri Foundation will bring a series of new outdoor art commissions to the Southbank Centre.

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The Southbank Centre today raises the curtain on its 2021/22 classical music programme, announcing the first events in its calendar for Autumn/Winter (September 2021 – January 2022).

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New exhibitions curated by NHS key workers and young people across the UK focus on health and well-being, LGBTQIA+ representation in the arts and life during lockdown.

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As comedy returns to the Southbank Centre, The Guilty Feminist Live!, The Horne Section and Jenny Eclair are also announced.

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Heather Clark Charrington has been appointed Director of Audiences at the Southbank Centre.

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The UK’s largest multi-arts centre, the Southbank Centre in London, today announces a five-month touring exhibition, which will bring over 600 pieces of artwork created during lockdown out of the shadows and into major UK venues to showcase the power of art on health & wellbeing during the pandemic.

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The Southbank Centre announces exciting new partnership with the British Film Institute for the 65th BFI London Film Festival 6 – 17 October 2021

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Mixing It Up: Painting Today brings together 31 contemporary painters whose work freely draws on varied image sources, techniques and traditions in order to fashion fresh and compelling works of art that speak to this moment.

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From 9 September to 12 December 2021, Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space will present the most extensive exhibition of Gerhard Richter’s drawings ever shown in the UK.

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The Southbank Centre today announces that for the first time ever, nine guest curators are to programme artistic activity on the outdoor Riverside Stage across weekends from 4 July t o 29 August, as part of the Summer Reunion programme, free of charge to t he public.

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The Board of Trustees of the Southbank Centre, London’s i conic multi-arts centre, are pleased to announce the appointment of their new Chair, Misan Harriman.

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From 19 May 2021 through 25 July 2021 the Hayward Gallery presents Matthew Barney: Redoubt and Igshaan Adams: Kicking Dust.

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Arts Council Collection, the UK’s largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary art, celebrates 75 years of supporting early career artists.

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The Southbank Centre’s Resident Orchestra, London Sinfonietta today announces a groundbreaking commission for pioneering composer L aura Bowler to bring awareness to the ongoing climate crisis.

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The Southbank Centre Shop celebrates its reopening on 28 April by showcasing a series of prints inspired by the Southbank Centre’s brutalist architecture, as well as some of London’s most recognisable landmarks.

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Southbank Centre welcomes audiences back with Summer Reunion programme as Royal Festival Hall marks 70 years since its creation as part of the Festival of Britain

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Grace Jones’ Meltdown is to move to 2022, with the iconic artist remaining in place to curate and headline the much-anticipated Southbank Centre festival from Friday 10 June – Sunday 19 June 2022.

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As the Southbank Centre prepares to reopen, it turns its focus once again to supporting emerging talent.

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Prepare to soak up every last drop of Summer at the Southbank Centre this year

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The Southbank Centre today announces the final slate of purely digital events in its ongoing series Inside Out, an online season of music and literature which has been running since September 2020.

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Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark exhibition, British Art Show 9 (BAS9), will open in Scotland at Aberdeen Art Gallery in July 2021. This display will mark the launch of the national tour for this ambitious exhibition of contemporary art, which takes place across the UK every five years.

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The Southbank Centre today confirms the dates for the reopening of its venues after a year of closure due to the pandemic.

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The Hayward Gallery is to reopen on 19 May with Matthew Barney: Redoubt and Igshaan Adams: Kicking Dust .

The London Philharmonic Orchestra , Philharmonia Orchestra, and London Sinfonietta return to the Southbank Centre, streaming to UK audiences and internationally from the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

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On World Book Day, the Southbank Centre is inviting 40 primary schools to take part in this year’s creative writing project Imagine a Story, giving young children the chance to become published authors.

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Hayward Gallery Touring announces the new touring dates for British Art show 9, which will now be opening in Aberdeen, Scotland on 10 July 2021 and touring to Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth.

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The Southbank Centre today announces new events for Inside Out, an online season of music and literature extended until 6 May. The new events include Bell Orchestre (13 Mar), authors Kazuo and Naomi Ishiguro (5 Apr), Olivia Laing (30 Apr) and Jhumpa Lahiri (6 May).

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The Southbank Centre’s National Poetry Library, with publisher John Murray Press (through its Chambers imprint), today announces the publication of No, Love is Not Dead: An Anthology of Love Poetry From Around The World, ahead of Valentine’s Day on Sunday 14 February.

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Following the success of the Southbank Centre’s online autumn multi-arts series, Inside Out, the Southbank Centre today announces details about Inside Out, a second online season of music, spoken word and literature taking place from 24 January - 2 8 March 2021.

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On Friday 18 December, the Southbank Centre will, for the first time ever, stream an evening of dance and jazz live from the iconic Royal Festival Hall to help combat loneliness this winter.

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To coincide with International Day of Disabled Persons, the Southbank Centre today announces details of its first digital Unlimited festival programme, a five-day festival featuring dance, performance, comedy, film, talks, workshops and art that celebrates the artistic vision of disabled artists from 13 - 17 January 2 021.

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This winter season, Southbank Centre presents Winter Light, a new free open-air exhibition that will enliven the site’s iconic buildings and the Riverside Walk with luminous, playful and thought-provoking artworks during the darkest months of the year.

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From 19 May 2021 through 25 July 2021 the Hayward Gallery presents Matthew Barney: Redoubt, an exhibition of the renowned artist and filmmaker’s latest body of work.

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In May 2021, the Hayward Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in the UK of South African artist Igshaan Adams (b. 1982).

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Refugee and migrant comedy collective No Direction Home return to the Southbank Centre with a special online event as part of the Inside Out series, headlined by Rosie Jones on Sunday 22 November, 8pm.

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The Southbank Centre will host the first digital Unlimited festival from 13 – 17 January 2021. Unlimited celebrates the artistic vision and creativity of disabled artists from across the UK. The five day festival will feature dance, performance, comedy, film, talks, workshops and art that challenges perceptions of disabled people. Alongside the digital programme, there will be an outdoor exhibition, Unseen by artist Suzie Larke.

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The Southbank Centre today announces new events for Inside Out, an online season of music, literature and comedy taking place until 30 December.

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The Southbank Centre’s National Poetry Library, with publisher Laurence King will publish the world’s first anthology of Instagram Poetry, Instagram Poetry For Every Day on 28 September, ahead of National Poetry Day on 1 October 2020. Edited by Chris McCabe (National Poetry Librarian) and Jessica Atkinson, the book brings together some of the most exciting artists and poets to emerge from instagram in recent years and brings together over 100 poems by some of the biggest names and up-and-coming talent associated with the genre.

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No Lockdown in the Imagination1 is an outdoor installation taking place across the windows of London’s Southbank Centre, and online at Koestler Arts from 12 November – 13 December 2020. On show will be a selection of audio, visual and written works selected from the 2020 Koestler Awards, the 58th annual Koestler Awards for people across the UK’s criminal justice system.

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Phenomenal Women: Portraits of UK Black Female Professors, a celebration of Black British academics will be brought to the public in a unique free outdoor exhibition.

Commissioned and curated by Dr Nicola Rollock, and photographed by Bill Knight, it features portraits of 45 professors across a broad range of subjects including law, medicine, creative writing and sociology. The exhibition runs from 10 October - 8 November 2020, timed to coincide with Black History Month, and is presented along the Southbank Centre’s very popular public riverside promenade The Queen’s Walk.

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The Southbank Centre today announces the continuation of its Art by Post scheme, a project aiming to engage those most isolated by social distancing measures due to Covid-19. Participants will receive 6 brand new activity booklets from September until early 2021. 

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The Southbank Centre today announces details about Inside Out, a brand-new online season of music, literature and comedy from 17 September – 30 December. With over 40 events across three months, audiences will be able to take advantage of a truly diverse range of programming coming from the Royal Festival Hall and beyond. 

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Everyday Heroes is a free outdoor art and poetry exhibition that celebrates the contributions of key workers and frontline staff during the pandemic.

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After more than 20 weeks closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Hayward Gallery will reopen five days a week with Covid-secure health and safety measures in place to keep visitors and staff safe.

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Hayward Gallery Touring announces the selection of artists for British Art Show 9, which will now be opening in Wolverhampton on 6 March 2021 and touring to Aberdeen, Plymouth and Manchester.

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The Southbank Centre announces Everyday Heroes, a public art and poetry project that celebrates and highlights the invaluable contributions of all those key workers who have kept the country running during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Southbank Centre is delighted to announce the appointment of three new members to its Board of Governors.

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Southbank Centre, together with publishers Simon & Schuster, today announce Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will appear exclusively at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 10 November 2019 as they celebrate the women who have inspired them throughout their lives, with the launch of their awaited book The Book of Gutsy Women: Favourite Stories of Courage and Resilience.

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Southbank Centre, in partnership with Eat Your Own Ears, today announces a very special night paying tribute to the pioneering and hugely influential 1980s British pop and rock band, Talk Talk, and their late frontman Mark Hollis, at Royal Festival Hall, 26 November 2019.

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Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery Touring presents Slow Painting, an exhibition of paintings that take their time, and invite us to do the same.

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In a UK-exclusive event Southbank Centre, in collaboration with Fane Productions, presents ‘A Conversation with Dame Julie Andrews’ on the afternoon of Saturday 2 November 2019.

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Southbank Centre today announces its most jam-packed literature season to date with more than 35 events taking place from September - December 2019 across its three auditoriums (Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room) as well as in its National Poetry Library, Hayward Gallery and foyer spaces.

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Gaultier’s spectacular revue show to make UK Premiere 50 years of pop culture through the eyes of fashion’s enfant terrible.

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This summer, Hayward Gallery presents Kiss My Genders, a group exhibition celebrating more than 30 international artists whose work explores and engages with gender identity.

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Southbank Centre today reveals that the curator of Meltdown festival 2019 will be three-time Grammy Award-winning American composer, producer, arranger, guitarist, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Abbey Road Studios’ first ever Chief Creative Advisor, Nile Rodgers.

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Dr. Zoé Whitley has been appointed Senior Curator, Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre . Whitley will assume the position on 8 April 2019 working alongside current Senior Curator Cliff Lauson and under Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff, on the gallery’s dynamic programme of work that showcases the world’s most adventurous and innovative artists.

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Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival turns eighteen in 2019 - but it’s nowhere near growing up! The annual festival returns 13-24 February 2019 for a half-term week of the best in children's theatre, comedy, family parties, hands-on activities, DJs, dance, immersive experiences and full-on fun for children and their grownups.

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On 13 February 2019, Hayward Gallery will present diane arbus: in the beginning, including nearly 100 photographs that redefine the achievement of one of the most prominent and influential artists of the 20th century.

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Ten days ahead of its twelfth London Literature Festival (18-28 October 2018), Southbank Centre today announces its Spring 2019 literature season featuring a packed programme of events taking place during January – March 2019 across its 17-acre site.

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Hayward Gallery Touring is pleased to announce the participating cities and the appointment of Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar as the curators for the forthcoming edition of British Art Show, which will open in Manchester in 2020, and then tour to Wolverhampton, Aberdeen and Plymouth.

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Southbank Centre’s Chief Executive, Elaine Bedell, today announces the appointment of Madani Younis to the new role of Creative Director. He will take up the post in January 2019.

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Southbank Centre today appoints Bengi Ünsal as Senior Contemporary Music Programmer, leaving her previous role as Director of Salon at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). She will lead on programming Southbank Centre’s wider gigs programme, including the arts centre’s hallmark contemporary music festival, Meltdown.

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