5 things to know about Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons

But there has never been a major survey of his work – until now. From 22 February to 7 May 2023 the Hayward Gallery presented Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons, an exhibition of immersive installations and sculptures that takes visitors on a journey into fictional worlds that eerily echo our own.  

To ease you into this monumental exhibition, here are five things you need to know about Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons.

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 opens. And it has taken 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.

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

Extinction Beckons offers a unique opportunity to experience a far-ranging selection 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. 

Nelson’s large-scale installations are often site-related – constructed for and in the space in which it is shown. Naturally this presents quite a challenge when re-presenting the works, but rather than attempt to accurately reconstruct them all exactly as they first appeared, the artist has instead 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. 

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 particularly inspired by authors such as William Burroughs, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, J.G. Ballard and Stanislaw Lemr.

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 camp fires assembled from found debris.

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.

Header image: Installation view of Mike Nelson, Triple Bluff Canyon (the woodshed), 2004. Various materials. M25, 2023. Found tyres. Photo: Matt Greenwood. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.