‘That looks like it’s made of sofa!’ Kids react to When Forms Come Alive sculptures

Well, when you have an art gallery, and you’re hosting an exhibition spanning 60 years of contemporary sculpture, this is a question you needn’t just ponder. You can find out. Which is what we did, by letting a group of children interact with our 2024 Hayward Gallery exhibition, When Forms Come Alive.

From a ‘scary slide’ and a ‘bubble plant pot’, to a ‘smokey dust monster coming out of the wall’ we captured their reactions as they moved between the works from 21 international artists that make up When Forms Come Alive. 

‘It’s like a wiggly worm thingy is taking over the earth’

One of the children reacts to Pumping (2019) by Eva Fàbregas

Each work within the When Forms Come Alive highlighted how artists draw on and capture the experiences of movement and flux. The sculptures the children are reacting to include Shylight (2006-2014) by DRIFT, Bouquet Final (2012) by Michel Blazy, Pumping (2019) by Eva Fàbregas, Epiphanie on Stühlen (Epiphany on Chairs) (2011) by Franz West, Dream – Spontaneous – Combustion (2008) by Olaf Brzeski, Globules (2023) and Third Instar (2023) both by Matthew Ronay and A Subsequent Offering (2017) by EJ Hill.