10 Seminal Moments At The Hayward Gallery

Ralph Rugoff took over as director of the Hayward Gallery in 2006 and has developed a reputation for original exhibitions that attract a broad audience. He has been behind ambitious group shows that explore everything from outsider art to brutalist architecture, and overseen solo exhibitions from some of the biggest names in art including Tracey Emin, Martin Creed, and Ed Ruscha. Here he discusses the ins and outs of his role and goes on to share his top 10 moments from the gallery’s history:

My role as director encompasses everything from communicating the Hayward vision to external partners and the press, overseeing the budget, fundraising, managing personnel, and providing guidance when necessary to our publishing and interpretation teams. And of course, I’m also busy researching and organizing exhibitions, and working with artists and my colleagues on ideas and proposals, exhibitions and outdoor projects. My key responsibility is setting the Hayward’s artistic programme. This is something I do in conversation with several key partners, in particular the Hayward senior curators.

Since it opened in 1968, the Hayward has been a leading UK gallery for presenting significant contemporary art from diverse parts of the world. Thanks in no small part to its adventurous architecture, the Gallery has a particular tradition of staging pioneering exhibitions that can intensify and focus the visitors’ encounters with works of art. Many of these shows have explored key artistic developments that no other UK institution was paying attention to.

Hayward Gallery, installation view of Event Horizon (2007) by Antony Gormley (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

Taking our cue from the building’s robust architectural DNA and the democratic aspirations embedded there, I hope we have developed types of exhibitions that are not merely looked at, but are experienced on multiple levels and in unexpected ways. We have also enabled artists to realize highly-ambitious projects that few other institutions here have the necessary spaces or capacities for staging.

The most thrilling challenges in my role are related to working with artists to figure out how best to realise their ideas. Another important challenge is developing better ways to frame the artworks we present by developing truly inspiring educational materials and digital content. London is one of the world’s leading cities for contemporary art, and the tremendous competition here is a constant challenge on many practical levels.

In the future, the Hayward will continue to evolve its exhibition programme around its core values—an appreciation for the unorthodox and the adventurous, for radical excellence and risk-taking, and with presenting art in ways that can help visitors to realize their own roles as contributors and collaborators who may expand and multiply the possible meanings of the art that they encounter here.

1. Bridget Riley: Paintings and Drawings 1951-71, 1971

Bridget Riley: Paintings and Drawings 1951-71 installation view (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

2. Three Circles of Stones, 1972

Richard Long: Walking in Circles, 1991 (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

3. Hayward Annual, 1978

Open Space event poster for Hayward Annual 78 (from the collection of Hayward Gallery)

4. Dada and Surrealism Reviewed, 1978

Dada and Surrealism Reviewed marketing poster (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

5. The Other Story, 1989

The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Postwar Britain, 1989, installation view (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

6. Gravity & Grace, 1993

Gravity & Grace: The Changing Condition of Sculpture 1965-75 marketing leaflet (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

7. Anish Kapoor, 1998

Anish Kapoor (1998), installation view (From the collection of Hayward Gallery) 

8. Antony Gormley, 2007

Even Horizon (2007), Antony Gormley (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

9. Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted With Without Title, 2008

Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted With Without Title, (2008), Geletin, Psycho Buildings: Artists Take On Architecture (From the collection of Hayward Gallery) 

10. Light Show, 2013

Light Show installation view, 2013 (From the collection of Hayward Gallery)

Explore more:

– Discover What Happens When Artists Take On Architecture
– Explore 50 Years of The Hayward Gallery's Digital Archives