Anish Kapoor
Hayward Gallery, London
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THIRTY years since his last exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, Anish Kapoor’s new show is a power house of mystery and intrigue. Designed to explore the outer limits of colour and space through bold use of sculpture and painting, it is set over five rooms and the terrace space at the Hayward. It features works from his most iconic series including steel mirrored sculptures and mysterious large format objects. The end result is a triumph for the senses.

On entering the exhibition viewers are met with a work entitled All of Nothing 2026. This is a large PVC work resembling a monumental red ball squashed over two levels in the gallery. Here Kapoor gives a seemingly slow-paced demonstration of what is to come, playfully setting out his stall as he reimagines materials in radical and mysterious ways. He will bring notions of sacrifice, religion, different states of being and mystery over the next three floors, filling the entire gallery space.

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Room Two presents painting and sculpture depicting seemingly depthless voids, designed to confront the limitation of the human eye. This is Kapoor’s exploration of what he calls “non-objects”: works that, at times, seem to dissolve into an immaterial experience, including sculptures coated with Vantablack. Vantablack is paint substance created with nanotechnology that absorbs 99 percent of visible light, created in 2014 by the UK company Surrey Nano Systems. The name used is part of an abbreviation of Vertically Aligned Nanotube Arrays and black. Kapoor was given exclusive rights to use the substance for his work. Quite literally it does what it says on the tin. A number of the works in Room Two,  viewed from certain angles, seem quite literally to dissolve into a void.

Moving upstairs into Room Three viewers are met with darker aspects of the human experience and in particular the ancient practice of ritual sacrifice, a focus of the artist’s recent work. The centre piece in the room is called Mount Moriah at the Gates of the Ghetto 2022. A large mixed media and paint work resembling an upside down mountain, suggesting a world out of joint, with its oil painted surface evoking blood pouring out of a wound. The title refers to Mount Moriah, which in the Old Testament is described as the place where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  

The Upper Galleries contain the highlight work of the exhibition. Ha Makom 2026 is a mixed media and pigment large-scale work made of created red rock containing a central monolith structure at its top. The work has been inspired by Kapoor’s visits to significant rock formations, including Uluru, or Ayer’s Rock, the sandstone monolith in central Australia. Ha Makom seemingly suggests an otherworldly landscape, surreal and dreamlike, punctuated by a rectangular aperture that implies a hollow or a threshold to the unknown.

Room 5 explores a series of works exploring the interior of the body through abstract means. Metal trays hold thickly painted silicone forms that resemble bloodied masses of body tissue. This is yet more evocation of ritual sacrifice, although the mood is lightened by a number of painted canvas works using red and gold. A number of steel sculptures on the exterior terrace space quite literally brighten the mood and play with notions of space.

Kapoor remains at the top of his game, as he continues to challenge and reimagine space and colour. He shifts gears constantly, hungry to get to new ideas with extraordinary ambition and courage. As the Southbank Centre continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary Anish Kapoor both thrills and challenges in equal measure.

Runs until October 18 2026. For tickets and information see: southbankcentre.co.uk