Press release archive: 2021
2021 Press releases
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hayward Gallery Touring’s landmark exhibition British Art Show 9 (BAS9) will continue its national tour, opening in Wolverhampton on 22 January 2022.
Winter Market at the Southbank Centre: Celebrate the holiday season with delicious food, warming drinks & festive cheer from 4 November – 24 December
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A glistening waterfall and sculpture installation from German contemporary artist Klaus Weber will be unveiled this week outside the landmark Hayward Gallery.
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.
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.
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.
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’
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
As comedy returns to the Southbank Centre, The Guilty Feminist Live!, The Horne Section and Jenny Eclair are also announced.
Heather Clark Charrington has been appointed Director of Audiences at the Southbank Centre.
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.
The Southbank Centre announces exciting new partnership with the British Film Institute for the 65th BFI London Film Festival 6 – 17 October 2021
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.
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.
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.
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.
From 19 May 2021 through 25 July 2021 the Hayward Gallery presents Matthew Barney: Redoubt and Igshaan Adams: Kicking Dust.
Arts Council Collection, the UK’s largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary art, celebrates 75 years of supporting early career artists.
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.
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.
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
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.
As the Southbank Centre prepares to reopen, it turns its focus once again to supporting emerging talent.
Prepare to soak up every last drop of Summer at the Southbank Centre this year
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.
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.
The Southbank Centre today confirms the dates for the reopening of its venues after a year of closure due to the pandemic.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.