When Forms Come Alive at the Hayward Gallery

Entering this exhibition has an “ooh” impact as you take in the multiple playful and strange forms awaiting your attention in its half-light. In the main space, the blooming lights of Shylight (2006-2014) provide a hypnotic entry point. By artistic duo DRIFT (Lonneke Gordjin and Ralph Nauta) the piece comprises multiple robotic lights that are suspended from the ceiling, which periodically descend and ascend, furl and unfurl in coordinated patterns. The installation is inspired by the diurnal rhythms of flowers but there is also something of the jellyfish about them in their slow wafting dance.

The ethos of the show is somewhat fluid, like many of its collected pieces. Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff has collected works from 21 sculptors that create a “tactile gaze” and trigger physical responses. The eccentric forms owe much more to the natural world than to the more predictable forms of the man-made world. Many works use unexpected materials to great effect. Michel Blazy gives foam “back its freedom” in Bouquet Final (2012) where a large scaffolding structure grows curlicues of foam that flourish out from their source, grow, mutate and eventually disintegrate almost imperceptibly. Like nature, the piece initially seems static only for patient attention to reveal its constant movement.

Many of the pieces suggest movement even in a material that denies it, which adds character, even anthropomorphism. Linda Benglis’s Quartered Meteor (1969) slouches oozily in a corner, its lead cast maintaining a sense of movement that is obviously impossible.

Tara Donovan’s Untitled (Mylar) (2011) is an agglomeration of spheres made from folded, reflective Mylar that creates an otherworldly structure, which plays with the light as you move around it. It is so detailed that each step creates a new vista to behold. EJ Hill’s A Subsequent Offering (2017) is a roller-coaster made from wood and pink neon light, which swoops and dips around the entire room it inhabits.

The assorted sculptures here are playful, strange and joyful and push traditional concepts of of the medium. It is well worth a visit, especially for families, as there is something about the range of ideas and shapes that may appeal to younger viewers more than more traditional art.

Jessica Wall
Image: Jo Underhill, Courtesy of the Hayward Gallery

When Forms Come Alive is at the Hayward Gallery from 7^th February until 7^th May 2024. For further information visit the exhibition’s website here.