Anish Kapoor's five best, and most bonkers, installations
Our Art and Antiques Editor Carla Passino chooses five of her favourite installations from the British-Indian sculptor's new exhibition.
Sir Anish Kapoor must be the most beloved artist among London children. His ArcelorMittal Orbit, soaring 375ft above Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Park, is not only the UK’s tallest public sculpture, but doubles up as a thrilling tunnel slide.
Fancy a slide down that?
Not quite as high, but still monumental are many of the installations on show at a newly opened exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (until October 18) which features new and previously shown pieces, including these:
Descent into limbo (1992–2016)
Part of Sir Anish’s artistic exploration of void, this is the ultimate optical-illusion rug hole.
Tsunami (2018)
This shimmering stainless-steel sculpture surges 12ft high like the crest of a giant wave.
Non-Object Black (2018–2021)
Sir Anish bought the artistic rights to Vantablack, a superdark material that can trap almost all light between nanotubes of carbon, and uses it to give sculptures such as Non-Object a two-dimensional appearance (with Vertical Abyss, 2022, and Untitled, 2022, in the background).
Mount Moriah at the gate of the ghetto (2022)
A reversed mountain of Biblical proportions — Mount Moriah is where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac — drips red and black from the ceiling.
Blinded by eyes, butchered by birth (2024)
Installations hardly come more disturbing than this, a red, pulsing PVC piece suggesting a human organ, but resembling none.
For more information on how to visit the exhibition see here
This feature originally appeared in the June 17, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe
