The Hayward Gallery partners with the RC Foundation, Taiwan (R.O.C.) to present a series of exhibitions, three captivating exhibitions in its HENI Project Space, spotlighting work by some of the most exciting emerging international artists working today. The partnership aligns with the Southbank Centre’s key strategic aims to platform emerging artists and bring new cultural experiences to new audiences. This series of exhibitions is free of charge and is an important part of the Southbank Centre’s commitment to maintaining a high level of free to access programming.
We are thrilled to partner with the RC Foundation, Taiwan, to continue our vital work presenting free exhibitions for London audiences, spotlighting some of the most exciting emerging artists working today. We’re equally as delighted to present Naomi Rincón Gallardo inaugural solo exhibition in London, whose innovative, multifaceted practice inspires care and a sense of unity across social and geographical borders. In line with the Southbank Centre’s strategic aims, the Hayward Gallery is committed to opening up opportunities for audiences to encounter art that pushes boundaries
Rachel Thomas, Chief Curator of the Hayward Gallery,
and creates new narratives for change.
The first artist included in the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series is Naomi Rincón Gallardo from Mexico, who will present Sonnet of Vermin (2022) from 18th June to 1st September 2024. Rincón Gallardo takes inspiration from subjects such as decolonial feminism, queer colour theory and Mexican science fiction from the 1960s and 1970s. This exhibition showcases the artist’s dreamlike ‘counter-worlds’ that address how the impact of colonialism continues to endure.
Sonnet of Vermin follows a group of “unwanted” animals related to Mesoamerican myths – a bat, a snake, a choir of frogs and a scorpion – as they traverse dystopian landscapes in Oaxaca, Mexico. Communicating through radio signals, these creatures of the underworld attempt to synchronise with one another and the dead, and through their singing they call for solidarity and community amid social, political and ecological devastation. The damaged, dystopian world Rincón Gallardo creates acts as a space to fight for a free, collective and joyful future.
Sonnet of Vermin aspires to offer a perspective from the cracks: one that turns the gaze to the importance of creating bonds with others, our interdependency with the land, the need to take care of the living and the dead and the queer desire to persist in the face of devastation, precariousness, toxicity and violence. I am delighted to be premiering this work in London at the Hayward Gallery.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo
Rincón Gallardo specialises in film-making and collaborates with a wide network of creatives
including musicians, performers, seamstresses, sound artists, cinematographers, craftsmen and
other artists. The artist’s work aims to create a space that explores the multiplicity, ambiguity and
unpredictability of life by promoting themes of care and togetherness, with powerful
Mesoamerican deities often playing central roles in her films.
It is an honour to support the Hayward Gallery with this series of exhibitions thanks to the efforts of Senior Curator, Yung Ma. We hope this partnership will act as a catalyst for further artistic exchanges between Taiwan and the UK. To start out, we are also delighted to have Naomi Rincón Gallardo as the first artist in the series and we look forward to seeing how her original and inspiring works will be received by audiences in London.
Rong Chuan Chen, Chairman of RC Foundation
The Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space has presented free exhibitions from a wide-ranging group of innovative international artists since 2007. Previous artists who have exhibited in the space include Hicham Berrada, Kate Cooper, Dineo Seshee Bopape and Victor Mann. The next two exhibitions in the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series, presented with support from the RC Foundation, Taiwan (R.O.C.), will be announced later this year.
Naomi Rincón Gallardo: Sonnet of Vermin, 17th June – 1st September, HENI Project Space, Hayward Gallery
This exhibition is curated by Assistant Curator Suzanna Petot.
About
Naomi Rincón Gallardo lives and works between Mexico City and Oaxaca. She works across video,
performance, drawing and sculpture. Recent exhibitions include Momenta Biennale de l’Image,
Montreal, 2023; the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 2022; the 34th Bienal
de São Paulo, 2021; the 11 Berlin Biennale, 2020; and Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City, 2019. Sonnet of Vermin is her first solo exhibition in London.
Founded in 1995 by Rong Chuan Chen, RC Foundation has been a visionary force in promoting Taiwanese contemporary art on the global stage. An active champion in fostering cultural and artistic
exchanges, RC Foundation has been supporting artists, curators and independent art spaces from
Taiwan through grants and partnerships, both locally and internationally. These long-term
relationships have nurtured and enriched numerous artistic projects from different perspectives,
generating invaluable connections between Taiwan’s contemporary art practitioners and their global
counterparts.
