Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons at Hayward Gallery

Extinction Beckons, the first extensive survey of works by renowned contemporary artist Mike Nelson, has taken over Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery. Bringing 25 years’ worth of Nelson’s creations together into one place is quite a feat, especially given the expansive scale of these installations. Before even entering the transformed exhibition space, viewers are warned of dim lighting and restricted room for movement at times. This is the first sign that the experience will be truly immersive.

Traversing through the display, visitors are transported to a wide spectrum of places in a matter of minutes. The first resembles a vast warehouse, eerily illuminated by low red lights. Yet, upon stepping out of the storeroom, you are suddenly exploring an enclosed labyrinth of rooms, all with their own identity. Passing through worn wooden doors, you may find yourself in a wartime bunker, where all that remains is the empty cot and a crumpled-up military blanket. In other rooms, visitors will come face-to-face with an occult-themed altar, an abandoned table of Tarot cards or a floor filled with praying rugs.

Despite the disparate focus of each of the areas within Extinction Beckons, they all share a similarly discomfiting, somewhat dystopian atmosphere. Walls are blank, floors are scuffed, and it seems that dust has settled over everything. In each space, Nelson somehow emphasises the absence of the lives that formerly occupied them: a bottle of whiskey no longer being drunk, a book no longer being read, photos abandoned halfway through being developed. Through its use of material objects – left to become ghosts of bygone lives – the collection speaks to all things lost and forgotten. Clear references allude to various political movements, cultures and belief systems, which are all transformed into spectres of the past within the context of the exhibition.

While not a show for those seeking aesthetic fulfilment (most of the rooms feature items salvaged from junkyards and flea markets that are rusting, decaying and altogether unpleasant to look at), Extinction Beckons has the capacity to get under your skin. The strange suspension of life that overtakes the Hayward Gallery’s stripped-down rooms may be difficult to shake off immediately once back in the real world. Perhaps there should be an additional pre-exhibition warning for this sensation.

Madison Sotos

Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons is at Hayward Gallery from 22^nd February until 7^th May 2023. For further information visit the exhibition’s website here.