“We love the 21st century. It is our best century so far!” So proclaim Gilbert & George, the irreverent duo who have spent over five decades holding up a mirror to modern life. This autumn, the Hayward Gallery will stage Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES, a major survey of their work from the past 25 years, showcasing how technology has allowed their signature provocations to grow bigger, bolder, and more unflinching than ever.
Filling the gallery with over 60 floor-to-ceiling installations, the exhibition traces the artist’s evolution since 2000, blending new works with pivotal series, such as THE LONDON PICTURES (2011) and CORPSING PICTURES (2022). Among the highlights are two never-before-seen pieces from THE SCREW PICTURES (2025), a darkly humorous meditation on ageing that finds poetry in screws, bolts, and twigs scavenged from their East London neighbourhood. True to form, the title twists multiple meanings—fasteners, struggles, even mortality itself—into their ever-expanding visual lexicon.
Since meeting at St Martin’s School of Art in 1967, Gilbert & George have treated their entire existence as a work of art, becoming “living sculptures” that document society’s undercurrents with forensic precision. Newspaper clippings, graffiti, and overheard conversations collide in their large-scale photomontages, confronting taboos around sex, religion, and power with equal parts wit and menace.
“Gilbert & George dismantle boundaries,” says Hayward Gallery chief curator Rachel Thomas. “Their work speaks directly to viewers, bypassing art-world jargon to ask urgent questions about who we are and what we believe. This exhibition immerses us in the chaotic theatre of contemporary life—exactly as they see it.”
For Southbank Centre Artistic Director Mark Ball, their return to Hayward after 28 years is a cultural event. “They’re disruptors, plain and simple,” he says. “You don’t need an art degree to engage with their work—just a willingness to look at the world through their eyes and think for yourself.”
The show coincides with Gilbert & George: Sex, Money, Race, Religion, a one-night performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra on 5 October, further cementing their status as cross-disciplinary provocateurs.
From their early days as outsiders to their current reign as elder statesmen of British art, Gilbert & George have never softened their edge. As Hayward director Ralph Rugoff notes, their recent work “confronts us with the most unsettling truths of our era”—proof that, even in their 80s, they remain society’s sharpest visual archaeologists.
Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES runs from 7 October 2025 to 11 January 2026 at the Hayward Gallery, supported by Lehmann Maupin, Thaddaeus Ropac, and White Cube. A fully illustrated catalogue featuring essays by Michael Bracewell and Rachel Thomas will accompany the exhibition.
Born in Italy (Gilbert, 1943) and Devon (George, 1942), the pair have been exhibited everywhere from Tate Modern to the Venice Biennale. In 2023, they opened the Gilbert & George Centre in Spitalfields, ensuring their legacy—like their art—remains firmly rooted in London’s streets.
Gilbert & George: 21ST CENTURY PICTURES 7 October 2025 – 11 January 2026 Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre