Ernesto Neto - The Edges of the World

There’s an inner child in all of us, we are told. It’s just a matter of somehow escaping from the adult realities of urban living and tapping into that hidden part of our psyches. Legendary Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s new show at the Hayward Gallery gives us the opportunity to do just that this summer.

Launching the Southbank Centre’s Festival Brazilian, this beautifully conceived interactive show invites us to take time out from our hectic lives and bask in a unique spatial and social experience for the whole family.

Walking up the stairs to the upper level of the Hayward you immediately realise that this is a very different kind of exhibition. The usual peremptory “do not touch” signs have been replaced by “Be gentle or do not touch,” which sum up the rather tender, restful feel of Neto’s most ambitious installations to date.

The upper levels of the gallery have been filled with interrelated sculptures and installations that both respond to the architecture of the building and the artist’s fascination with the worlds of cultural history, physics and anthropology. But if this subject matter sounds rather heavy, there is something unapologetically playful about what we are about to experience.

Light green and pink polyamide tulle fabric stretched across the ceiling reminds us of the skin and interior body systems. Layers are joined together by stocking like tubes which visitors are invited to put their hands through as they clamber up ladder structures to get a better view of the gallery which twists soothingly before them. Every now and then you catch a glimpse of the figures below as they wander through the exhibits, touching, smelling and lounging on them. It’s an atmosphere of genuine playfulness and enchantment.

Meandering through a multi-coloured labyrinthine tunnel, we are invited to discover a sculptural bathing pool that lies on one of the outside terraces, complete with two huts for changing. There’s the sense of something ephemeral and refreshingly innocent as you notice little pockets of lavender intricately sown into the tunnel’s fabric or the little stockings delicately knotted with blue and pink ribbons. There is no doubt that this show has been created with real love.

Yet behind the joyful animation are some very deep and complex ideas. Neto believes that there is always ‘an edge between one thing and another – a membrane.’ His work is about exploring the limits between one side and the other. Discovery is at its core, the ability to engage with our surroundings and each other from different perspectives. It is almost as if he is briefly putting us in touch with a quieter, softer world and suggesting what we can be if we allow ourselves to stop for a moment and think about the healthier ways we can lead our lives.

The Edges of the World, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, until 5 September