Yorkshire gears up for new sculpture festival
The inaugural edition of Yorkshire Sculpture International takes place across four major institutions in Leeds and Wakefield

It is no coincidence that modern British sculpture was raised on strong tea and Yorkshire pudding. From Henry Moore to Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro to Phyllida Barlow, the 20th-century sculptural force of this region issued from the pounding heart of the art schools, welded by lineages of materiality and mentorship. Now well into the 21st century, the county’s major art institutions are to be rabble-roused by a new festival of sculpture, Yorkshire Sculpture International (YSI), presenting one hundred days of sculptural song and dance.
With presentations from 18 international artists, outdoor commissions, talks and associated programmes, embarking on the festival programme is not unlike a lesson in the art of lost-wax casting, confounding with endless processes of filling and draining, melting and recasting. For starters, the designated ‘Sculpture Triangle’ spans a fiesty foursome of locations: Leeds Art Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
three of four, 2019, by Ayşe Erkmen, installation view at Leeds Art Gallery, commissioned for Yorkshire Sculpture International.
The pinnacle is found at the Hepworth: in Jamaican-Canadian artist Tau Lewis’ unsettling aquatic textile collages – advocates for ancestors lost to threadbare black histories; Nairy Baghramian’s intellectually laboured Maintainers, yielding polished wax and aluminium in co-dependency; and Rosanne Robertson’s exposition of the fluidity of queer bodies through haiku-like 1-minute looped films, Stone (Butch) and Pissing (YSP Bothy Gallery). And tempering the political with the spiritual, Wolfgang Laib’s pulsating grid of hand-sized rice ‘mountains’, exalting a humble truth to materials.
Ignited by Barlow’s observation that sculpture is ‘the most anthropological of the art forms’, the inaugural edition of YSI reveals the human impulse to connect with objects is more sentient than ever. Rashid Johnson’s Shea Butter Three Ways (Henry Moore Institute) is a luxurious study of the material coaxed into a three-phase installation, as tactile as it is aromatic. Meanwhile, the question of architectural anthropology is raised by Kimsooja’s quixotic installation of light and mirrors in Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s historic chapel, as well as Ayşe Erkmen’s site-specific installation, three of four, a floor-to-ceiling extension of the recently rediscovered vaulted glass roof of Leed Art Gallery’s Central Court.
RELATED STORY
Fulfilling its calling card ‘to inspire audiences to rethink their understanding of sculpture’, YSI looks beyond the traditional trio of bronze, stone and wood towards a more interdisciplinary genealogy of making (albeit via a thoughtful foray of the latter in ‘Woodwork: A Family Tree of Sculpture’ at Leeds Art Gallery). Cauleen Smith’s hypnotic film Sojourner, is part political history, part golden-hour feminist utopia, languishing in the seductive desertscape of Noah Purifoy. Embracing community collaboration, composer Tarek Atoui has devised performances with instrument makers in a bid to better understand sound through deafness.
What YSI seems to enact is a retracing of artistic heritage through the material present. If Barlow’s contention is to be wholeheartedly embraced, it surely calls for positive cultural contributions towards our ongoing anthropology. And just as Yorkshire pudding is to roast beef, the story of British sculpture would be a meagre without Yorkshire. Yet the question remains, how meaningful a role YSI will play in the future of sculpture internationally. Will this local treasure find its footing in the non-placeness of the art world’s international event calendar? Only time will tell: the proof is in the pudding.
Hymn, 1999-2005, by Damien Hirst, installation view at Leeds city centre. © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2019
Charity, 2002-3, by Damien Hirst, installation view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved. DACS 2019
Shea Butter Three Ways, 2019, by Rashid Johnson, shea butter, wooden sawhorses, wooden boards, installation view at Henry Moore Institute.
To Breathe, 2019, by Kimsooja, site-specific installation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Commissioned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Courtesy of Axel Vervoordt Gallery and Kimsooja Studio
Installation view of Wolfgang Laib’s work at The Hepworth Wakefield. Courtesy of the artist and The Hepworth Wakefield
Installation view of Nairy Baghramian’s work at The Hepworth Wakefield. Courtesy of the artist and The Hepworth Wakefield
Installation view of Nobuko Tsuchiya’s exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery. Courtesy of Leeds Art Gallery
Installation view of Jimmie Durham’s work at The Hepworth Wakefield. Courtesy of The Hepworth Wakefield
INFORMATION
Yorkshire Sculpture International, 22 June – 29 September, various locations. yorkshire-sculpture.org
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
David Cronenberg’s ‘The Shrouds’ is the film for our post-truth digital age
The film director draws on his own experience of grief for this techno conspiracy thriller
-
Cambridge Audio's new earbuds offer premium performance without denting your pocket
The Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 earbuds demonstrate just how far affordable audio tech has come in the last decade
-
A European-style café opens next to London’s Saatchi Gallery
Designed by Dion & Arles, Cafe Linea serves fresh pâtisseries, global dishes and sparkling wines in a stunning Grade II-listed setting
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth Menorca
US-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi Yates
London has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
San Francisco’s controversial monument, the Vaillancourt Fountain, could be facing demolition
The brutalist fountain is conspicuously absent from renders showing a redeveloped Embarcadero Plaza and people are unhappy about it, including the structure’s 95-year-old designer
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
An intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 season
Three different exhibitions at LUMA Arles, in France, delve into history in a celebration of all mediums; Amy Serafin went to explore
-
Inside Yinka Shonibare's first major show in Africa
British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare is showing 15 years of work, from quilts to sculptures, at Fondation H in Madagascar
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park
‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary art
As Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact