More than twenty years after her last institutional show in the United Kingdom, Nan Goldin returns to London. The exhibition, titled You Never Did Anything Wrong, runs at Hayward Gallery from November 24, 2026, to March 7, 2027. At the same time, it closes out a year in which Southbank Centre celebrates its 75th anniversary.
For the first time publicly, Goldin will present a new film work at the exhibition. Additional recent moving images and photographs join it. She designed the exhibition spaces alongside architect Hala Wardé, with each room reflecting the mood of a specific piece.
Nan Goldin, Nan One Month After Being Battered, 1984. Silver dye bleach print, printed 2008. © 2026 Nan Goldin. MoMA Collection, New York.
Nan Goldin: From People to Animals
For five decades, Goldin has been known for documenting her own life, close relationships, and queer communities. Her photographs broke down the distance between the person behind the camera and the person in front of it. This raw intimacy fundamentally changed how photography approaches closeness as a medium.
At Hayward Gallery, however, her focus shifts in a new direction. Instead of people, she now turns her attention to animals and nature. The central work is a two-part film, You Never Did Anything Wrong. Part II (2026) receives its world premiere at the exhibition, screening alongside Part I (2024).
The first part was shot on 16mm film. It unfolds around a solar eclipse and draws on an ancient myth about animals who stole the sun. The story takes place in a world without humans, revealing a wide range of animal consciousness. Music by Valerij Fedorenko accompanies it, alongside an original score by Mica Levi. Goldin dedicated the work to Sulala Animal Rescue, the oldest animal rescue organization in the Gaza Strip, with which she has collaborated for years.
Goldin created the second part together with filmmaker David Sherman. This abstract film combines found footage, damaged soundtracks, and old 16mm nature documentaries from the 1960s and 70s. Goldin grew up during exactly that period, when the way we learned to look at other species first took shape. Gradually, the film grows into a lyrical ode to landscape and animals. At the same time, a sense of approaching extinction lingers throughout it.
Stendhal Syndrome and Addiction
The exhibition also brings the UK premiere of Stendhal Syndrome (2024). This work places photographs of Goldin’s friends and lovers alongside classical works from museums around the world, revealing surprising similarities in composition, color, and emotion. Music by Soundwalk Collective accompanies the piece. According to Goldin herself, it shows that “her people were always there.”
The exhibition also includes Memory Lost (2019–2021), a work centered on Goldin’s own history with drug addiction. Through a sequence of slides, it captures ecstasy, grief, and pain tied to drug use, while also connecting personal testimony to a broader critique of the system. Goldin dedicated the piece to P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an activist group she founded in response to the opioid overdose crisis in the United States.
Upstairs in the gallery, visitors will also find a selection of Goldin’s photographs, including a new series directly connected to the You Never Did Anything Wrong films.
Nan Goldin’s Wider Reach: Rome, Gaza, and Brutalism
Goldin has long been publicly engaged in advocacy for Palestine, a commitment dating back to the 1970s. Accordingly, the first film’s connection to the rescue station in Gaza isn’t accidental. It continues her long-standing activism.
Hayward Gallery, the venue hosting the exhibition, stands as a significant brutalist building in its own right. Queen Elizabeth II opened it in 1968. Since then, artists including Anish Kapoor, Bridget Riley, and Tracey Emin have all exhibited there.
Goldin arrives in London following her retrospective This Will Not End Well, which traveled across Europe between 2022 and 2026, stopping in Stockholm, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, and Paris. As a result, this London exhibition marks her first major solo presentation in Britain since 2002.
Practical Information
Tickets become available to Southbank Centre members starting July 15, 2026. The general public can purchase tickets starting July 17. To mark the center’s 75th anniversary, a special ticket price of £7.50 applies during the exhibition’s first two weeks. The standard ticket price is £19. Discounts are available, and Southbank Centre members receive free admission.
