Nancy Holt, Yayoi Kusama and Hélio Oiticica Headline Goodwood Art Foundation’s Ambitious Summer 2026 Season
From a major UK presentation of land art pioneer Nancy Holt to outdoor works by Yayoi Kusama and Hélio Oiticica, Goodwood Art Foundation’s 70-acre summer programme makes the South Downs one of Britain’s most compelling art destinations.
You probably don’t think of the South Downs as a place to encounter heavyweight contemporary art. This summer, that assumption needs adjusting.
From 2 May, Goodwood Art Foundation opens its second summer season across 70 acres of chalk landscape near Chichester, with a programme that would be ambitious for any major museum. At its centre is the first major UK presentation of Nancy Holt, joined by outdoor works from Yayoi Kusama and the first outdoor sculpture in Europe by Hélio Oiticica.
Holt’s exhibition, MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater, finally gives British audiences proper space to engage with a pioneer of land art whose influence has often outpaced her visibility here. Inside the gallery are films, photographs and works on paper tracing her interest in perception and celestial systems. Outside, the scale shifts.
In the Foundation’s chalk quarry, six pools of water will form Hydra’s Head (1974), positioned in alignment with the Hydra constellation. As the weather moves and light changes, so does the work. It is quiet, precise and entirely dependent on its surroundings. You look at it, and then you look up.
Kusama’s presence changes the energy. Her monumental outdoor sculpture, set against open countryside rather than an urban square, reads differently in this setting. The repetition and polka dots that usually dominate white walls instead interrupt a horizon. Against rolling hills and wide sky, the work feels expansive rather than contained.
Oiticica’s Magic Square #3, presented as part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture, adds another dimension. Constructed according to the artist’s original instructions, the work invites visitors to enter it. Colour becomes something you move through rather than observe from a distance. It is participatory, architectural and still quietly radical.
Across two galleries and the wider estate, more than 50 works will be on view, with contributions from Lee Ufan and Eva Rothschild reinforcing the international scope of the programme. This is not a decorative sculpture trail. It is a serious, curated season led by Ann Gallagher, formerly Director of Collections, British Art at Tate, and it signals clear intent.
A chalk quarry in Sussex isn’t where most people expect to encounter Nancy Holt, Kusama or Oiticica. This summer, that’s exactly where they’ll be.
The season runs from 2 May to 1 November 2026.
Feature photo: Yayoi Kusama, 2020 Photo_ Yusuke Miyazaki
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
