Time for a quick Organ preview? Beyond The Streets; “one of the world’s most influential contemporary platforms” as it is now being described, I guess it is a platform now rather than just a set of rather large set of exhibitions? The platform is to launch a second London show, an “all-new exhibition dedicated to street culture” so it say in this press release that just landed here…
The last London Beyond The Streets, the first one over here, back in February 2023 was a little hit and miss, there was a lot to see, of course a lot of it was good, all that history, how could it not be? We did ask at the time in a deep dive of a review if it was an important as it wanted to think it was – Beyond The Streets London at Saatchi Gallery, is it as important as it thinks it is? Is it a must see exhibition? – there were lots of fine pieces, thankfully not all of it as obvious as it might have been, there were a lot of holes though, it was rather selective, misguided at times maybe, it was good though, we like the idea of another one.
Organ will have been out on the streets and well beyond for some forty years by the time it comes around, no zine was out there on the actual streets walking it rather than talking it more than Organ was back there and very few for as long as the print version of Organ was either. The very handmade first issue of Organ came out not long after one of us had performed at the Legendary Capital Hip Hop Jam, on London’s Southbank back in ’84, I doubt that any of that history counts for anything much though. The wall of gig flyers and posters mostly missed the best bits last time around.
Here’s the press release and the capital letter shouting, oh gawd, Damien bloody Hirst is taking part, at least he’s billed after the Puppet show, Tap into that one with you’re bloody spin paintings (if only there were bloody)
The photos on this pages are our, take at the first Beyond The Streets in 2023
Here’s the press release….
“MORE THAN 100 INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS UNITE FOR LANDMARK SIX-MONTH CELEBRATION OF THE ART, MUSIC, AND CULTURE OF THE STREETS AT SAATCHI GALLERY” — BEYOND THE STREETS is returning to Saatchi Gallery with an all-new exhibition opening this November, bringing together new, historic and previously unseen works by leading figures in international street culture.
The landmark exhibition traces six decades of the extraordinary influence of street culture on contemporary art, photography, fashion, music and activism. The story is told through innovators and legends from graffiti, street art, hip-hop, 2Tone and a wider ecosystem of people willing to challenge boundaries and take risks, reshaping the world around them. These movements may take different forms, but they share the same core impulse to create, disrupt, and be heard on their own terms.
BEYOND THE STREETS transforms Saatchi Gallery into an immersive journey through the history of street culture and its ongoing influence. Spanning more than ten rooms and bringing together over 100 international creators, the exhibition features paintings, sculptures, fashion, ephemera, large-scale installations, site-specific interventions, immersive environments, historic works, new commissions, rare archives, and interactive experiences. Together, these works – many of which have been created specifically for the show – create a multilayered portrait of street culture: one that can be explored, experienced, and felt rather than simply viewed.
This expansive exhibition features UK drum ‘n’ bass pioneer GOLDIE; internationally renowned artist KAWS; notorious s feminist artists the Guerrilla Girls; a tribute to one of the most stolen books in the world Subway Art; a spray paint infinity room; the artists behind the legendary icons of 2Tone – Beat Girl and Walt Jabsco; a short film from Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova; an animated puppet shop; and Damien Hirst.
A room dedicated to activism will feature work from the Black Panthers’ official photographer Neil Kenlock, a video piece from Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, who spent two years in Russian prison for her 2012 protest performance Punk Prayer, works by emerging artist GG the Illustrator; the archive of the See Red Women’s Workshop, a London screen printing studio which produced some of the Women’s Liberation Movement’s most significant imagery from 1974 – 1990, and Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the 2008 HOPE portrait associated with Barack Obamas successful 2008 campaign to become president.
The Big Issue – which has campaigned for opportunities for homeless, low-income and marginalised people across the UK for three decades – will mark its anniversary in the exhibition with 35 of its most influential covers.
Other highlights include a recreation of part of a New York City subway train inside the Gallery, works by graffiti pioneers FUTURA 2000, LADY PINK and ZEPHYR, notorious anonymous feminist artists the Guerrilla Girls, paintings by American artist Kenny Scharf, a comprehensive archive of English football firms calling cards, some of the earliest polaroids of US hip-hop stars dating back to 1971, photographer Jill Posners archive of radical 1970s feminist graffiti, works by neo-conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, seminal UK music photographer Normski, a retrospective of New York City subway art, a history of graffiti on the London underground, the archive of trailblazing UK magazine Hip-Hop Connection, and a history of the aerosol spray can, from its wartime use protecting soldiers from malaria to its defining role in global street art.
Elsewhere, there will be a room dedicated to the 2Tone movement – including photographs by Janette Beckman.
BEYOND THE STREETS founder and lead curator Roger Gastman said: “In 2023 we had such a memorable experience with Saatchi Gallery collaborating on one of their most successful shows ever with over 150,000 visitors in three months. The opportunity to come back with a fresh show and to expand on the story was a must. This exhibition is not about nostalgia or spectacle; it is about respect and truth. It is alive. Continuously evolving, continuously rewritten, shaped by the culture it serves. I believe the work we present is as vital, needed and relevant as ever it ever was.”
GOLDIE said: “Within any major city there is an interior of graffiti writers, overground and underground. It’s all one unbelievable continuous storyline and phenomenon. As much as the governments try to erase us, BEYOND THE STREETS proves there is enough interest in and documentation of this culture to allow us to rise up.”
BEYOND THE STREETS is at Saatchi Gallery from 11 November 2026 – 5 May 2027″. Says here “tickets are available now”, I guess they want us to add that bit. There will be “exclusive merchandise, artist collaborations, collectibles, a 500-page exhibition catalogue, and limited-edition prints will be available to purchase at Saatchi Store in person and online for the duration of the exhibition…”
Beyond The Streets London runs at Saatchi Gallery from 11th November 2026 until 5th May 2027, times and prices via the gallery website
Previously on these pages…
