What is the Meaning of Life?

Our spring 2026 season delves into the fundamental questions of human existence, from rule-making, to time and play.

Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval

16 May – 4 October 2026

Exploring the idea of routine and regulation, this exhibition reflects on the ‘rules’ that we live by today. Taking as its starting point the Rule of St Benedict, written in the 6th century, as a paradigmatic example of a guide for communal living, it brings together extraordinary objects from medieval monastic contexts – the Hatton Codex, the earliest copy of the Rule of St Benedict in the world, made in c. 700 AD; the Etheldreda Panels – one of only a handful of English medieval paintings to have survived the Reformation; and the Ormesby and Macclesfield psalters, the most important illuminated manuscripts of the 14th century – with contemporary works by artists including Andrea Büttner, Tacita Dean, Ingrid Pollard, Elizabeth Price and Lucy Skaer.

The exhibition vividly presents the richness and complexity of the dialogue between medieval experiments in a different way to live, and modern reflections upon how life is (and might yet be) organised.

Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval is curated by Dr Jessica Barker FSA, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art History at The Courtauld and Dr Ed Krčma, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of East Anglia.

Image: Andrea Büttner, Dancing Nuns, 2007, woodcut on paper, 180 x 113 cm. All images courtesy of Hollybush Gardens, London; David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, and JanMot, Brussels © Andrea Büttner / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

Play Power

16 May – 4 October 2026

Showcasing a variety of manifestations of play, both past and present, ranging from board games, games of chance, physical activity, creativity, video games and make believe, as well as ritual gambling and divination, the exhibition highlights the enduring role of play in shaping human societies.

It includes historical objects and artworks such as an ancient Egyptian senet board and game pieces, William Hogarth’s paintings A House of Cards (c.1730) and A Children’s Tea Party (1730), Germaine Richier’s Chessboard, Large Version (1959) and iconic toys, such as Bird and Fish, designed by Patrick Rylands. Work by artists including André Breton, Eileen Agar, John Armstrong, Leo Robinson, Sir John Lavery and Lygia Clark is also on display.

Play Power is curated by Tania Moore, Head of Exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre.

Image: Shirley Baker, Four girls playing on pavement in Hulme, Manchester, 1965. Estate of Shirley Baker/Mary Evans Picture Library

Joy Like Time

20 June – 15 November 2026

This exhibition explores how memory, ritual and renewal intersect through the work of internationally renowned artists. Featuring works by Marina Abramović, Kalliopi Lemos and Gillian Wearing.

Tracking the careers of a select group of artists in depth, this exhibition looks at how they have found life’s meaning through their practice via craft and repetition and asks, if duration marks everything from commutes to lifespans, from harvests to histories, might it also help us confront one of humanity’s most enduring questions: what is the meaning of life?

Joy Like Time is curated by John Kenneth Paranada, Curator of Art and Climate Change at the Sainsbury Centre.

Image: Marina Abramovic, Blue and Red Period, Install view 3 at Saatchi Yates, 2025. Courtesy of the Artist and Saatchi Yates

Tree of Life

20 June 2026 – 30 May 2027

Tree of Life by Seyi Adelekun will be presented in the Sainsbury Centre’s East End Gallery. Woven from hand-dyed sisal rope, the tactile and immersive installation invites visitors to move in and around the tree’s central hollow trunk.

Drawing on multiple traditions, the tree emerges as a universal symbol of the interconnectedness of all life, personal growth, the cyclical nature of existence and acts as a bridge between physical and spiritual realms.

Image: Tree of Life by Seyi Adelekun. Photo © Ethel Aanyu

Commissions

Life in the Multiverse: Libby Heaney

Libby Heaney uses quantum computing to create immersive and participatory installations. Life in the Multiverse, commissioned for the What is the Meaning of Life? season, includes a two-part digital installation and a new series of paintings. Heaney layers diverse experiences both real and imagined, to explore ideas around interconnectedness. Combining multiple images, movements and sounds through quantum coding, Heaney invites us, as participants, to feel these dream-like, cosmic, and non-linear universes.

Image: Libby Heaney with Ent-, 2022. Photo: Andrea Rosetti

Catkins Forever: Plant Stories

Ruth Ewan

Ruth Ewan has been working with communities across Norfolk to unearth stories about the plants and trees that hold special meaning in people’s lives. These stories, brought together in a publication, celebrate the personal, cultural, and historical significance of the natural world around us. Visitors are invited to pause with these stories and reflect on the ways plants and trees sustain us – not only as living beings, but as powerful symbols of memory, meaning, and connection.

Residency

Artist in residence: Ed Webb-Ingall

Ed Webb-Ingall is taking part in a residency exploring the act of withdrawal as a means of engaging more fully with creative and intellectual work.

At the heart of the project is a period of dedicated writing. Writing functions not simply as a mode of artistic production, but as a way of processing experience, deepening understanding, and examining the narratives through which we make sense of our lives.

Alongside the residency, the project includes an act of material redistribution. Drawing inspiration from traditions of monastic renunciation, Webb-Ingall has redistributed the residency’s production budget to five other artists: Sam Cottington, Robbie Ellen, Jaye Hudson, Jacob V Joyce and Mercy Moktar.

This redistribution is not presented as philanthropy but as part of the artwork itself: an exploration of how resources circulate, how artistic labour is supported, and how sharing might create new conditions for creative practice.

On 3 October there will be an event to mark the end of the residency: Dialogue event: The Hermit and The Choir

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Image top: Detail of Tacita Dean, from Paradise: Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim, Angels, Emyprean, 2021. Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery © Tacita Dean