Alistair Hardaker | Image: Sally Tallant (Photo: Thierry Bal)
Sally Tallant currently heads Queens Museum in New York and previously led Liverpool Biennial and worked at Serpentine Gallery.
The Southbank Centre has appointed Sally Tallant as director of the Hayward Gallery and Visual Arts.
Tallant will take up the role from July this year, leading a programme of work that includes directing and curating exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery, the Southbank Centre’s contemporary art space. The new appointment will also organise visual arts installations across the whole Southbank Centre site and will oversee a national programme of work through Hayward Gallery Touring.
Currently director of the Queens Museum in New York, she has commissioned six permanent public artworks for Delta Airlines Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport by Rashid Johnson, Fred Wilson, Ronny Quevedo, Aliza Nisenbaum, Mariam Ghani and Virginia Overton.
She was previously artistic director and CEO of the Liverpool Biennial, from 2011–2019. Prior to that, she was head of programmes at the Serpentine Gallery from 2001–2011.
She has previously worked at the Hayward Gallery, serving as assistant curator there in 2001.
Sally takes over from Ralph Rugoff OBE, who will step down in Spring 2026 after 20 years in the post.
Beyond the end of his director role, Rugoff will provide curatorial oversight for a major retrospective of Anish Kapoor, opening on 16 June 2026 as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Tallant said: “I am delighted to be returning to London as Director of the Hayward Gallery and Visual Arts, Southbank Centre. It is an honour to join Mark Ball and Elaine Bedell, and to build on the outstanding legacy of Ralph Rugoff, shaping the next chapter of this vital cultural destination and civic institution.”
Elaine Bedell OBE, CEO of the Southbank Centre, said of the new appointment: “I am confident Sally will ensure the legacy of the Festival of Britain propels the Southbank Centre into a new era of civic impact, strengthening our commitment to artists and audiences alike for the next 75 years.”
