What is the meaning of Life at Sainsbury Centre
Anonymous, Photograph of Dom Sylvester Houédard standing in his cream robes washing up at a sink, undated. 16.2 x 12.6 cm. Image courtesy of Dom Sylvester Houédard Archive, John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester. © Prinknash Abbey Trustees
Gyan Chaupar, 1780-82, India Office Library Commissioned by Richard Johnson (1753–1807) from unknown artist Lucknow, Uttar, Pradesh. From the British Library Collection: India Office Library, Johnson Album 5, no. 8
As exhibition designers, there are moments in a project when you sense that something truly special is taking shape. Our collaboration with the Sainsbury Centre for Summer 2026 is one of those moments.
From 16 May - 4 October 2026, two ambitious exhibitions - Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval and Play Power - will unfold across the galleries. Together, they delve into rule-making, time, structure and play: the frameworks that shape human existence and the impulses that allow us to bend or reinvent them.
Living by the Rule: Contemporary meets Medieval
Our design approach for Living by the Rule has centred on bridging past and present - not as a contrast, but as a conversation. Taking the 6th-century Rule of St Benedict as its starting point, the exhibition brings extraordinary medieval works into dialogue with contemporary artists including Andrea Büttner and Tacita Dean. Here, illuminated manuscripts and monastic objects - such as the Hatton Codex and the Etheldreda Panels - are not treated as distant relics, but as living propositions: experiments in communal life, discipline and devotion. Our role has been to create a spatial narrative that contextualises these works while drawing clear, resonant links to contemporary reflections on labour, repetition, care, time and collective structures.
Play Power
If Living by the Rule asks how we organise life, Play Power asks what happens when we loosen those structures. Our design response here embraces a more playful and subtly humorous attitude. Without diminishing the intellectual depth of the exhibition, we are creating a spatial experience that invites curiosity, movement and surprise. Play, after all, is not trivial - it is fundamental. It shapes culture, belief systems, learning and imagination. From ancient board games to 18th-century paintings, from surrealist gestures to modern toys, the exhibition explores play as ritual, strategy, competition, make-believe and creative rebellion. We are thinking carefully about rhythm - how moments of contemplation sit alongside moments of levity. The exhibition invites visitors not only to look at play, but to reconsider its place within their own lives.
Working closely with the curators and wider team, we are crafting two distinct yet interconnected journeys. One rooted in contemplation and continuity; the other animated by experimentation and delight. Together, they form a compelling exploration of how humans live - by rules and beyond them.
We cannot wait to share more as installation progresses and the galleries take shape. Save the date: 16 May 2026. It promises to be a rich and exciting journey for visitors.
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. Play Power is curated by Tania Moore, Head of Exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre.