This October, Somerset House presents Infinite Bodies, a landmark exhibition by internationally acclaimed choreographer and director Sir Wayne McGregor CBE. Marking the culmination of Somerset House’s 25th birthday celebrations, it brings together a dynamic constellation of collaborators across dance, visual arts and sound, exploring bold new expressions of the body across space, time, and technology. A series of multi-sensory installations, performances and experiments will take over Somerset House’s Embankment Galleries, including spectacular new commissions. Company Wayne McGregor, McGregor’s world-class company of dancers, will be in residence at Somerset House periodically activating the installations and facilitating interactions.

Infinite Bodies is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Presented offsite, in partnership with Stone Nest in London’s West End, McGregor unveils On The Other Earth, a radical new installation to extend the experience of Infinite Bodies beyond Somerset House. As the world’s first post-cinematic choreographic installation, it refracts, evolves and reimagines dance performance in a startlingly original new form of experience.

Set within Jeffrey Shaw and Sarah Kenderdine’s radically immersive, panoramic, 360-degree stereoscopic, 12k LED, 26-million-pixel nVis screen, where 3D imagery is experienced within an enveloping, large-scale cylindrical architecture of eight metres wide and four metres tall. Created in collaboration with artists Ravi Deepres and Theresa Baumgartner, and combining dance, choreography, digital imaging, spatialised sound, and AI, McGregor once again redefines how we think about movement, the body, and performance.

In On The Other Earth, visitors are invited into the heart of the dance, connecting in close contact with the hyperreal dancers of Company Wayne McGregor and the Hong Kong Ballet in a physicalised sound environment designed by In rible Mountain, the collective comprised of Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker (Gravity, Arrival, Sound of Metal) and renowned music producer LEXX . In groups of just 20, audiences are surrounded by shifting visual and sonic landscapes, where a series of thought-provoking otherworldly scenes and moments of intimate interplay unfold in every direction, expanding perceptions of performance and the future of entertainment.

Back at Somerset House, Infinite Bodies provides audiences with a series of major choreographic installations and commissions exploring movement, perception and technology in McGregor’s evolving creative world.

FURTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF INFINITE BODIES + PROGRAMMING
Infinite Bodies will span the dynamic spectrum of McGregor’s three-decade career and the cross-disciplinary collaborations he is renowned for, including OMNI, a striking new work created with Industrial Light & Magic that blends choreography with high-impact visual effects.

The exhibition will also feature long-time partners Random International, including the responsive light installations Future Self and No One is an Island which explore the evolving relationship between humans and machines, bringing dancers into live interaction with kinetic light sculptures that mimic biological movement in the most minimalist manner. Ben Cullen Williams’ sculptural collaboration A Body for AI embodies the evolving dialogue between technology and the human body; a bold reflection on identity – the real and the artificial, time and space, dance and landscape. Deepstaria Void conjures a highly sensory, meditative acoustic space, filled with a composition designed by Invisible Mountain. They have created an acoustic image that is continuously recomposed and performed by their bespoke digital audio engine, Bronze AI. Presented in an environment with limited lighting, the installation focuses the senses and heightens the audience’s perception of sound, space and presence, redefining the boundaries between live and digital experiences. 

Further highlights within Infinite Bodies include McGregor’s The Living Archive, a continually evolving digital platform that captures over three decades of choreographic exploration. Featuring motion capture, interactive AI experiments, rehearsal footage, and archival material, audiences are invited to step into the creative process and examine the body’s relationship to movement, memory, and data.

At the heart of The Living Archive is AISOMA, an artificially intelligent choreographic tool trained on McGregor’s own archive and a collaboration with Google Arts & Culture Lab. AISOMA generates original movement material, creating a live dialogue between the dancer and McGregor’s body of work. Originally designed as a tool for McGregor and Company to use in studio, the interactive application will be updated for Infinite Bodies, enabling visitors to have their own choreographic conversations with AISOMA.

Infinite Bodies showcases McGregor’s high-profile collaborations across film, fashion, music, and dance, including fashion designer Gareth Pugh, artist Shirazeh Houshiary and music icons Radiohead and The Chemical Brothers. In many of these striking films, dance becomes a visceral, wordless form of communication, creating a connection between performer and viewer.

Indigo Lewin, a leading contemporary photographer will present her work in the Great Arch Hall. Invited by McGregor to be Artist in Residence for the Venice Biennale Danza since 2021, Lewin has documented dancers in rehearsal and at rest, in intimate, visceral and thrilling expressions of the body. Moving away from the traditional conventions of dance and portrait photography, Lewin instead captures ordinary and prosaic moments, celebrating not just the everyday rituals of dance-making, but the pedestrian, physical rituals of every body, and the shared energy of human experience.

A dynamic public programme will run alongside Infinite Bodies, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to engage with the themes of the exhibition. Events will include movement workshops, and interactive drawing labs. Family-friendly art sessions and sensory play will be offered during school holidays, with the aim of providing playful and thought-provoking entry points into McGregor’s world. There will also be a series of music events and talks as well as a special In Conversation with Wayne McGregor.

Somerset House is expanding its commitment to inclusive access with dedicated events for neurodivergent and visually impaired audiences. This includes enhanced Relaxed Sessions, featuring hands-on creative workshops, alongside a tour for visually impaired and BSL audiences, which invites participants to explore the themes and materials of the exhibition through guided tactile engagement and sound-based interpretation.

Infinite Bodies is curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Director of Exhibitions at Somerset House, and writer Philippa Dunn. 
On the Other Earth has been co-produced between Hong Kong Baptist University and Studio Wayne McGregor, and co-commissioned by La Biennale di Venezia, Danza; Somerset House, London; Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts, Hong Kong. It is presented in partnership with Stone Nest, London.