‘Museums are like gyms for the mind’: Ryan Gander on being human

The Sainsbury Centre has unveiled a newly commissioned artwork by celebrated artist Ryan Gander OBE RA, Ms Modern Classical Conceptualist, or Their Shadows Obscured (Dramaturgical framework for structure and stability) (2025). Gander’s extraordinary installation, an intrigued human armature made up of stainless steel, brass, aluminium and plastic, looks up at a copy of themselves disarticulated, their limbs gently circling around the ceiling, high above the Sainsbury Centre’s iconic Living Area gallery.

Gander’s installation invites us to think about what makes us human; how we position ourselves in the world, and in turn, how we see and study others. Learn more about the work here.

The Sainsbury Centre’s PR and Media Officer, Kate Wolstenholme, sat down for an interview with Ryan Gander in his studio, ahead of the launch of the work.

Ryan Gander in his studio. Photo: Kate Wolstenholme

Interviewer: Kate Wolstenholme

Filming: Beatrice Prutton and Kate Wolstenholme

Editing: Kate Wolstenholme