LONDON.-210,000 people visited the exhibition, Antony Gormley: Blind Light, making it the most visited exhibition of a living artist in the 39-year history of The Hayward. The exhibition, which closed on Sunday 19 August, is the 5th most popular exhibition to be held at the gallery.

Top 5 most popular exhibitions at The Hayward since it opened in 1968: Renoir (1985) 364,430; Toulouse-Lautrec (1991) 266,459; Leonardo Da Vinci (1989) 262,221; Picasso’s Picassos (1981) 215, 801; Antony Gormley: Blind Light (2007) 209,486.

The exhibition featured a series of new monumental works specially conceived for The Hayward’s distinctive gallery spaces. It included one of the largest ever urban public art commissions, Event Horizon, which featured 31 sculptural casts of the artist’s body situated on rooftops and public walkways across central London , spanning outwards from the Southbank Centre and subtly punctuating the city skyline.

Ralph Rugoff, Director, The Hayward, said: “This exhibition showed Antony ’s work in a revelatory light, and it really captured the public’s imagination. As The Hayward approaches its 40th birthday, it is wonderful to see that its unique spaces continue to inspire artists to create new work and attract a new generation of gallery-goers.”

The centrepiece of The Hayward exhibition, Blind Light (2007), a luminous glass room filled with a dense cloud of mist, will be shown in New York this autumn. The show, which will include new works by the artist, opens at Sean Kelly Gallery on 26 October and runs until 6 December 2007.

Antony Gormley: Blind Light, sponsored by Eversheds LLP, ran from 17 May to 19 August 2007 at The Hayward, Southbank Centre.