Katie Paterson: Ideas
A constellation of reflections on deep time, distant places and imagined worlds forms a dreamlike sound installation, voiced by broadcaster Mary Anne Hobbs.
Part of a lifelong series of artworks, artist Katie Paterson’s Ideas exist as short, haiku-like sentences that take shape in the imagination of whoever encounters them.
Read by broadcaster Mary Anne Hobbs, the artist’s texts surface briefly in sound before dissolving again. Drifting through space, they appear and disappear like fleeting thoughts, forming a constellation of reflections on glaciers, forests, oceans, stars, extinction, deep time and the origins of the universe.
Moving between the intimate and the cosmic, Ideas reveals imagined artworks that exist somewhere between thought and reality.
Heard as a dreamlike landscape, the work allows vast scales of time, matter and imagination to unfold within the listener’s mind.
Creative Intelligence is commissioned and produced by the Southbank Centre. Curated with PACT – Planetary Art Culture Technology.
Need to know
Times & tickets
Dates, times and prices
Dates & times
Fri 11 Sep 2026, 11am – 8pm
Sat 12 Sep 2026, 10am – 8pm
Sun 13 Sep 2026, 10am – 8pm
Run time
9 hours (approx)
All timings are approximate and subject to change
Standard entry
Free – no ticket required
Concessions
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Refunds and exchanges
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Make a donation
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For your visit
This event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden Southbank Centre
Accessed via the yellow staircase, the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden is open at the following times.
Tue: 4pm – dusk
Wed – Sun: 12 noon – dusk
Plan your visit
The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden can be found above our Queen Elizabeth Hall and is accessed via the yellow stairs on our Riverside Terrace.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
For step-free access to the roof garden, go to the Welcome Desk on Level 2 of the Royal Festival Hall where our staff can assist you.
Assistance dogs are the only dogs permitted in the roof garden.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
Offering summer time drinks and a great range of bbq dishes, our Roof Garden Bar & Kitchen is the perfect spot to escape the city and soak up the sun.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.