BEYOND THE STREETS Opens at Saatchi Gallery on November 11, Six Decades of Graffiti, Hip-Hop and 2Tone

BEYOND THE STREETS, the street-culture exhibition founded and curated by Roger Gastman, opens at Saatchi Gallery in London on Wednesday, November 11, and runs until May 5, 2027. Saatchi's announcement calls it a return to the gallery and an all-new show: more than 100 artists and contributors from around the world across more than ten rooms, mixing new commissions with historic works and archive material from six decades of graffiti, street art, hip-hop, 2Tone and activism.

The names on the release cover several generations at once. There's graffiti from FUTURA 2000, LADY PINK and ZEPHYR, and work by KAWS, Kenny Scharf, Jenny Holzer, Damien Hirst and the Guerrilla Girls. A room given over to activism brings together Neil Kenlock, GG the Illustrator, the archive of the See Red Women's Workshop, Shepard Fairey and a video piece from Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot. Another room is built around 2Tone, with its icons Beat Girl and Walt Jabsco and Janette Beckman's photographs. Normski and Jill Posner add more photography, The Big Issue is represented by 35 of its covers, and Saatchi leads its announcement with Martha Cooper's 1984 picture of London kids on the way to the Beat Street premiere.

Saatchi Gallery, photographed by mutedcartoons

GOLDIE, the drum and bass pioneer, is in it too, and Saatchi's release quotes him on the graffiti writers inside every major city, which is the show's premise in one line: the music and the walls came from the same place. Saatchi's installation photos, posted on Sunday, include a copy of Metalheads' Inner City Life on a workbench.

Opening day doubles as a signing. Saatchi has listed more than 40 exhibiting artists who will be in the gallery on November 11 to sign copies of the book, among them FUTURA 2000, Shepard Fairey, Martha Cooper, Janette Beckman, ERIC HAZE, TAKI 183, CRASH, André Saraiva, Felipe Pantone and Estevan Oriol. The gallery asks visitors not to bring large objects or canvases.

Visiting

The exhibition fills the first and second floors and Gallery 4 on the ground floor. It's open 10am to 6pm every day, with last entry at 5pm; Saatchi's release says tickets start at £15, though a Saatchi post on November 2 says from £13, and members get in free. Walk-ins are allowed, though the gallery recommends booking. Saatchi Lates, the evening openings, are on November 27, December 4 and December 11, with more dates promised for 2027.

There's also a shop: exclusive merchandise, artist collaborations, collectables, limited-edition prints and a 500-page catalogue, sold at the gallery and online at the Saatchi Store for the length of the run. Saatchi hasn't listed the pieces or prices yet.

Our read

Six months in Chelsea is a long run for a show that sells on its merch table as much as its walls, and the line-up explains why: it's built to pull both the people who were there for 2Tone and the people who know KAWS from the toy shelf. The parts worth the ticket are likely the archive rooms, the 2Tone and activism material and the photography, which you can't buy a print of on the way out.