This summer at the Hayward Gallery, the internationally renowned Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto, is dramatically transforming the interior of the upper galleries and the three adjacent outdoor sculpture terraces with a series of spectacular installations and site-specific commissions.

It is Neto's largest and most ambitious exhibition in the UK to date and is a highlight of Festival Brazil, a major summer festival celebrating the dynamic culture of today's Brazil, sponsored by HSBC.

Ernesto Neto is considered one of the most influential artists of his generation, renowned for his sensuous and sensory installations. His immersive structures, often made using stretched lycra, have an abstract, biomorphic quality, evocative of skin and interior body systems. Neto frequently incorporates spices, as well as plastic balls and cushions into his works, enhancing the visitor experience through use of different textures and scents. Recently, Neto has been exploring new directions in his practice, including the use of steel in large-scale sculptures, one of which will be shown for the first time at the Hayward Gallery. Neto's work was previously exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in the acclaimed exhibition Psycho Buildings (2008).

Drawing on his interest in the fields of cultural history, sociology and anthropology, Neto is creating a sequence of the inter-linked spaces which merge sculpture and architecture. Visitors will become immersed in the labyrinthine installations, developing a shared spatial and social experience, engaging with their surroundings and each other. His sculptures and multi-sensory environments exist, in the artist's words, as "a place of sensations, a place of exchange and continuity between people".

Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery, said: "We are very excited at the prospect of staging a full scale exhibition of Ernesto's work here. It will be thrilling to see the dramatic juxtaposition of his physically and visually engaging installations set against the gallery's unique architectural spaces. I believe his ambitious plans will capture the public imagination, and follow in the recent success of Hayward Gallery summer exhibitions, Walking in My Mind and Psycho Buildings".

The exhibition is curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Curator, Hayward Gallery, and is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue, surveying the artist's career to date, and includes documentation of the new Hayward Gallery commission.

Ernesto Neto also features in the Hayward Gallery exhibition The New Decor, which runs concurrently in the lower galleries. The New Decor is an international survey of some 30 contemporary artists, who explore interior design as a means of engaging with changes in contemporary culture.

Ernesto Neto: The Edges of the World opens at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre on 19 June and runs until 5 September.

Information and tickets:
Southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts
0844 847 9912