The Zaha Hadid Foundation has commissioned artist LionHeart to create The Rebar Beneath, an 11-minute, dual-channel video installation that marks the tenth anniversary of Zaha Hadid’s death. A dual-channel work plays two films side by side, so the viewer reads one image against the other. This Zaha Hadid Foundation video installation joins film, poetry, performance, movement and spatial installation in a single piece.
Still from The Rebar Beneath. Image credit: LionHeart
LionHeart is a multidisciplinary artist, and the work grew out of time spent with the foundation’s archive. From that material the artist drew on Hadid’s early drawings and paintings, using them to explore form, perception and expression. The commission looks closely at the relationship between visible surfaces and the underlying structures that shape how people perceive space, which the title suggests with its reference to the rebar hidden beneath a finished surface.
On screen, the installation translates aspects of Hadid’s design approach into moving image through abstract compositions, symmetry, layered projections, shifting angles and sculptural forms. Because the film is built from these devices rather than from documentary footage, it reads as a response to her working method. The work also refers to Hadid’s early experiments with architectural representation and to her engagement with the Constructivist avant-garde, the early twentieth-century movement known for its geometric, dynamic compositions.
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The Rebar Beneath will be shown at the foundation’s refurbished premises at 10 Bowling Green Lane in Clerkenwell, London. The exhibition opens to the public on November 3rd, 2026 and runs until April 24th, 2027. Visitors will find it presented alongside two other exhibitions, so the building houses three separate looks at Hadid’s career at once.
The first of those companion shows is Zaha Hadid: Architecture of Performance, curated by Catherine Howe and guest curator Libby Sellers. It will examine the stage and set designs produced by Hadid and her practice. The second is artist Mona Chalabi’s The Completely Exhausting Inexhaustibility of Zaha Hadid, which will present an illustrated timeline exploring the architect’s life and creative output.
For more background, see our guide to architecture models.
Olivia Bennett is a seasoned American news editor at Arch2O, born in the UK and a proud alumna of UCLA, where she studied Architecture and Media Studies. With a strong editorial background and a passion for design storytelling, she excels in translating complex architectural ideas into engaging narratives. Olivia focuses on contemporary trends, sustainability, and emerging talents in the field, offering readers a fresh, global perspective on the built environment.