The Serpentine Gallery presents an exhibition of works by the influential artist and activist Gustav Metzger, which examines the artist’s life-long exploration of politics, ecology and the destructive powers of 20th-century society. Metzger’s career has spanned over 60 years and this is the first time such an extensive overview will be presented in this country.

Born in Nuremberg in 1926 to Polish-Jewish parents, Metzger and his brother were evacuated to Britain in 1939. In 1959, the artist published his first Auto-Destructive Art manifesto, using political and ecological issues as a starting point for his concept of a ‘public art for industrial societies’. Metzger’s work was ahead of its time in its adoption of industrial and everyday materials, and its concern for environmental issues. The artist’s continually evolving practice remains prescient today