Tilda Swinton: Ongoing

Celebrated Scottish performer, artist, and fashion icon Tilda Swinton is curating the exhibition Tilda Swinton – Ongoing in collaboration with Eye Filmmuseum. Working with esteemed figures from film and art—her close friends and longtime collaborators—Swinton is creating six new works for the show together with Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. She also presents work made by and with Pedro Almodóvar, alongside previously unseen pieces by the late Derek Jarman. The exhibition runs from September 28, 2025, through March 15, 2026, accompanied by an extensive film programme of over forty titles that highlight the breadth of Swinton’s versatile oeuvre. 

“With the honour of this extraordinary invitation, Eye has given me the opportunity to reflect on the mechanics of my working practice over the past forty years. And to come to rest on the—ever present—bedrock and battery of the close fellowships I found from the very first and continue to rely upon to this day. In focusing attention on profoundly enriching creative relationships in my life, we share the narratives and atmospheres that inspire us: we offer new work, especially commissioned for the Eye exhibition, as the most recent gestures borne out of various companionable conversations that keep me curious, engaged and nourished. An ongoing—and unbroken—thread of breadcrumbs through the wood, new leaves on long-established trees. The perpetual seedbed. I should be so lucky, in the gift of such an invitation, in such friends and in such a life.” —Tilda Swinton

Alongside the exhibition, Eye presents an extensive contextual programme that underscores the breadth of Swinton’s practice and her collaborative ethos. Swinton will appear in conversation with many of the artistic partners who have contributed new work to Ongoing, opening up their shared processes to the public. Complementing these live encounters, Eye’s cinemas will screen more than forty films from Swinton’s body of work, alongside retrospectives dedicated to Joanna Hogg and Derek Jarman—marking the first time Eye Filmmsueum has devoted such extensive attention to the creative influence of a performer.

The programme expands beyond the screen. In late September (27–30) together with the distinguished fashion historian Olivier Saillard, Swinton will stage a performance that brings a special wardrobe to life: garments from her personal collection, film costumes, red carpet dresses and family heirlooms. They will also co-develop a special presentation together in which these pieces are displayed in the exhibition.

On the opening day, Eye will also launch Tilda Swinton – Ongoing, an impressive visual biography and unique overview of Tilda Swinton’s oeuvre, published by Rizzoli and Hannibal Books. This personal book has been designed by leading graphic designer Irma Boom, and includes contributions from writer Olivia Laing, MoMa film curator Rajendra Roy and close friends and colleagues of Swinton: Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It also includes a tribute to Swinton's former mentor, the late Derek Jarman.