Big crowds expected as Kapoor goes out with a bang

The Royal Academy is throwing open its doors until midnight tomorrow in anticipation of a final day's surge of visitors to see Anish Kapoor's exploding cannon and slow-moving block of wax.

More than 260,000 people — up to 5,000 a day — have seen the works since the exhibition opened in September, making it the Academy's most successful show by a living artist.

Today Kapoor paid tribute to the sophistication of British audiences who have embraced contemporary art. "There's a whole other understanding of what contemporary art can do since Tate Modern," he said. "If you compare the public in London with anywhere in the world, including New York, they're much more significant here."

People did not just find it fun: "There's a deeper emotional resonance," he said. Kapoor, 55, who has lived in London since moving from India 35 years ago, said it had been "pretty nice" to be honoured by the Royal Academy and to reach beyond the art world to a wider public. "That either happens or it doesn't and you certainly can't go in pursuit of it."

Talks are in progress with major museums and galleries about buying some of the exhibition's biggest pieces, including the tower of steel balls from the courtyard. The Academy's previous most popular show by a living artist was a 1995 retrospective of David Hockney drawings seen by 127,332 visitors. Its biggest show was of Monet's paintings in 1999, with an audience of nearly 740,000.

Kapoor will appear at a pop-up shop opposite the Royal Academy tomorrow at 6pm to sign copies of a new book on his work. The Phaidon publication, normally priced at £59.95, will be discounted for the signing.

The exhibition will move to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in March.