Art & Explore the ideas behind our programme in depth and find out more from the artists we're working with. Ideas

the two hands of a young child are folded out on a grey parquet floor, making a diamond shape with the thumbs. between them is a spindly spider which the child is playing with

Have you had a productive day?

El Morgan, 26 Jul 2023

A video work by artist and writer El Morgan explores vulnerability, interdependence and the messy crossings of human and animal bodies.

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a landscape viewed from above, full of trees, shrubby grasslands and green paths or streams. the greens glow almost blue and the image looks tangled, alive and abstract; perhaps the colours have been altered to give it an otherwordly feeling

As It Was in the Beginning, Is Now, and Ever Shall Be

Scott F. Gilbert, 6 Jun 2023

Biologist Scott F. Gilbert tells the story of life on Earth from the perspective of bacteria.

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Never Again Grenfell

Never Again Grenfell

Paul Gilroy, 24 Apr 2023

An essay by sociologist and author Paul Gilroy, written to accompany Steve McQueen’s Grenfell.

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A view of a river in an industrial zone. It looks like we're in southern England from the willow trees and shrubs and reed lining the riverbank. Further off, you can see industrial buildings and electricity pylons. The image is framed by two pillars and a railing.

And I have come to listen in

Priya Jay, 3 Apr 2023

Writer Priya Jay responds to the sounds of Radio Ballads by weaving together a series of reflections that are, by turn, poetic, raw and resonant.

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Being Present in Our Problems

Being Present in Our Problems

Richard Sennett, 27 Mar 2023

Sociologist Richard Sennett considers how collective actions and concerns can help us to counter politics of individualism and isolation.

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A mural in an outdoor space in front of a bed of plants. The painting is made up of colourful grids and lines.
Playlist

Atta Kwami Playlist

2 Mar 2023

A selection of music celebrating the artist Atta Kwami, to accompany his public mural at Serpentine.

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a highly colourful painting with pop-art influences, showing bright red, green, orange and yellow planes. grinning caricatured faces with brown skin and hats are shown, as well as the figure of a donkey and some structures.

Télémaque Paean

manuel arturo abreu, 23 Feb 2023

Dominican artist, poet, critic, and curator manuel arturo abreu pens two-part essay on the work of Haitian painter Hervé Télémaque.

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a large canvas in earthy tones showing many spherical forms and strips where parts of plants are caught up in swirls of leaves
In Conversation

Endless Connection: A Conversation on the Work of Kamala Ibrahim Ishag

Rayan Elnayal & Atheel Elmalik, 28 Jan 2023

Writer-filmmaker Atheel Elmalik and artist-architect Rayan Elnayal share responses to the work and world of Kamala Ibrahim Ishag.

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against a taupe-coloured background, a globular abstract form made of many components hovers. a mossy rock structure is at its core, with glossy magenta fluid and pale pink chalk colliding with it. glassy bubbles float around the scene, refracting the form. REWORLDING is written in white lettering across the centre of the image, distorted by a bubble.

Serpentine Podcast: REWORLDING

18 Jan 2023

A podcast series that invites everyone to reimagine our world through everyday practices.

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Back to Earth

In Conversation: Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Rebecca Lewin
In Conversation

In Conversation: Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Rebecca Lewin

18 Feb 2021

Back to Earth artists consider how art, design and philosophy can effect long-term change in the face of ecological crisis.

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Back to Earth: Standing with the Forest
Serpentine Podcast

Back to Earth: Standing with the Forest

7 Aug 2020

We listen to Indigenous organisations fighting extraction and climate change and the artists working with them.

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Courtesy of Himali Singh Soin

*Spring is dangerous, like love. And love survives the lovers.*

29 Mar 2021

Himali Singh Soin, together with curator Kostas Stasinopoulos, asked friends to share messages, traces and transmissions of love.

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Into The Archives: Vivienne Westwood's Climate Activism
In Focus

Into The Archives: Vivienne Westwood's Climate Activism

10 Mar 2021

We take a look back at the pioneer’s ongoing relationship with Serpentine.

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140 Ideas
Serpentine Podcast

140 Ideas

19 Jun 2021

A new mini-podcast series inspired by the publication of 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth.

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In Conversation: Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen with Lucia Pietroiusti
In Conversation

In Conversation: Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen with Lucia Pietroiusti

28 Jan 2021

Back to Earth artists consider how art, design and philosophy can effect long-term change in the face of ecological crisis.

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Back to Earth: Queer Currents
Serpentine Podcast

Back to Earth: Queer Currents

21 Aug 2020

Artists and thinkers join the dots between queer theory and environmental activism and climate justice.

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Serpentine Podcast: Sound Gallery

Sound Gallery: Breathtaking: On Black Beauty and Other Necessary Indeterminacies by Torkwase Dyson
Serpentine Podcast

Sound Gallery: Breathtaking: On Black Beauty and Other Necessary Indeterminacies by Torkwase Dyson

6 May 2022

Torkwase Dyson's commission for Sound Gallery embodies breath in relation to the politics of space, the environment, and the rights of Black bodies to breathe.

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Sound Gallery: IN A GARDEN by Brian Eno
Serpentine Podcast

Sound Gallery: IN A GARDEN by Brian Eno

6 May 2022

Rooted in thinking about the landscape around Serpentine, Brian Eno's audio commission, IN A GARDEN, opens up a generative space made of layered sound.

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Sound Gallery: Atlantic Railton by Ain Bailey
Serpentine Podcast

Sound Gallery: Atlantic Railton by Ain Bailey

22 Jul 2022

In Ain Bailey's sound work, we hear intimate conversations and sonic resonances that reflect Brixton's sites of care and resistance.

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a form with a texture like grey mineral
Serpentine Podcast

Sound Gallery: Crystals of this Social Substance by Jay Bernard

22 Jul 2022

Jay Bernard's audio work for the Sound Gallery series brings eight young people into conversation on class, economics and inequality.

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Art + Technology

Designer Yasaman Sheri on Building more Pathways for Art-Science Creativity (and Eavesdropping on Bacteria)
Interview

Designer Yasaman Sheri on Building more Pathways for Art-Science Creativity (and Eavesdropping on Bacteria)

21 Oct 2020

Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategist at the Serpentine, speaks to Yasaman Sheri about her multifaceted practice, the challenges of art and science collaborations, and how the new Synthe...

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The Interfaces of AI Art Practices
In Focus

The Interfaces of AI Art Practices

30 Mar 2021

If machine learning is a new paradigm in computing, then why is there no new interface?

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Filmmaker Kim Heecheon is Using Technology to Test the Limits of Reality
Interview

Filmmaker Kim Heecheon is Using Technology to Test the Limits of Reality

29 Sep 2020

Kim Heecheon and Hans Ulrich Obrist discuss discuss world-building, virtual reality and Pokémon GO.

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Artists World Illustration
In Focus

Ecological World-Building: From Science Fiction to Virtual Reality

2 Mar 2021

Alice Bucknell draws a line from the otherworldly, ecological imaginings of writers like Octavia Butler to the "digital gardening" practices of artists like Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Jen...

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Rebecca Allen on Kraftwerk, Video Games and Artificial Life
Interview

Rebecca Allen on Kraftwerk, Video Games and Artificial Life

17 Sep 2020

"Artists are inventors too; coming up with new ideas and new forms of expression, so to be in a research lab and to be an artist inventing new things made a lot of sense to me." Rebecc...

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The umbra of an imago: Writing under control of machine learning
In Focus

The umbra of an imago: Writing under control of machine learning

14 Aug 2020

Allison Parrish draws parallels between automatic writing and writing under the control of automation.

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An Introduction to Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s New Realities
In Focus

An Introduction to Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s New Realities

23 Feb 2021

To encounter the immersive virtual landscapes and meditative soundscapes of Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen is to be transported to a new world.

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Serpentine Podcast

Bringing together the artists, writers and thinkers of our time to explore timely questions around technology, ecology and equality.

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Podcasting for the Arts with Reduced Listening

Archive

Discover over 50 years of Serpentine

From the architectural Pavilion and digital commissions to the ideas Marathons and research-led initiatives, explore our past projects and exhibitions.

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