In 2025, Serpentine will host significant solo exhibitions by Arpita Singh, Giuseppe Penone and Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, and will stage its 24th Pavilion.
Coming in 2025
Arpita Singh – Serpentine North
Opening in March 2025, Serpentine will present the first solo exhibition of Arpita Singh outside India, featuring key works selected in close collaboration with the artist from her prolific career spanning more than six decades.
Singh’s paintings draw on Indian miniatures and narratives, interwoven with immediate experiences of social upheaval and international humanitarian crises. Remembering at Serpentine North will explore the full breadth of her practice, ranging from large-scale oil paintings to more intimate watercolours and ink drawings.
Giuseppe Penone – Serpentine South
Opening in April 2025, Serpentine South will present a solo exhibition by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947, Garessio). This will be the most comprehensive survey of his practice in a major London institution, featuring sculptures and works on paper from 1977 to today. A leading figure in Arte Povera, Penone experimented with a wide range of materials including wood, iron, wax, bronze, terracotta, and plaster, bringing their individual physical qualities to the fore. Situated in the surroundings of Kensington Gardens, the exhibition will showcase the artist’s continued interest in the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley – Serpentine North
In Autumn 2025, Berlin and London-based artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) will present a major new collaborative video game, exhibition and R&D project, commissioned and produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies, at Serpentine North.
Working predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and video game development, Brathwaite-Shirley’s practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively archive and empower Black Trans stories.
Encouraging the active participation of the visitor-player in her installations, the artist highlights the role of individual choices in shaping narratives and histories. The project will bring together artists, technologists, interaction designers and specialist research to expand the artist’s exploration of the creative and civic potential of video game technologies.
This pioneering commission, which began in 2000 with Dame Zaha Hadid, has presented the first UK structures by some of the biggest names in international architecture.
2025 will see the unveiling of a new Pavilion and kickstart a programme of events to reflect on the commission, its history and its future.
Serpentine will also present Park Nights, its experimental, interdisciplinary, live programme sited within the annual architectural commission. Since 2002, Park Nights has presented performances across art, music, film, theatre, dance, literature, philosophy, fashion, and technology. Each year’s commissions respond to the unique architecture of the Pavilion, inviting audiences to experience the activated space.
Art in the Park
Esther Mahlangu Mural – Serpentine North Garden
Celebrated for her brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, Dr Esther Mahlangu (b. 1935, South Africa) has been creating large-scale and site-specific works for over eight decades. She began painting at the age of ten, learning the matrilineal Ndebele techniques and visual language of covering houses in bold patterns from her mother and grandmother.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, presented in the garden at Serpentine North, is the artist’s first public mural in the UK. Painted over sixteen wooden panels, the work depicts Ndebele shapes and patterns outlined with a black borders. The title of the work translates directly from Ndebele as ‘I am because you are’, emphasising the importance of communities and unity among humans and other living species.
Gerhard Richter Sculpture – Serpentine South
STRIP-TOWER (2023) expands on Richter’s six–decade exploration of painting, photography, digital reproduction and abstraction. The sculpture’s glossy tiles subtly mirror the viewer and the surroundings of the Royal Parks. This new commission is the latest in a long-standing series of significant public presentations in the Royal Parks since Serpentine’s foundation in 1970.
