Leading artists, writers, musicians and directors took part in the Serpentine’s first 24-hour Interview Marathon in the park.
The Interview Marathon was the first 24-hour non-stop Serpentine Marathon, launched by Serpentine Co-Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and co-hosted with Rem Koolhaas in his 2006 Pavilion.
Guests came from a spectrum of fields and disciplines – from artists and writers to scientists and historians, and included David Bailey, Zygmunt Bauman, Hussein Chalayan, Brian Eno, Gilbert and George, Zaha Hadid, Richard Hamilton, Damien Hirst, Jude Kelly, Hanif Kureishi, Doris Lessing, Ken Loach, Gautam Malkani, Richard Rogers and Juergen Teller.
Developed and hosted by Obrist and Koolhaas, the Interview Marathon was devised in association with a team of guest advisers. The marathon was an extension of Obrist’s renowned interview series, but also of other projects and exhibitions on which he has collaborated with Koolhaas, such as Cities on the Move and Mutations, which explored notions of the city and how to create a ‘portrait’ of ever-changing cities at a given moment.
“The Interview Marathons treat the past as a toolbox with which to make an almost archaeological slice of the present,” commented Obrist. “They are also intended as ongoing research that can lead to exhibitions, projects, publications and all manner of future collaborations.”
Koolhaas’ intention was for the Pavilion to be ‘architecture of content,’ with particular attention paid to the conversations, discussions and events that took place within it. Beyond exhibitions, this project raised the question of how new communication methods and formats could be created for discussing culture and society, encouraging both a venturing out from art into other disciplines and a crossover of their respective audiences.
Interviews by
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rem Koolhaas
Director and Co-Director of Exhibitions & Programmes
Julia Peyton-Jones
Organised by
Head of Education and Public Programmes
Sally Tallant
Marathon Organisers
Kathy Battista
Francesco Manacorda
Emma Ridgway
Volunteers
Charlotte Bonham-Carter
Tyler Poniatowski
Additional Thanks
Cecil Balmond
OMA: Clément Blanchet, Karen Crequer, Adam Furman and Karel Wuytack
Arup
