Spring Holiday and Jubilee Day Celebration

The Spring Holiday and Silver Jubilee celebration events included music and dance performances and a mind-expanding multi-media installation.

From 21-28 May and 5-7 June 1977, the Serpentine Gallery organised a number of celebratory events for visitors to the gallery. In addition to performances by the Bob Downes Trio, Music and Dance’s Axel, and the Rosemary Butcher Dance Company, the centrepiece was a large-scale Silver Centred Citadel, designed and built by Ken Turner, Tony Murchland, and the Action Space collective.

This took the form of a maze of walk-through 10-foot high tubes and 20-foot air houses, immersing the public in a variety of interior forms of changing volumes, tones, and colours. During their journey, visitors were also likely to encounter strange sounds, music, and curious characters inhabiting the Citadel. At the centre was the ‘Silver Sphere’, which, with more than a hint of the prog-rock spirit of the time, was intended to transport the mind away from the outside world.

At certain times, when only the outside walls and two ‘Gate Houses’ were in use, the structure became a perfect arena for performance events. Action Space performed in this arena with flying and hanging figures amidst a selection of suspended inflatables.