Art exhibitions to see at the Serpentine Galleries this summer

Looking for a great destination to explore this summer? Look no further than the Serpentine Galleries! Nestled between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine Galleries are the perfect place to visit during the summer season. With an impressive line-up of exhibitions opening this summer, the best part is that they are all free to attend. Here's what's in store for you.

Web(s) of Life

Tomás Saraceno

Image: Details of Web.Life 202.3. Courtesy the spider/webs. Photography by Studio Tomás Saraceno.

#FLODown: Opening in the South Gallery at the start of next month is Web(s) of Life, an exhibition by artist Tomás Saraceno and collaborators. This is the first major exhibition of Saraceno's work in the UK. The exhibition explores the interconnectedness across ecosystems and the ways in which life forms, extractive technologies, and energy regimes are linked to the climate emergency. Saraceno's work prompts visitors to consider different forms of knowledge and non-human perspectives. In the exhibition, Saraceno poses challenging questions about techno-diversity, biodiversity, systems of power, and the need for a just, eco-social, energy transition. Saraceno also draws attention to bio-indicators, which are organisms that can signal shifts in weather, climate, pollution levels, and ecological well-being. Date: 1 June - 10 September 2023. Location: Serpentine South. 

Third World: The Bottom Dimension

 Gabriel Massan and collaborators

Image: Gabriel Massan, Third World: The Bottom Dimension, 2023 [Video Game]. Featuring Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar & LYZZA. Image courtesy Gabriel Massan

#FLODown:Opening in the North Gallery towards the end of June will be Third World: The Bottom Dimension, an exhibition, video game, and web3 token conceptualised by Brazilian artist Gabriel Massan in collaboration with interdisciplinary artists Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, and vocalist/music producer LYZZA. The exhibition, running from 23 June to 22 October 2023, will extend the ideas of the mirroring video game and offer audiences a chance to play in a communal setting with site-specific set designs, sculptures, sounds and films. The project aims to challenge and rethink our understanding and orientation in the world, with themes such as ancestral knowledge, healing, ecological awareness, transmutation, and agency. Third World will also include participatory digital tokens powered by Tezos, allowing players to record and mint their own actions onto the blockchain, building a public archive of multiple perspectives and actions. Date: 23 June - 22 October 2023. Location: Serpentine North.

22nd Serpentine Pavilion: À table

designed by Lina Ghotmeh

Image: Serpentine Pavilion 2023 designed by Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture Design render, exterior view Photo © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture Courtesy: Serpentine

#FLODown: French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh will design the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion, which will be unveiled in June 2023 at Serpentine South. Titled À table, the Pavilion draws inspiration from Ghotmeh's Mediterranean heritage and aims to create a sustainable kinship with the land through food and our primal relationship to the Earth. The circular table in the Pavilion's interior invites visitors to convene, share ideas, concerns, joys, and cultural memories. Through this design, Ghotmeh seeks to offer a space for reflection on our relationship with nature and environment. Date: 9 June- 29 October 2023. Location: Serpentine Pavilion.

 
Atta Kwami Maria Lassnig Prize Mural

Image: Atta Kwami, DzidzƆ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace), 2021-22. Installation View: Maria Lassnig Prize Mural, Serpentine North Garden, 6 September 2022 – 3 September 2023. Courtesy the Estate of Atta Kwami. Photo: Hugo Glendinning.

#FLODown: The final mural commission of the late painter Atta Kwami, who was also a printmaker, independent art historian, and curator, is currently on display at the Serpentine and will be available throughout the summer. Titled DzidzƆ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace), the mural originates from a painting that Kwami was reworking in his studio in 2021 shortly before his death, making this the final public work of his oeuvre. The mural embodies Kwami’s vibrant palette and abstract painting style and is painted on wood by his widow, Pamela Clarkson, and designer Andy Philpott. It is a visionary response to the garden and resonates with the planted landscape, each season, and the wider environment of the park over the course of a year. Date: until September 2023. Location: Serpentine North Garden.