Serpentine
Contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, home of the annual architecture Pavilion.
Serpentine is a free contemporary art organisation with two galleries in Kensington Gardens, a short walk apart on either side of the Serpentine lake. Serpentine South occupies a 1930s tea pavilion that became a gallery in 1970, while Serpentine North is a former 19th-century gunpowder store extended with a flowing modern wing by Zaha Hadid.
The galleries are known for exhibitions by living artists, architecture and public programmes, and above all for the annual Serpentine Pavilion, a temporary structure commissioned each summer from an architect who has not yet built in England. Talks and performances such as Park Nights take place inside the Pavilion.
Highlights
- Annual summer Serpentine Pavilion
- Serpentine North's Zaha Hadid extension
- Park Nights performance series
- Free admission in the heart of Kensington Gardens
