Exhibition
JEAN NOUVEL Designs 10th SERPENTINE GALLERY PAVILION - Serpentine Gallery
10th SERPENTINE GALLERY PAVILION, DESIGNED BY JEAN NOUVEL
And CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI'S INSTALLATION, THE HEART ARCHIVE
In its 40th anniversary year, the Serpentine Gallery is delighted to announce that
the 10th Serpentine Gallery Pavilion has been designed by world-renowned
French architect Jean Nouvel. This year’s Pavilion is the 10th commission in the
Gallery’s annual series, the world’s first and most ambitious architectural
programme of its kind. It will be the architect’s first completed building in the UK.
The Pavilion project, conceived by Julia Peyton-Jones in 2000, remains unique worldwide and has established London as an international site for architectural experimentation, challenging the world’s greatest living architects to present their best work to the British public for the first time.
Nouvel’s vivid red building consists of bold geometric forms, large retractable awnings and a freestanding wall that climbs 12m above the lawn, sloping at a gravity defying angle. It experiments with the idea of play in its incorporation of the French tradition of outdoor table-tennis and other games. Striking glass, polycarbonate and fabric structures create a versatile system of interior and exterior spaces. The flexible auditoria will accommodate the Serpentine Gallery Park Nights and Marathon.
Christian Boltanski’s Heart archive invites Serpentine visitors to contribute a recording of their heartbeat to the artist’s archive, within a specially designed booth. The resulting audio file is then added to Boltanski’s ongoing collection which is permanently housed on the uninhabited Japanese island of Teshima, which is part of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima.
The design for the 2010 Pavilion is a contrast of lightweight materials and
dramatic metal cantilevered structures. The entire design is rendered in a vivid
red that, in a play of opposites, contrasts with the green of its park setting. In
London the colour reflects the iconic British images of traditional telephone
boxes, post boxes and London buses.
