Creative communities in the UK and around the world have been hard at work creating some innovative exhibitions and installations on display just in time for the summer months.
by Helen Parton
Prepare to be inspired this July, August and beyond at the showcase of creativity at various summer shows. From architecture pavilions to a series of dramatic sculptures, the breadth of cutting-edge ideas from far and wide is clear for all to see.
The Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Lina Ghotmeh.
© Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Serpentine.
London’s Serpentine has been commissioning an annual summer Pavilion design for over twenty years, beginning in 2000 with a design by the late Dame Zaha Hadid. Since then, some of the biggest international names in architecture have participated. This year the honour goes to French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh. She presents ‘À table’ an installation taking its name from the French call to sit down together, which is intended as a place to convene and share thoughts and features a concentric table at its perimeter. The structure’s internal wooden beams are conceived in dialogue with the surrounding tree canopy while the pleated roof is in the shape of a palm leaf. The show runs until 29 October.
Yayoi Kusama and Dots Obsession, 1996-2011 Installation view: The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.
Photo © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner.
Manchester’s International Festival presents a city-wide celebration of culture this summer. One of the Festival’s centrepieces is You, Me and the Balloons, a major new installation by Japanese artist of Yayoi Kusama, located in Factory International’s flagship new venue. The exhibition brings together for the first time a collection of the artist’s most significant inflatable works including giant dolls, spectacular tendrilled landscapes and a constellation of polka-dot spheres and can be seen at the new ultra-flexible space designed by Ellen van Loon, OMA Partner and lead architect until 28 August.
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Larry Bell_Pacific Red (IV), 2017_courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Photo © Nick Turpin_083A5321.JPG
Set against a backdrop of buildings old and new in London’s Square Mile, the 12th edition of the Sculpture in the City once again provides a thought-provoking trail of artwork, from 100 Bishopsgate to St Mary Axe and Aldgate Square, raising questions about the meaning and possibilities of public art today. The selected works bring together 17 artists from 10 countries including Phyllida Barlow, Isamu Noguchi, Larry Bell, Mika Rottenberg and Ugo Rondinone. Each piece has been chosen for the unique way it responds to and engages with the rich architectural tapestry the City of London.
Marwan Kaabour, ‘The River in Verse’ installed on The Tide, Greenwich Peninsula as part of Summer Sessions.
Photo © Victor Frankowski
Over at Greenwich Peninsula, which in the last few years has established itself as one of London’s newest cultural hotspots, there is the unveiling of the first outdoor site-specific work from Turner Prize-nominated Ian Davenport and a piece from multi-disciplinary designer and artist Marwan Kaabour. Both creatives have reimagined The Tide, London’s first elevated park designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (designers of The High Line in New York) in collaboration with Neiheiser Agyros. While Davenport’s work submerges The Tide with his trademark multi-coloured poured lines, Kaabour uses a kaleidoscope of different languages interspersed with graphics inspired by nautical navigation.