The Swiss art curator has worked at the Serpentine Gallery for nearly twenty years. Here he discusses how he keeps it relevant
Words: Zak Maoui
Year on year ArtReview names Hans Ulrich Obrist one of the most powerful figures in the art world and it tracks. The Swiss-born art curator, who resides in London, is the man making the Serpentine Gallery one of the coolest places in the world. Since 2006 when he joined the world-famous gallery after working at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, he has split his time between park (Hyde, where the Serpentine is located, being where he takes his calls) and office. And he has successfully governed the gallery's international standing.
The Serpentine has been a pioneer of modern art since 1970, and with Hans Ulrich Obrist, it's only maintained its relevancy as a leader in the field. For him the Serpentine is a "coming together of all cultures - a bringing together of art, architecture and design," he tells me from a bench in Hyde Park on a sunny Monday morning, ahead of the Serpentine's annual summer party. "It's a great office here, and it speaks to the Serpentine's art for all mission. The park is open to anybody, and everybody has free access to it, which is the same for the gallery. The exhibitions offer free admission and the Pavillion doesn't even have doors, and people can just walk in. We want to offer art to all."
The Serpentine Gallery, which has locations housing modern and contemporary art on both the north and south banks of the Serpentine lake, extends beyond the bricks and mortar buildings. Throughout the park you'll find sculptures curated by Ulrich Obrist and his team, whether it's a design by luminary Gerhard Richter or artwork from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. This summer the Gallery will play host to a six-channel sound installation created by musician and composer Jang Young-Gyu, presenting The Willow is <버들은> in the Summer and Moonlight <월정명> in the Autumn. The pavillion itself has been designed by Minsuk Cho, from Mass Studies. "It's important to showcase new and emerging artists, as well as those of previous generations who haven't had the visibility they deserve," Ulrich Obrist says. "We show a pioneering artist in their eighties or nineties at least once a year, those people who have never had a solo museum exhibition."
And as well as curating unique, all-encompassing physical exhibitions, Ulrich Obrist has taken on the job of keeping the Serpentine relevant in the rapidly changing world. "New experiments with technology, particularly AI, is important for the gallery," he explains. "Art is to make the invisible visible, and explore possibilities, but also expose the potential dangers." The Serpentine collaborated with Fortnite, as a means of bringing in new audiences, an saw 250 million new "visitors" in two weeks. "For us that's important, the Serpentine is a gallery in the park for all generations. We have video game shows as well as physical shows. We must be in tune with the modern world."
If that isn't enough for one man to manage, Ulrich Obrist also co-chairs the Serpentine's annual summer party, which has become a legendary night on the London summer events calendar. It is, arguably, what keeps the gallery going in terms of both relevancy and cash flow. "A lot of what we do is only possible through fundraising, and the party is exactly that," he says. "But it also brings worlds together, artists from many different fields, and that is something we always try to do with the exhibitions." This year the party was in sync with the Pavillion, and Ulrich Obrist thought it was important to have a performance by Eun-Me Ahn that animates the Pavillion. "We chose one of the great choreographers of our time to perform and we thought it would be interesting as she usually ony does big events, and not closely curated parties like this. We also selected a roster of amazing DJs." That roster included Skepta's DJ troupe Más Tiempo, as well as DJ Soulscape and Gilles Peterson. This year's party was hosted by Michael R. Bloomberg, Bettina Korek, Venus Williams, Peggy Gou and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, with an array of guests from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Caroline Polachek, Es Devlin and Shygirl to Ed McVey, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy and Ozwald Boateng. "The party reflects the Serpentine's mission to bring together all these worlds and keep on going."
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