Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
PRESS PACK SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY 2013 September 2013 Contents Introduction Press Release Architects’ Statement Biographies The Magazine Fact Sheet Project Team and Advisors Design Circle The Serpentine Gallery Press contacts: Miles Evans, 020 7298 1544, [email protected] Rose Dempsey, 020 7298 1520, [email protected] Image downloads: www.serpentinegalleries.org/press SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY DESIGNED BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS PRINCIPAL DONOR The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation FOUNDING PATRONS Bloomberg Philanthropies LUMA Foundation The David Ross Foundation Lars and Tatiana Windhorst The Wolfson Foundation FOUNDING BENEFACTORS Jenifer Evans Nicoletta Fiorucci Stephen and Yana Peel Catherine Petitgas FOUNDING ARTIST PATRONS Artists for the Serpentine Gallery Auction 2011, Sotheby’s, London Ron Arad • Richard Artschwager • John Baldessari • Phyllida Barlow Matthew Barney • Louise Bourgeois • Cecily Brown • Glenn Brown • Anthony Caro John Currin • Thomas Demand • Olafur Eliasson • Fischli/Weiss • Yang Fudong Gilbert & George • Felix Gonzalez-Torres • Douglas Gordon • Antony Gormley Subodh Gupta • Andreas Gursky • Richard Hamilton • N.S. Harsha Susan Hefuna • Damien Hirst • M.F. Husain • Jitish Kallat • Anish Kapoor Ellsworth Kelly • Bharti Kher • Karen Kilimnik • Jeff Koons • Yayoi Kusama Maria Lassnig • Annie Leibovitz • Takashi Murakami • Shirin Neshat • Chris Ofili Gabriel Orozco • Richard Prince • Paula Rego • Gerhard Richter • Ed Ruscha Cindy Sherman • Hiroshi Sugimoto • Do-Ho Suh • Wolfgang Tillmans Rirkrit Tiravanija • Rebecca Warren • Gillian Wearing • Rachel Whiteread And those donors who wish to remain anonymous Press Release SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY DESIGNED BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS September 2013 The Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, will open to the public on Saturday, 28 September 2013. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery gives new life to The Magazine, a former 1805 gunpowder store, located seven minutes’ walk from the Serpentine Gallery on the north side of the Serpentine Bridge. With 900 square metres of new gallery, restaurant and social space, the Serpentine’s second space in Kensington Gardens is a new cultural destination in the heart of London. This autumn, the Serpentine presents its unrivalled programme of exhibitions and events across both Galleries and into Kensington Gardens. The new Gallery is named after Dr Mortimer and Dame Theresa Sackler, whose Foundation has made the project possible through the largest single gift received by the Serpentine Gallery in its 43-year history. Major funding has also been awarded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Bloomberg is a long term supporter of the Serpentine as well as sponsor of the opening exhibition. The total build cost is £14.5 million. In 2010 the Serpentine Gallery won the tender from The Royal Parks to bring the Grade II* listed building into public use for the first time in its 208-year history. The Serpentine Gallery has restored the building to an excellent standard, in partnership with The Royal Parks, renovating and extending it to designs by Zaha Hadid Architects. A light and transparent extension complements rather than competes with the neo-classical architecture of the original building. It is Zaha Hadid Architects’ first permanent structure in central London and continues a relationship which began with the inaugural Serpentine Gallery Pavilion Commission in 2000. The landscape around the new building will be designed and planted by the worldrenowned landscape designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd. The opening exhibition in the Serpentine Sackler Gallery is the first UK exhibition by the young Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas, who is gaining international renown for his dramatic, large-scale sculptural works. At the same time, in the Serpentine Gallery, there is a major retrospective of the work by Italian sculptor Marisa Merz, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Venice Biennale. A redesigned website features the inaugural Digital Commission by Cecile B. Evans, while the first annual Bridge Commission explores the route between the two Galleries with a series of texts by twelve internationally acclaimed writers. Each story is timed to last as long as it takes to walk from the Serpentine Gallery to the Serpentine Sackler Gallery. The Serpentine’s expanded presence in Kensington Gardens is illustrated by a specially commissioned map by the artist Michael Craig-Martin. Responding to its unique location in The Royal Park of Kensington Gardens, an expanded programme of eight exhibitions will now follow the seasons with different shows in each Gallery four times a year. The seasonal theme carries through to the wider programme with the Pavilion Commission signalling the start of London’s summer and the multi-disciplinary Marathon, a fixture of Frieze week in the autumn. The Serpentine’s programme of outdoor sculpture with The Royal Parks continues with Fischli/Weiss’s monumental Rock on Top of Another Rock, which remains in place until March 2014. The opening of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery marks a new beginning for the internationally acclaimed arts organisation, which has championed new ideas in contemporary arts since it opened in 1970. The Serpentine Gallery has presented pioneering exhibitions of 1,600 artists over 43 years, from the work of emerging practitioners to the most internationally recognised artists and architects of our time, such as Louise Bourgeois, Frank Gehry, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei. ARCHITECTS’ STATEMENT The Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Zaha Hadid Architects The Serpentine Sackler Gallery consists of two distinct parts, namely the conversion of a classical 19th century brick structure – The Magazine – and a 21st century tensile structure. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery is thus – after MAXXI in Rome – the second art space where Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher have created a synthesis of old and new. The Magazine was designed as a Gunpowder Store in 1805. It comprises two raw-brick barrel-vaulted spaces (where the gunpowder was stored) and a lower square-shaped surrounding structure with a frontal colonnade. The building continued to be in military use until 1963. Since then The Royal Parks used the building for storage. The Magazine thus remained underutilised until now. Over time, much amendment and alteration has occurred inside the historic building and its surroundings. Instrumental to the transformation into a public art gallery was the decision to reinstate the historic arrangement of The Magazine building as a free standing pavilion within an enclosure, whereby the former courtyards would be covered and become internal exhibition spaces. In order to reveal the original central spaces, all non-historic partition walls within the former gunpowder stores were removed. The flat gauged arches over the entrances were reinstated whilst the historic timber gantry crane was maintained. Necessary services and lighting were discreetly integrated as to not interfere with the ‘as found’ quality of the spaces. These vaults are now part of the sequence of gallery spaces. The surrounding structure has been clarified and rationalised to become a continuous, open sequence of exhibition spaces looping around the two central powder rooms, thus following the simplicity and clarity of Leo von Klenze’s Glyptothek as an early model for a purpose-built gallery. What was a courtyard before, became an interior top-lit gallery space. Longitudinal roof lights deliver natural daylight into the whole gallery sequence surrounding the central vaults and with a fixed louver system they create perfectly lit exhibition spaces. Retractable blinds allow for a complete black-out of the galleries. The continuous sky-light makes the vertical protrusion of the central core of the building (containing the two vaults) legible on the inside. These reconstructions and conversions were designed in collaboration with heritage specialist Liam O’Connor and in consultation with English Heritage and Westminster City Council. In addition to the exhibition spaces the restored and converted Magazine also houses the gallery shop and offices for the Serpentine’s curatorial team. The extension contains a generous, open social space that we expect to enliven the Serpentine Sackler Gallery as a new cultural and culinary destination. The extension has been designed to complement the calm and solid classical building with a light, transparent, dynamic and distinctly contemporary space of the 21st century. The synthesis of old and new is thus a synthesis of contrasts. The new extension feels ephemeral, like a temporary structure, although it is a fully functional permanent building. It is our first permanent tensile structure and realisation of our current research into curvelinear structural surfaces. The tailored, glass-fibre woven textile membrane is an integral part of the building’s loadbearing structure. It stretches between and connects a perimeter ring beam and a set of five interior columns that articulate the roof’s highpoints. Instead of using perimeter columns, the edge beam a twisted ladder truss supported on three points - dips down to the supporting ground in front, in the back, and on the free west side. On the east side this edge beam (and thus the roof of the extension) swings above the parapet of The Magazine. A linear strip of glazing gives the appearance that the roof is hovering above The Magazine without touching. The Magazine’s western exterior brick wall thus becomes an interior wall within the new extension without losing its original function and beauty. This detail is coherent with the overall character of the extension as a ‘light touch’ intervention. The envelope is completed by a curved, frameless glass wall that cantilevers from the ground to reach the edge beam and fabric roof. The interior of the new extension is a bright, open space with light pouring in from all sides and through the five steel columns that open up as light scoops. The anticlastic curvature of the roof animates the space with its sculptural, organic fluidity. The only fixed elements within the space are the kitchen island and a long smooth bar counter that flows along The Magazine’s brick wall. The tables, banquets and chairs are designed as a continuous Voronoi pattern, reminiscent of organic cell structures. Our aim is to create an intense aesthetic experience, an atmosphere that seems to oscillate between being an extension of the delightful beauty of the surrounding nature and of being an alluring invitation into the enigma of contemporary art. BIOGRAPHIES Lord Palumbo, Chair man, Serpentine Galleries Trustees Peter Palumbo has been Chairman of the Trustees of the Serpentine Gallery since 1994. He became Chairman of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. Lord Palumbo was Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth from 1992-2007, and he is Adviser Emeritus to the Board of Governors of Whitgift School, Croydon. Since 1977 he has been a Trustee of the Mies van der Rohe Archive at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. From 1978-1985 he was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery; and from 1986-97 he was Chairman of the Tate Gallery Foundation. He was a Trustee of the Whitechapel Art Gallery Foundation from 1981-1987. Lord Palumbo was Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1989-1994 and a Trustee of the Natural History Museum from 1994-2004. Dame Theresa Sackler DBE, Trustee, The Dr. Mortimer and Dame Theresa Sackler Foundation Theresa Sackler DBE was a primary school teacher in London for seven years. She, with her late husband Mortimer D Sackler, has three children. Theresa Sackler serves on the boards of several family pharmaceutical companies and devotes much of her time to various philanthropic activities, including serving as a Trustee for Victoria and Albert Museum. She travels extensively overseas and has an active interest in education and the arts. Having studied horticulture, she also has a passion for gardens, nature and the environment. Dame Zaha Hadid DBE, Founder, Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid DBE founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004 and is internationally known for both her theoretical and academic work. Each of her dynamic and innovative projects builds on over thirty years of revolutionary exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. Hadid’s interest lies in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape and geology as her practice integrates natural topography and human-made systems, leading to experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. Such a process often results in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms. Patrik Schumacher, Company Director, Zaha Hadid Ar chitects Patrik Schumacher joined Zaha Hadid Architects in 1988. He is a company director and senior designer of the practice as well as a co-author and project partner of seminal projects such as the MAXXI Museum in Rome and Guangzhou Opera House. Schumacher is co-director of the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association and has also taught post-graduate studios with Zaha Hadid at Yale, Columbia and Harvard. He currently teaches at Institute for Experimental Architecture, Innsbruck and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. His published works and interviews discuss his contribution to the discourse of contemporary architecture. Julia Peyton-Jones OBE, D irector, Serpentine Galler ies Julia Peyton-Jones OBE became Director of the Serpentine Gallery in 1991, where she is responsible for commissioning and showcasing the groundbreaking Exhibition, Education and Public Programmes as well as the annual architecture commission, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Under the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Serpentine completed a £4million renovation in 1998. Since then visitor numbers have increased to between 800,000 and 1.2million in any one year. In 2010, the Serpentine won the License for an additional gallery in Kensington Gardens, The Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Peyton-Jones is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art (RCA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and is an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) Hans Ulrich Obr ist, Co-Director, Serpentine Galleries Hans Ulrich Obrist is Co-Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris. Most recently, he has curated 13 Rooms at Kaldor Public Arts in Sydney. In 2012, he co-curated Jonas Mekas, Thomas Schütte Faces and Figures, Yoko Ono TO THE LIGHT, Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei Pavilion and the Memory Marathon at the Serpentine Gallery, London; To the Moon via the Beach, LUMA Foundation, Arles; Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro, Sao Paulo; A call for unrealized projects, DAAD and e-flux, Berlin. Obrist’s recent publications include A Brief History of Curating, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks with Rem Koolhaas, Ai Weiwei Speaks, along with new volumes of his Conversation Series. THE MAGAZINE From Munition Depot to 21 st Century Exhibition Space The Magazine, built in 1805, was designed as a munitions store for the safe-keeping of gunpowder during the Napoleonic wars. Since then it has been at the turning point of over two hundred years of London’s history: the city’s recreation grounds and royal gardens, a landscape for military parades, home to the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition of 1851, site for patriotic celebration as well as revolutionary anger. Improved by Decimus Burton in the 1820s, the building stands in front of the Serpentine Bridge, designed by John Rennie and completed between 1825-28. In September 2013, the Grade II* listed building was brought into public use for the first time by the Serpentine Gallery and The Royal Parks, and transformed into the Serpentine Sackler Gallery designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. From the autumn of 2013 the Serpentine presents its pioneering programmes across both Galleries and out into the landscape of Kensington Gardens. SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY FACT SHEET Overall site area • 3,414 m2 Gross internal area • Total: 1566m2 Dimension of Serpentine Sackler Gallery • • • • Height: 8.95m from the ground at the building’s highest point Internal area (usable): 1355m2 Building footprint: 1328m2 Maximum ceiling height internally: -Galleries: 3.60m -Stores (2 rooms at front): 2.95m -Powder rooms: 7.50m to top of vault, 4.30m to timber beams -Western extension (social space): up to 6.00m Structure and materials The Magazine (gallery) • Walls: solid brick walls and vaults (existing) • Roof: single-ply waterproofing membrane over rigid insulation. New steel structure to support new roof over galleries Western extension (restaurant and social space) • Roof and Structure: steel ladder frame around perimeter, clad in FRP panels, spray painted. Steel columns (structural skin) with FRP cladding to one side, spray painted. PTFE coated glass-fibre woven fabric membrane on outside, silicone-coated glass cloth on inside with multifoil insulation inbetween • Glass walls: laminated double glazing, low iron. Laminated glass fins, low iron • Floor: terrazzo tiles over underfloor heating Northern extension (office space) • Roof: single-ply waterproofing membrane over rigid insulation • Walls: cavity walls with stock brick to match existing externally • Floor: terrazzo tiling/carpet over underfloor heating Content • • • The Magazine: a public gallery space during the day (10.00am – 6.00pm) and a space for evening event hire (6.30pm – 11.00pm). Western extension: a restaurant and social space Northern extension: office space SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY PROJECT TEAM AND ADVISORS Architect Zaha Hadid Architects Architectural Design Zaha Hadid, with Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid Architects Architectural Project Director Charles Walker, Zaha Hadid Architects Architectural Project Lead, Phase 1 Thomas Vietzke, with Jens Borstelmann, Zaha Hadid Architects Architectural Project Lead, Phase 2 Fabian Hecker, Zaha Hadid Architects Structural Engineering Ed Clark, with Jolyon Smith and Chris Neighbour, ARUP Project D irectors Julia Peyton-Jones, with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries Project Leader Julie Burnell, with Amy Brown, Serpentine Galleries Project Ma nagers Ian Eggers, Gareth Stapleton, Bob White, Peter George, Wayne Glaze, Pat Walsh, Jim Ledger, Rise Architectural Project Team Ceyhun Baskin, Torsten Broeder, David Campos, Suryansh Chandra, Inanc Eray, Matthew Hardcastle, Dillon Lin, Elke Presser, Marina Duran Sancho, Timothy Schreiber, Jianghai Shen, Marcela Spadaro, Anat Stern, Laymon Thaung, Claudia Wulf, Zaha Hadid Architects Restaurant M ise-en-Scène & Gift Shop Melodie Leung, Maha Jutay, Claudia Glas-Dorner, Evgeniya Yatsyuk, Kevin Sheppard, Carine Posner, Maria Leni Popovici, Loulwa Bohsali, Karine Yassine, Steve Blaess, Zaha Hadid Architects Lighting Designer Arnold Chan, Isometrix Lighting + Design Landscape Designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Arabella Lennox-Boyd Landscape Design Westminster City Council Hassan Lashkariani, Building Control, Westminster City Council District Surveyor’s Office Jenny Wilson, Licensing Surveyor, Westminster City Council Harriet Whitehorn, Planning Officer, Westminster City Council Kate Green, Planning Officer, Westminster City Council Barbara Milne, Senior Arboricultural Officer, Westminster City Council Dave Nevitt, Environmental Health Officer, Westminster City Council David Doyle, Fire Safety Inspecting Officer, Westminster City Council English Heritage William Reading, Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas, Heritage Protection and Planning Construction Mike Bridges, with Simon Frawley and Eugene McCormick, Galliford Try Construction Consultants Barnaby Collins and James Penfold, DP9; Anthony Fowler and Peter Mundy, Gleeds; Gareth Sefton, Sefton Horn Winch SERPENTINE SACKLER GALLERY DESIGN CIRCLE Amina Technologies Amina Technologies Ltd® was established over a decade ago and is the world’s leading supplier of invisible loudspeaker solutions. Whether hidden behind a plaster skim or built into bespoke joinery the unique vibrational flat panel technology produces sound with exceptional power and clarity using principles similar to acoustic musical instruments. The products enable individuals and corporations to create environments with modern entertainment and communication systems that have zero visual impact on the interior aesthetics. Arabella Lennox-Boyd Landscape Design Arabella Lennox-Boyd is one of the leading landscape designers in the UK and has an unrivalled command of both landscape design and the highest quality plantsmanship. Italian by birth, she has designed over 400 gardens worldwide over 40 years including six Chelsea Flower Show Gold medal gardens, winning best of show in 1998. Her public projects include the iconic roof garden at No. 1 Poultry in the City of London seen as a London sight in Danny Boyle’s film for 2012 London Olympic Games and the first large landscape for the Maggie's Cancer Caring Charity in Dundee. www.arabellalennoxboyd.com Art e mi d e Artemide Group is a world leader in the high-end residential and professional lighting sector. Founded in 1960 by Ernesto Gismondi, the Artemide Group is based in Pregnana Milanese, and has five manufacturing plants in Italy, France, Hungary, and the US; two glassworks; and research and development facilities in Italy and in France. The high level of technological innovation, products conceived according to personal needs, as well as constant investment in marketing and communication are the key factors that allowed Artemide to develop into one of the best known and most prestigious lighting equipment brands in the world. www.artemide.com Burmatex Burmatex® is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of contract carpet and carpet tiles, offering a high quality range spanning fibre bonded, structure bonded® and tufted carpet in sheet and tile, supported by specialist barrier and entrance matting products. Focusing on innovative design and flexible manufacturing, Burmatex products offer creative yet practical choices to architects, specifiers, end users and contractors across a variety of sectors including education, leisure, accommodation, commercial interiors, healthcare and public buildings. Dornbracht Aloys F. Dornbracht GmbH & Co. KG, with headquarters in Iserlohn, is a globally active family-run manufacturer of high-quality fittings and accessories for bathrooms and kitchens. Highly qualified employees and the most modern production technologies guarantee the highest manufacturing quality. With 'Culturing Life' as its brand claim, the Company broadens its foundations of competence in the areas of design and water: technological progress in terms of connectivity and convenience, and prevention in terms of health and well-being, increasingly characterise the brand orientation and product developments of the future. www.dornbracht.com Dyson Airblade Dyson is a British technology company, developing new and more efficient technology. With over 1,500 scientists and engineers worldwide Dyson strives to solve everyday problems: thinking, testing, breaking, questioning. Launched in early 2013, the Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer washes and dries hands with no need to leave the sink. Using Airblade ™ technology, the Dyson Airblade Tap dries hands using sheets of unheated air travelling at 430mph which scrape water from hands. This ensures hands are hygienically dry in just 12 seconds using filtered air. www.dysonairblade.co.uk Fenw ick Elliott Fenwick Elliott is the largest specialist construction law firm in the UK serving clients around the world in the building, engineering and energy sectors. Their expertise covers procurement strategies, contract documentation, dispute avoidance and resolution and proactive project support. Fenwick Elliott has, since formation, always advised solely on construction matters, making them true construction law specialists. Isometrix Lighting + Design Isometrix was set up in 1984 by Arnold Chan, an architect trained at the Architectural Association. Its architectural approach to lighting design visualising in three dimensions and creating a hierarchy of light effects to enhance the spatial flow of buildings and their interiors - distinguishes Isometrix from the work of traditional lighting engineers. Isometrix has worked with architects and designers with very differing stylistic approaches. It does not have a house-style of its own, but aims to bring out the best in any design, whether overtly rational and purist or symbolic and theatrical. RISE RISE Management Consulting was founded in 2011 by leading experts to bring a fresh, dynamic and innovative approach to the construction industry. Its people draw on a wealth of experience spanning architecture, project management and management consultancy, allowing RISE to provide a truly bespoke and integrated service throughout all sectors of the built environment. RISE enable clients to achieve success by utilising industry expertise, and by applying it with intelligence and flair. RISE currently operates in the UK, Middle East and China. RISE project managed the Serpentine’s annual pavilion by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei in 2012, and Sou Fujimoto’s Pavilion in 2013. Roca Roca is dedicated to the design, production, sales and marketing of bathroom products as well as ceramic wall and floor tiles for the architecture, building and interior design sectors. The company employs over 20,000 people and is active in more than 135 countries around the world. A world leader in the definition of the bathroom space, Roca works closely with prestigious designers, architects and interior designers such as Moneo, Chipperfield, Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Giugiaro and Schmidt & Lackner, to name just a few. Through constant research and development, Roca promotes initiatives which help protect the environment. This commitment is reflected in the continuous development of new products designed to reduce water consumption. Stage One Winners of a 2013 Queen’s Award for Continuous Innovation, Stage One work all over the world within the events, theatre and architecture industries. Their unique strength is their ingenuity – finding ways to bring their clients’ ideas to life, no matter how extreme. Based in Yorkshire, Stage One’s unconventional CV includes manufacturing complex façade panels for Zaha Hadid’s Chanel pavilion; constructing the Serpentine Gallery pavilions since 2009; developing theatrical flying systems for Opening Ceremonies and building Thomas Heatherwick’s Olympic cauldron. Whitco Catering Equipment Ltd Unrivalled expertise and a unique approach built around the customers’ needs have enabled Whitco to develop a market-leading, end-to-end range of services. Every project is underpinned by commitment to doing what is right for the customers. From supplying a simple appliance to managing major commercial kitchens contracts, they apply the same proven processes. Their design services configure front and back of house layouts around the working menus and business objectives of individual establishments to optimise productivity and workflow. Strong relationships with the world’s most respected manufacturers mean they are perfectly placed to supply the most suitable appliances, work surfaces and equipment for every application. THE SERPENTINE GALLERY - The Serpentine Gallery is one of Britain's best loved galleries, attracting up to 800,000 to 1.2million visitors annually. It is one of the top 10 most visited museums and galleries in London (Visit London). - It is the only publicly funded modern and contemporary art gallery in central London to maintain consistently free admission with full disability access. - Since 1970, the Serpentine has gained an international reputation for excellence, presenting pioneering exhibitions of 1,600 artists, architects and designers over 43 years. The Gallery, a Grade II listed former tea pavilion, underwent a major renovation in 1998 under the Patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales. - The annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion is unique worldwide and presents landmark buildings by internationally acclaimed architects who have not yet completed a structure in England. It attracts up to 300,000 visitors over three months, surpassing the Venice Architecture Biennale. - The Serpentine pioneers international collaborations between the Gallery, local communities, and worldwide partners. China Power Station, at Battersea Power Station, presented the work of a new generation of Chinese artists to the UK public for the first time. - The Serpentine’s Learning Programme is widely recognised as leading the field in art education, providing children and adults of all ages and backgrounds with unique opportunities to work closely with UK and international artists in the creation of new work commissioned by the Gallery. - The Serpentine engages new and diverse audiences through its Public Programmes of late night summer events, film screenings, performances, free Saturday gallery talks, conferences and symposia. - The Gallery achieves one of the lowest ratios of public subsidy per visitor for arts organisations in England at £2.26 per visitor. The average subsidy to publicly funded arts organisations in England is 44% of annual income, or £3.69 per visitor. - The Gallery has pioneered partnerships with public funders and private philanthropy for over 20 years, receiving 20% of its annual income from Arts Council England, and raises the balance from a wide range of corporate supporters, private donors, charitable trusts and foundations and earned income. - The Serpentine represents outstanding value for money. In 2012/13, the Serpentine Gallery raised £4.05 for every £1 of public funding. - The Serpentine Gallery works in partnership with a wide range of organisations, including: - Public and Government bodies such as the BBC; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Arts Council England; Camden Council; Westminster City Council, and the Office of the Mayor of London. - Charitable trusts and foundations such as the Annenberg Foundation; City Bridge Trust; the Eranda Foundation; Heritage Lottery Fund; John Lyon’s Charity; the Henry Moore Foundation; and the Rayne Foundation. - Internationally renowned museums such as The Natural History Museum, London; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.