The Serpentine Gallery, built in 1934 as a tea pavilion, is widely recognized as one of London’s most popular galleries, attracting up to 800,000 visitors to its Exhibition, Architecture, Education and Public Programmes in any one year. It is the only public modern and contemporary art gallery in central London to maintain free admission and remain open seven days a week.

Since it was founded in 1970, the Gallery has established an international reputation for excellence, presenting pioneering exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by artists such as Doug Aitken, Matthew Barney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, Dan Flavin, Douglas Gordon, Damien Hirst, Ellsworth Kelly, Piero Manzoni, Brice Marden, Mariko Mori, Chris Ofili, Blinky Palermo, Richard Prince, Man Ray, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing, Rachel Whiteread, and Jane & Louise Wilson.

The Serpentine annually commissions international architects of worldwide acclaim, who continue to press the boundaries of architectural practice and have not completed a building in England at the time of the Gallery’s invitation, to design a temporary Pavilion for the Gallery’s lawn. The 2010 Serpentine Gallery was designed by Jean Nouvel, following Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA (2009), following Frank Gehry (2008), artist Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen of the architectural practice, Sn¿hetta (2007), Rem Koolhaas with Cecil Balmond and Arup (2006), çlvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond (2005), MVRDV (2004 – unrealized), Oscar Niemeyer (2003), Toyo Ito with Arup (2002), Daniel Libeskind with Arup (2001) and Zaha Hadid (2000).

The Serpentine presents approximately 7 exhibitions each year.

Most outstanding projects in recent years:

China Power Station: Part I, 8 October–5 November 2006;

Anthony McCall, 30 November 2007–3 February 2008;

Indian Highway, 10 December 2008–22 February 2009;

Gustav Metzger, Decades 1959Ð2009, 29 September–8 November 2009;

Christian Boltanski, Les archives du coeur (The Heart Archive), 10 July–8 August 2010.

The Serpentine Gallery Public Programme is fundamental to the Serpentine’s strategy to foster dialogue across disciplines, to build new audiences and to attract visitors with a range of interests and from diverse cultural backgrounds, especially those who may not be regular visitors to the Gallery. This is achieved through prompting discussion, scholarly research and the production of knowledge as well as commissioning time-based performances by artists, musicians and film-makers. This programme is organised through a number of strands that include: Park Nights, Marathon Series, Serpentine Cinema, Conferences and Symposium, as well as Artist and Architects talks.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion provides a forum for Park Nights, a programme of events, film-screenings and talks, which take place every Friday evening while the Pavilion was in situ generating a truly holistic association between the building and the content of the structure, which for the past three years has culminated in the Serpentine Gallery Marathon series.

The Pavilions have acted as a concert hall, auditorium for lectures and artistic performances, a screening space for classical and experimental film as well as a forum for political debate. Artists, writers, architects, academics and musicians travelled from all around the world to lead this diverse series of public events.

Serpentine Gallery Projects build dynamic relationships between art, artists and people. Projects and events vary in scale, duration and location, and challenge expectations of where art can be encountered and by whom. Previous projects include; Skills Exchange: Urban Transformation and the Politics of Care; and The Edgeware Road Project: The Centre for Possible Studies.

The Serpentine’s Education Programme, delivered to over 35,000 people in any one year, is recognised as leading the field in art education. Designed to widen access to and enjoyment of modern and contemporary art and architecture, the Education Programme engages visitors of all ages, backgrounds and abilities in a wide range of activities. These include artists’ residencies, workshops with schools, professional development for young adults.

Learning Through Art: The Serpentine Gallery is committed to making art accessible to all sectors of the community. The Gallery tailors its Education Programme to meet the needs of participants of all ages from diverse educational, social, economic and cultural backgrounds.

The Serpentine’s Education Programme consists of an extensive range of educational activities, including talks and discussion, events and workshops and exhibition tours. All activities are specially designed to complement the five exhibitions of modern and contemporary art presented at the Gallery every year and the annual architectural commission.

Through varied and committed approaches, the Serpentine’s Education Programme facilitates strong partnerships between schools and communities, colleges of further education and universities, and young people and families.

The Serpentine Gallery produces publications and catalogues in conjunction with its exhibition and architectural commissioning program.

Gallery all year round, Pavilion: July–October.