Park Nights 2015
Serpentine Pavilion 2015 designed by selgascano
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
UK
Between July and October 2015, Serpentine Galleries presents Park Nights, an annual series of live events taking place on Friday evenings in the Serpentine Pavilion.
Theatre, dance, choreography, film and music all feature in this year’s new artists’ live commissions, which explore questions around mortality, the body and the stage. Fleur Melbourn imagines Thelma and Louise‘s protagonists in the afterlife, in a theatrical performance incorporating film and philosophy. Marianna Simnett investigates bodily integrity through the intersection of music and film, while Jesse Darling re-thinks themes from the classical play Antigone through the prism of the contemporary. Christodoulos Panayiotou presents a new version of his performative lecture–reading, Dying on Stage, which incorporates a new choreography for dancer Jean Capeille, while Mette Ingvartsen draws the Park Nights series to a close with Speculations, a piece which addresses transformation and imagination in the choreographic process.
Tickets available from the Galleries lobby desk (T +44 207 402 6075) or ticketweb.co.uk
Click here for further information.
An Evening of Poetry
Friday 10 July, 8pm
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary year of the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall, poets and performers gather for an evening in the Pavilion, including legendary beat poet Michael Horovitz as well as Rachael Allen, Kayo Chingonyi, Andrew Durbin, Renee Gladman, Holly Pester, Heather Phillipson and Vanessa Vie.
Fleur Melbourn, Thelma & Louise
Friday 31 July, 8pm
In this new commission incorporating film, theatre and philosophy, artist Fleur Melbournpresents a performance in which figures from the afterlife discuss mortality and the notion of blasphemy. Fleur Melbourn’s sculptures, films and installations touch on the catastrophic as an attempt to unpick the peculiarities of the human condition. Pre-production kindly supported by the Royal College of Art.
Marianna Simnett, Blue Roses
Friday 21 August, 8pm
In an evening exploring bodily integrity and invasive procedures, artist Marianna Simnett presents a musical performance accompanied by footage from her recent films, The Udder, Blood and Blue Roses. Incorporating video and drawing, Simnett’s recent body of work explores themes of sexuality, innocence, corruption and martyrdom.
Jesse Darling, Antigone
Friday 11 September, 8pm
Artist Jesse Darling presents a version of the tragic play Antigone as an immersive environment, community theatre and symbolic ritual, reflecting on remembrance and empire. Darling works in sculpture, installation, text and “dasein by design,” where performance and unmediated experience meet.
Christodoulos Panayiotou, Dying on Stage, with Jean Capeille, in collaboration with Fiorucci Art Trust
Friday 18 September, 8pm
Artist Christodoulos Panayiotou presents a new version of his lecture-reading, exploring the hierarchical order of literal, metaphorical and symbolic deaths on the stage, as well as the philological concept of “tragic irony.” This new iteration of Dying on Stage, first presented as part of Fiorucci Art Trust’s festival, In Favour of a Total Eclipse, in Stromboli, Italy in July 2015, features dancer Jean Capeille in a choreography devised by Panayiotou.
Christian Wolff and Apartment House
Friday 25 September, 8pm
Composer Christian Wolff and Apartment House ensemble present a music performance in the Serpentine Pavilion. A pioneer of experimental music, Christian Wolff studied with John Cage and developed close collaborations with Cornelius Cardew, Morton Feldman and Merce Cunningham among many others. Apartment House, created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze in 1995, received the Royal Philharmonic Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chamber Music and Song in 2012.
Mette Ingvartsen, Speculations
Friday 16 October, 8pm
Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen presents a discursive-practice-performance addressing artificial nature, catastrophic constructions and the autonomy of objects, where imagination, speculation and description all play a role in the encounter with the spectator. Celebrated for her ground-breaking choreographic work, Mette Ingvartsen investigates questions of kinesthesia, perception, affect and sensation through practice and research.
