Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
UK
Between June and September 2016, the Serpentine presents Park Nights, an annual series of site-specific art, dance, film, literature, music, poetry, performance and theory conceived for the Serpentine Pavilion 2016, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Seeking the agency and performative potentials embedded in the live encounter, this year’s Park Nights programme addresses affect, rituals and revolts.
Fred Moten, Eileen Myles and Sondra Perry gather for an evening of readings and moving image; Camille Henrot proposes a night of storytelling and collective decision-making; Implicated Theatre creates a sound and theatre performance inspired by real-life struggle and highlighting issues of social justice; Brian Belott brings together collaborators for an evening of Dada collage; Silas Riener considers words, things and poetry through the body; Jala Wahid reflects on love and longing through song; while BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction presents a live recording in the Pavilion, exploring weird pop and artists’ sounds. Park Nights 2016 culminates with the Miracle Marathon on October 8–9, on stage and on air at Serpentine Radio.
Tickets available from the Serpentine (T +44 20 7402 6075) or ticketweb.co.uk
Park Nights Prelude: Architecture in Conversation
Wednesday, June 8, 12pm
Bjarke Ingels, Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ), Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger, Yona Friedman and Asif Khan discuss their designs for the 2016 Pavilion and Summer Houses with Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist, in a series of panels moderated by Vicky Richardson.
Fred Moten, Eileen Myles and Sondra Perry
Friday, June 10, 8pm
Poets Fred Moten and Eileen Myles present readings in the Serpentine Pavilion. Multidisciplinary artist Sondra Perry responds to this context with a moving-image intervention.
Camille Henrot, with Jacob Bromberg, Milovan Farronato, David Horvitz and Maria Loboda, Buffalo Head: A Democratic Storytelling Experience
In collaboration with Fiorucci Art Trust
Friday, June 17, 8pm
An evening of storytelling and collective decision-making, inspired by folktales from the south of Italy and taking place just a handful of days before a significant referendum, sees the audience voting on a hypertext narrative as it unfolds. Presented on the occasion of Fiorucci Art Trust’s yearly Volcano Extravaganza festival in Stromboli, Italy.
Implicated Theatre, Towards a Radio Ballad: Songs of the Journey…
Friday, June 24, 8pm
Implicated Theatre, a group formed in 2011 as part of the Serpentine’s Edgware Road Project, presents a participatory evening of theatrical interventions and sound compositions developed from a year-long collaboration with migrant hotel worker unions in London. With composer Patrick Farmer and director Frances Rifkin.
Brian Belott, with Billy Grant, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Matthew Thurber and Tyson Reeder
Friday, July 22, 8pm
A performance programme inspired by Dada, devised collectively by the artists, featuring madcap and anarchic objects breaking into song and Finnegan’s Wake, slapstick, whim wham and whazzup fluid. A zebra will be played like a harp: a Zarp. Clothes in a fashion show by the collective George de George Hair cuts Hair will be debuted.
Silas Riener, Thinging: Dance and Translation and the Work of Anne Carson
Friday, August 12, 8pm
Through the articulation of his body, choreographer and dancer Silas Riener explores the potential of dance in describing things. This performance is inspired by world histories, personal histories, as well as the work of poet, translator and essayist Anne Carson. This new version, first presented at EMPAC, New York, in 2015, is adapted for the context of the Serpentine Pavilion 2016.
Jala Wahid
Friday, September 16, 8pm
London-based artist Jala Wahid brings together existing music, personal and shared histories, as well as her practice as a sculptor and film-maker, in a performance exploring collective affect, longing and love.
BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction, with Bas Jan, yeah you and more
Friday, September 23, 8pm
A live recording of BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction in the Serpentine Pavilion, featuring live sets by musicians and artists. All the performances recorded at this Park Nights evening will be broadcast during the following week.
