6 minute read
INSIDE THE SERPENTINE
Words by
AURELLA YUSSUF
From Wilshire Boulevard to Kensington Gardens
Bettina Korek joined The Serpentine nine days before the world shut down. Now she can finally reveal her vision
Bettina Korek alongside architect Sumayya Vally and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist at the 20th Serpentine Pavillion
Dominique Gonzalez Goerster, Metapanorama (2022)
Presenting contemporary art from across the globe, the Serpentine gallery has been at the forefront of the art world for more than fifty years. Today, Bettina Korek – its CEO since 2020 – brings a Californian sense of experimentation and forward-thinking. When we meet at The Connaught’s Red Room, her effortlessly chic, all-black Dior/Schiaparelli/Alaïa ensemble belies both her warm, laid-back persona and her enthusiasm for the art in the bar. ‘I love Brian Clarke’s windows,’ she enthuses. ‘He has an amazing connection to the Serpentine: through Zaha Hadid, who designed The Magazine restaurant and did the first pavilion.’ Her eyes alight on I Am Rouge, a work in watercolour, gouache and pencil. ‘I love Louise Bourgeois,’ she continues. ‘I have her work on my home screen.’ WHAT WERE YOUR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RECENT FRIEZE LA ART FAIR? My favourite part is the Focus section: a platform for young galleries in Los Angeles. It was incredible visiting [performance artist] Rafa Esparza and learning about the site-specific, bodybased performances that he’s been doing over the course of the pandemic. I also loved seeing Marcia Hafif’s gradient paintings. [Art collector and investor] Jarl Mohn is so passionate about minimalism; he came together with the Fergus McCaffrey gallery to realise [Hafif’s] An Extended Gray Scale. We visited [painter] Mary Weatherford and saw the works that she’s going to be presenting in Venice for the Biennale. That was definitely a highlight. HOW HAS THE LA ART SCENE DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS? There are so many art communities in LA, and it was great to see how galvanised people are to illuminate the incredible bonds between institutions in the city. We visited [architecture and installation artist] Lauren Halsey. We’re having a show with her in October. It’s the first major exhibition with an LA artist that we’ve done since I got to London.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO TAKE FORWARD? We’ve learned so much about empathy, and how important it is that we make space at work to listen to each other and to create a supportive community. We’ve learned what a privilege it is to be able to all come together and produce and create and build resources for artists.
Above: Bettina Korek with artist Alex Israel. Left: A still from Rory Pilgrim RAFTS shown as part of The Serpentine’s Radio Ballads exhibition
THERE’S BEEN A SHIFT TO DIGITAL. IS THAT IMPORTANT? Absolutely. Our vision is to build new connections between artists and society. There’s using technology in terms of experiencing art digitally, but there’s also how we use technology to engage audiences and bring them back. That’s what I’m really interested in.
WHERE DO YOU STAND ON NFTS? We’re at the very beginning of the story. NFTs are obviously here to stay. I’m interested in what experimental ideas are going to emerge. I think there are a lot of possibilities that we haven’t even started to consider.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE EQUALITY IN THE ARTS? We’re talking about how we can support access to professional opportunities. [Curator] Yesomi Umolu, who joined the Serpentine during the pandemic, is really passionate about that. The conversations are very much led by artists that we work with. We have to think about broad systemic issues, but also what we can do in our daily lives, and the ways that we interact with each other.
DOMINIQUE GONZALEZ-FOERSTER IS NOW ON AT THE SERPENTINE. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? She has a longstanding interest in science fiction and extraterrestrial activity. The show is called Alienarium 5. It’s new work and a multisensory experience. She imagines what aliens would think if they came here; imagine if they fell in love with us. Dominique is mysterious and wants people to be surprised.
The exhibition will ask what care workers and artists can learn from each other
INSTALLATION ARTIST THEASTER GATES’ BLACK CHAPEL PAVILION IS COMING UP IN JUNE… It’s so exciting. He’s creating a sanctuarylike space that has a meditative quality. I love how personal his practice is, from studying pottery in Asia, and his dad being a roofer – bringing those materials into his work – and growing up singing in a Black church choir. We’re so honoured to be presenting this project. The pavilion scheme, which was started twenty years ago by Julia Peyton-Jones, was a platform for architects who hadn’t built in the UK before, and Theaster is the first artist.
WHICH BRITISH ARTISTS ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT? Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley did a project about a video game where your job is to protect Black trans people, asking the question, ‘Why do we want to kill people in video games?’ She’s just incredible. We’re getting to work with Sonia Boyce, Rory Pilgrim, Ilona Sagar and Helen Cammock on Radio Ballads [pieces created through collaboration with social workers, carers, organisers and Barking and Dagenham residents]. Each of them has taken a totally different approach. Rory’s will be more like a music video, with an orchestra. It thinks about how rafts help us survive and carry us through different passages. Ilona’s will be more like a video essay. The whole exhibition, ultimately, will help us to think about what care workers and artists can learn from each other.
IN LA, YOU FOUNDED THE PLATFORM FORYOURART, TO CONNECT PEOPLE WITH WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE ART WORLD. IF YOU WERE DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR IN LONDON, WHAT WOULD YOU INCLUDE? I’m really excited to visit the library at The Warburg Institute in Bloomsbury. Aby Warburg was interested in how he could help people discover new things, by putting different subjects next to each other. I love the idea of a library of discovery. Walking through Hyde Park to the Serpentine, that’s one of the most incredible and inimitable aspects. You transition through nature and arrive in the gallery, and there isn’t much of a barrier between the park and the space.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY WHEN YOU’RE NOT IMMERSED IN THE ART WORLD? There’s this incredible place for chocolate milkshakes right across from Hampstead tube station, Venchi Chocolate and Gelato. So having a milkshake and walking through Hampstead Heath is one of my favourite activities. One of my favourite restaurants is [Notting Hill’s] Farmacy, which has the Got No Beef burger; being from LA, I do love a vegan burger. You know what they don’t have as much of here? Matcha. Matcha is everywhere in LA. M serpentinegalleries.org
From top: A still from RAFTS by Rory Pilkin, Bettina Korek and Pharrell Williams at the launch of Frieze LA
Theaster Gates, the Chicago artist behind this year’s Serpentine Pavillion, The Black Chapel (far left)
