Ishigami’s structure is a striking object, but it could have been so much better, and it is a frustrating outcome in what has been a troubled year for the Serpentine. [...] After almost 20 years of commissioning novelty structures to host summer parties for sponsors, it feels like the format could do with a rethink and look beyond the bounds of the gallery’s garden, and the collectors’ estates where the structures end up. — Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian
A few days before the opening of the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion, Oliver Wainwright of The Guardian wrote a piece calling for the Serpentine Galleries to consider rethinking the format of the yearly Serpentine Pavilion program (like appointing the architects earlier, for starters). It's been a rough year wrought with controversy for the Serpentine — from Junya Ishigami's practice being criticized for employing unpaid interns, to the troubles of working with a tight construction schedule for highly conceptual pavilion designs (and it shows in this year's pavilion), to the sudden resignation of the gallery's CEO Yana Peel.
Yes it may be easy to criticize any excessive project with "But why not spend that money on schools?", yes, yes, I do it too. But...Wainwright is reading the room. Recently there is very little patience for excessive doodads for the wealthy to party in, especially amongst the art world what with the Sackler debacle (I despise Nan Goldin's "art" but kudos to her for really starting this criticism). Art and the Serpentine Pavilion have to remain on-trend or die, and the trend right now is definitely being more socially aware than not.
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this seems no less clumsy yet interesting than past pavilions, basically successful as a study in materials, less so as a study in use of space. the whole point of doing this ought to be to open up for experimental work in a situation where the quality of the result is inconsequential.
i suspect much of the problem is cultural - east asia seems to have different standards of user safety than we take for granted in the west - a lot more responsibility is placed on occupants. And a generic large firm like AECOM is certainly not the best choice for engineering of specialized works.
the critic ends with a suggestion that the effort could be better applied to solving the world's universal social problems. that's poor criticism, a arbitrary shortcut for cutting down any non utilitarian activity. one could as easily (and dumbly) suggest architecture critics ought to quit writing and go feed food to the poor. it's an unproductive argument.
I agree. Wainwright's random mention of humanitarian causes, as if the Serpentine Gallery should just stop showing art altogether and become a homeless shelter, is ridiculous and just another lazy vote for joyless technocratic practicality. The Guardian could reallocate Wainwright's salary and spend it on free sandwiches for the public.
Agree^ Virtue signaling is a social disease.
"Wainwright's random mention of humanitarian causes, as if the Serpentine Gallery should just stop showing art altogether and become a homeless shelter"
This ignores an immense gulf of options that exist between these two comically absurd extremes.
Midlander put it well, though.
How about artists focus on art, actors focus on acting, chicken sandwich businesses focus on making delicious chicken sandwiches, musicians focus on making music, and stop pretending to be agents of social justice. It’s annoying, fake, and leads to boring culture.
tduds, with an almost religious faith in the center. Surely there must be an answer in the center, right?
Yes it may be easy to criticize any excessive project with "But why not spend that money on schools?", yes, yes, I do it too. But...Wainwright is reading the room. Recently there is very little patience for excessive doodads for the wealthy to party in, especially amongst the art world what with the Sackler debacle (I despise Nan Goldin's "art" but kudos to her for really starting this criticism). Art and the Serpentine Pavilion have to remain on-trend or die, and the trend right now is definitely being more socially aware than not.
That's not the reading I get out of this, though I agree it's the zeitgeist. And to the extent the engagement with Ishigami shines some light on the system of unpaid internships in Japan and elsewhere, this has actually been an inadvertant exercise in social awareness. Though Serpentine's response to that has superweak. Sad!
Ishigami’s structure is a striking object, but it could have been so much better, and it is a frustrating outcome in what has been a troubled year for the Serpentine. The institution was criticised for accepting funding from the Sackler family (in light of part of the family’s alleged role in America’s opioid crisis), and berated over the fact that Ishigami’s practice employed unpaid interns (he insists they were university students on a placement). This week, on the scheduled morning of the pavilion preview on Tuesday, it was announced that the gallery’s CEO, Yana Peel, has resigned, following the Guardian’s disclosure that she co-owns an Israeli cyberweapons company whose software has allegedly been used by authoritarian regimes to spy on dissidents. Peel said she did not want the Serpentine’s work undermined by “misguided and personal attacks on me and my family”.
Much more interesting sub-stories for sure.
Yep. Yana Peel could have divested and chosen art and culture over maintaining her shady investments.
"and a series of clumsy polycarbonate walls have been installed,
following wind analysis by engineers Aecom, to prevent the furniture
from blowing away. Ishigami doesn’t hide his disappointment with the
walls, which effectively destroy the design,"
If only there were some kind of material... some special material that you could use to make furniture, that was... I dunno - Heavier? so that the furniture wouldn't blow away?
Is there something called "metal"? I think I've heard about that being used in outdoor furniture. I'm not sure if that's the word. Maybe it's "wood" - is that the one, the stuff they use to make garden benches? These are probably specialized "avante-garde" things that engineers aren't aware of.
Geez. Pity. Good thing the engineers were there, though. Just imagine if a chair blew over and someone had to go and pick it up and move it back. Oh the humanity.
Everyone involved gets an F-.
LOL, Menona. Nice.
Design and art (two different things) are the only constructive force that transcends the binary politics of our corrupt age. They are mediums where different people can come together and enjoy an experience together, by their human scale, material nature. At the same time, D&A are not immune from political considerations.
I’ve never been to the serpentine and don’t care to, but sometimes ideas crafted in unideal circumstances can still be interesting in themselves. We can appreciate craft and design at the same time as we disapprove the client or general situation of the world. Ignoring design for politics ultimate makes things worse, as design (and art) is the only way to reconnect politics back to humanity through experience, scale, context
There are no arch critic in the pop media space that seem to understand the potential of design to fix politics, instead seeing how toxic poltics should change (or replace) design. When did that ever work?
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