Art in London. Don't miss the highlights of the Cultural Olympiad
This year's design for the Serpentine Gallery's annual Summer Pavillion is by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron
London is preparing itself for the rush of culture loving Olympia visitors. The Olympic Games opening ceremony on the 29th of July, directed by Danny Boyle, will only be one of many cultural events in the city (and the entire region). The program is already in full blast, and with the help of many celebrities, venues throughout the city will offer dance, music and theatre until the 9th of September.
Visitors can now climb the “Orbit”, a 120-metre high steel tower by artist Anish Kapoor and enjoy the view over the city. Fans of the Queen who did not make it to her 60th Jubilee can still visit the exhibition of her portraits in the National Portrait Gallery (until 21 October). The Brits are as proud of their monarch as they are of their Olympic Games, and that is why the Olympic park will be named “Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park” after the Games are over. The plan is to make the giant public park a veritable crowd puller. Until then, here are some tips for art lovers.
Visitors can now climb the “Orbit”, a 120-metre high steel tower by artist Anish Kapoor and enjoy the view over the city.
Serpentine Pavillion
The Serpentine Gallery's annual Summer Pavillion has long become a prestigious task for renowned architects: After projects by Oscar Niemeyer, SANAA or Peter Zumthor, this year's design by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron goes underground as a homage. Exploring the tracks of their predecessors, the pavillion has been relocated below the surface. Rainwater is reflected on the circular roof which rises 1.4 metres above the earth, it can alternatively be used as a dance floor. Another must-see is Yoko Ono's solo exhibition, running at the same time in the Serpentine gallery.
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/
Tate Tanks
Cranes and heaps of dirt have long been part of the Tate Modern's backdrop, but now the enormous expansion plans are set in motion: old giants are sleeping underground. The power plant's former subterranean oil tanks have been made accessible for the first time and now serve as unique, giant rooms for performative art. The festival with contributions by Lis Rhodes and Sung Hwan Kim, among others, runs from the 18th of July until the 28th of October. The big summer exhibition that will pull crowds until the 9th of September is the Damien Hirst-Retrospective.
http://www.tate.org.uk/about/projects/tate-modern-project
Hayward Gallery
In a time when the art world is all too present, this group exhibition offers an intriguing counter topic: “Invisible”deals with the invisibility of cultural production, with works from the last fifty sears, from Yves Klein's utopian plans of an architecture made from air to Teresa Margolles and Jeppe Hein's “Invisible Labyrith” (until the 5th of August).
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/.../hayward-gallery
ICA
Now under the new direction of former Hauser & Wirth director Gregor Muir, the Institute of Contemporary Art is offering two worthwhile exhibitions at the same time: “Days” by Bruce Nauman will be shown for the first time in Great Britain, a sound installation that has seven voices recite the days of the week almost meditatively (until the 16th of September). Upstairs, you can see the works of the 1970-born artist Piotr Janas from Warsaw. His irritating visual language has already been compared with a mix of constructivism, Francis Bacon and Paul Thek ( until the 9th of September).
Galleries
Sadie Coles
In her rooms adjacent to London's legendary dressmaker's road Savile Row, the renowned gallery owner is currently showing an interesting group exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz and Elizabeth Peyton. Under the title “Secret Life”the two are exploring the psychological relationship between man and plant.
Victoria Miro
British artist Grayson Perry went on a unique journey into the heart of british taste: The result are six new, large tapestries on which a class society spreads in an extraordinary, almost iconographic way (until the 11th of August).
South Tank at Tate Modern - now converted into spaces for performance art and film. Photo: Peter Saville/Hayes Davidson/Herzog & de Meuron / Tate via Bloomberg
