STRIP-TOWER by Gerhard Richter

Situated on the plinth at Serpentine South, in Kensington Gardens, STRIP-TOWER (2023) by Richter is staged from 25 April to 27 October 2024. It is the latest presentation in a long-standing series of remarkable public presentations in The Royal Parks since Serpentine’s foundation in 1970.

STRIP-TOWER (2023) expands on the artist’s continued exploration of painting, photography, digital reproduction and abstraction and self-scrutinising approach that have occupied his practice for over six decades.

Richter began developing his series of Strip Paintings in 2010, inspired by an earlier ‘squeegee painting’ titled Abstract Painting 724-4 (1990). This painting was then photographed. With the support of a software programme, the scanned images were digitally manipulated and divided into two strips, then four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two. The vertical strips of the painting were then stretched across a horizontal expanse before being laminated onto aluminum and covered with Perspex. STRIP-TOWER employs a similar method, in which colourful striped ceramic tiles clad two perpendicular panels. The thin vertical stripes form a dense composition where the intersecting panels create a cross section that visitors can also stand within.

STRIP TOWER builds on Richter’s ongoing interest in the idea of reflections, systems, and repetitions, which could be seen in 4900 Colours exhibited at Serpentine in 2008, with the surfaces of the glossy tiles subtly mirroring the viewer and the surroundings of the Royal Parks.

Since it launched in 1970, Serpentine has had a long-standing commitment to bringing art out of the traditional gallery context and into the surrounding landscape, offering an opportunity for artists to engage with the immediate environment of Kensington Gardens. Further exhibitions presented both in the park and at Serpentine include Henry Moore (1978) and Anthony Caro (1984). Sculptures exclusively featured in the Park included Denys Short (1973), John Hoskin (1975), Alfred Dunn (1976), Eduardo Paolozzi (1987), Ron Haselden (1990) and Tony Smith (1996).

Specific Serpentine commissions of public artworks have ranged from a permanent installation of a stone circle and benches by Ian Hamilton Finley for the 1996 exhibition Inside Out. In recent years, public art has emerged as a central strand of Serpentine’s programme. Major presentations include Anish Kapoor’s Turning the World Upside Down (2010), featuring four works, including his iconic Sky Mirrors, placed in locations across the park, Fischli/Weiss’s final sculpture Rock on Top of Another Rock (2013), Betrand Lavier’s Fountain (2014): and Lee Ufan’s Relatum – Stage (2018-19). In 2018, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s monumental London Mastaba was installed in the Serpentine Lake and marked their first major public artwork in the UK and the final outdoor artwork completed in Christo’s lifetime. Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s augmented reality project The Deep Listener (2019), Sofia Al Maria’s commission Taraxos (2021) and Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s Pollinator Pathmaker (2022 – ongoing) have brought a younger generation of artist’s commissions to the park.

As part of the public art programme, Atta Kwami’s mural DzidzƆ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace) (2021-22) has been extended to 30 September 2024, and remains on display at Serpentine North. Embodying Kwami’s vibrant palette and abstract painting style, the commission results from Kwami winning the 2021 Maria Lassnig Prize. The artist’s first monograph will be launched in Spring 2024, published by Serpentine with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Köln, supported by The Maria Lassnig Foundation.

The Serpentine Pavilion is a yearly pioneering commission, which began in 2000 with Dame Zaha Hadid. It features the first UK structures by some of the biggest names in international architecture. This year, Seoul-based Korean architect Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies have been selected to design the 23rd Pavilion. The Archipelagic Void will be on view and activated from 7 June – 27 October 2024 at Serpentine South. The Pavilion has evolved over the years as a participatory public and artistic platform for the Serpentine’s pioneering, interdisciplinary, community and education programmes.

June 2024 will see a new installation on view from another luminary artist with a presentation by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.