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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2024 – 2025

Front cover photo: Andy Stagg 2023.

The SerpenTine TruST

Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Charity Commission Number: 298809 Company Number: 2150221

The Serpentine Trust (A Company Limited by Guarantee)

References and Administration Details	4	Welcoming a Broad and Diverse Public	166
Letter from our Chair, Michael R. Bloomberg	6	Physical Visitors	168
Letter from our Chief Executive, Bettina Korek	8	Digital Users	170
Trustees’ Report 2024/25	12	Press Coverage	172
Strategic Report 2024/25	15	Developing Diverse, High-Performing & Engaged Teams	176
Our Story	16	Attracting and retaining talent	178
Our Vision	16	Recognising our employees fairly	178
Our Mission	16	Our commitment to inclusivity	178
Organisation Objectives	17	Future Plans	180
World Class Programming	18	Our Supporters	184
Arts Technologies	20	Financial Review	192
Ecologies	20	Overview	193
Education & Civic Projects	22	Summary of Performance	193
New Partnerships	22	Principal Sources of Funding	194
Summary of our Activities,		Expenditure	195
Achievements and Performance	24	Annual Fundraising Activities	196
Exhibitions, Public Art,		Fundraising Practices	196
Live Programme, Ecologies, Architecture	27	Fundraising Performance	196
Exhibitions Refk Anadol: Echoes of the Earth – Living Archive Yinka Shonibare CBE RA: Suspended States Judy Chicago: Revelations Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst: The Call	29 30 36 44 50	Fundraising Events Other Income Generating Activities Risk Statement Going Concern	197 198 199 200
Lauren Halsey: emajendat	58	Reserves	200
Arpita Singh: Remembering	64	Structure, Governance and Management	202
Public Art at Serpentine	70	Governance	203
Touring Exhibitions	80	Board of Trustees	203
Architecture	86	Finance Sub-Committee	204
Serpentine Pavilion 2024	88	Operating Committee	204
Live Programme	94	Ethics Committee	205
Park Nights Programme	96	Recruitment and Training of Trustees	205
Other Live Events Infnite Ecologies Marathon Serpentine Cinema Serpentine Reader	96 98 106 108	Public Beneft Statement Environmental Sustainability and Ecologies at Serpentine Statement of Trustee Responsibilities	206 208 216
Leading a Pioneering Educational and Civic Programme Education	116 121	Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of the Serpentine Trust	218
		Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities	222
Civic	133
		Balance Sheet	223
Arts Technologies Sector Leadership	140	Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow	224
Arts Technologies R&D Platform	142 142	Notes to the Financial Statements	225
Future Art Ecosystems	144
Community Development	154
Beyond Cultures of Ownership	158
Creative AI Lab	162
Blockchain Lab	163
Arts Technologies Commissioning	163

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Atta Kwami, DzidzƆ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace) , 2021-22. Installation View: Maria Lassnig Prize Mural, Serpentine North Garden, 6 September 2022 – 3 September 2023. Courtesy the Estate of Atta Kwami. Photo: Hugo Glendinning.

referenceS and adminiSTraTion deTailS

Registered Office

Kensington Gardens London W2 3XA

Governing Document

Memorandum and Articles of Association

Executive Team

Bettina Korek – Chief Executive Officer Hans Ulrich Obrist – Artistic Director Max Glazer-Munck – Director of Strategic Operations and Finance

Company Secretary

WG&M Secretaries Ltd

Auditors

Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

Bankers

Coutts & Co Media Banking 440 Strand London WC2R 0QS

Solicitors

Weil, Gotshal & Manges 110 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1AY

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

leTTer from our chair, michael r. BloomBerg

Dear Friends,

In times of change, the arts can serve as a pathway to understand shifting paradigms, explore emerging ideas and connect with new communities. Through its dynamic and innovative programming as well as its dedication to showcasing some of the most thought-provoking artwork of our time, Serpentine continues to play a crucial role in helping us make sense of and interpret our evolving world.

Technology is one such area where artists are playing an increasingly vital role, with many leading the way in using AI to foster creativity and communicate timely concepts.

As a platform for visionary artists – both established and emerging – Serpentine remains dedicated to responding to the most pressing global issues of our times, whilst embracing new technologies to enhance how art is created, experienced and understood.

Over the past year, we have deepened this commitment by presenting artists working across a diverse range of disciplines, including those who are pushing the boundaries of the creative use of AI. We have also sought to elevate the arts as a medium that can help us better understand and respond to challenges like climate change with urgency and a renewed sense of possibility.

I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported Serpentine this year, as well as our Board of Trustees, CEO Bettina Korek, Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, and all the extraordinary artists and collaborators whose work continues to make Serpentine the institution that it is today.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Bloomberg

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

leTTer from our chief execuTive, BeTTina KoreK

Dear Friends,

As we reflect on the past year at Serpentine, artificial intelligence hasn’t just influenced art - it has redefined it, pushing creative boundaries. AI’s intersection with art has challenged existing structures, generated new knowledge and amplified artistic ideas that have reached far beyond our gallery walls. We are proud to be experimenting with this transformation and we dedicated the year to exploring AI’s groundbreaking impact through exhibitions, research initiatives and collaborative projects. Artists across generations embraced the future, responding to advanced technologies and their impact.

Our Year of AI began with artist and technologist Refik Anadol’s Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive (February to April 2024). An internationally known artist, director and pioneer in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence, this was Anadol’s first major institutional solo exhibition in the UK. He used years-long experimentation with visual data of coral reefs and rainforests to immerse visitors in the creative potential of AI.

We continued our partnership with Outernet, presenting the digital artwork, Silent Writings (March to April 2024) by American artist Barbara Kruger, that explored how we communicate and connect with each other. Kruger incorporated her own words with quotes from writers and philosophers, touching on themes of violence, political modes of operation and spectatorship.

Serpentine’s dedication to exploring how artists interrogate and experiment with AI systems has been central to our Arts Technologies programme. The Call , a groundbreaking work by Berlin-based artists and musicians Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, offered a vision for collaborative art making in the age of AI. Their first UK solo exhibition, it reframed data collection and AI model training as an artistic process, inviting public participation. Building on this dialogue, we launched our annual strategic briefing in March - Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI . This year’s edition examined the evolving role of AI in the creative economy and its broader impact on cultural institutions and society.

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA’s solo exhibition of works, Suspended States at Serpentine South (April to September 2024) featured two new large-scale installations, Sanctuary City and War Library . Marking a return for the artist, who first exhibited at Serpentine in 1992 and as a participant in the Interview Marathon in 2006, the exhibition coincided with the artist’s presentation at the 60th international art exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia , which also featured Serpentine exhibitor Lauren Halsey. Themes of cultural identity and post colonialism were explored within the contemporary context of globalisation through Shonibare’s signature use of African batik fabric, ‘shawna’ .

Revelations (May to September 2024), the first major solo interdisciplinary and immersive institutional exhibition of Judy Chicago in London, debuted at Serpentine. Focused on drawing, it brought together new and rarely seen works and preparatory studies, alongside audio, visual and new technology materials. Serpentine and Thames & Hudson also published a manuscript, Chicago , penned in the early 1970s which articulated the vision of equality that had shaped and informed her career.

Serpentine’s 23rd Pavilion, Archipelagic Void by Seoul based Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies (June to October 2024) opened to wide acclaim. Tracing the history of past Serpentine Pavilions, the layout referenced the ‘madang’ , or open courtyard, found in traditional Korean houses, surrounded by a constellation of smaller, adaptable structures. The Pavilion provided a backdrop to our rich programme of live events which included the UK premiere of Αγρίμι (Fauve), a performance by leading Greek dancer, choreographer, director and writer Lenio Kaklea in partnership with Sadler’s Wells. We are endlessly grateful to our loyal partners and supporters for making the Pavilion into an inspiring reality.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

In the autumn, Serpentine presented the first solo A new site-specific mural by acclaimed South African exhibition of new works by Los Angeles-based artist artist Esther Mahlangu was unveiled in the North Garden Lauren Halsey (October 2024 to February 2025). emajendat (October 2024 to September 2025). Umuntu ngumuntu transformed Serpentine South into an immersive ‘funk ngabantu , which translates directly from Ndebele as garden’ that responded to the building’s location in ‘I am because you are’ , marked Mahlangu’s first public Kensington Gardens and extended the park into the artwork in the UK. Celebrated for her brightly coloured galleries. Halsey merged past, present and future through geometric paintings rooted in matrilineal Ndebele her exploration of iconography connected to the African culture, the monumental painting celebrated concepts diaspora, Black and queer icons and architecture. of community and unity. Continuing our long-standing commitment to presenting Steve McQueen’s film installation, Grenfell , first presented significant public artworks in partnership with the Royal in 2023 at Serpentine South, followed a period of private Parks, we have, since our foundation in 1970, continued viewings, prioritising bereaved families and survivors. to showcase new large-scale sculptures in Kensington Now placed in the care of Tate and the London Museum, Gardens. These installations reflect our shared dedication the work will tour public art galleries in six major cities to bringing public art into London’s green spaces and to across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over building new connections between artists and audiences. the next three years, ensuring the tragedy remains in the public memory. Gerhard Richter unveiled a brand-new sculpture on the plinth at Serpentine South (April 2024 to February In 2024, the Serpentine Americas Foundation celebrated a 2025). STRIP-TOWER (2023), expanded on Richter's significant milestone - its 10th anniversary. We welcomed six-decade exploration of painting, photography, digital artists, supporters, patrons and friends to a celebration reproduction and abstraction. A coda to the acclaimed during Frieze LA that included Serpentine artists Barbara Richter exhibition hosted at Serpentine in 2008, titled, Kruger, Judy Chicago and Lauren Halsey. A vital part of 4900 Colours , the sculpture was a three-dimensional our global network, the Foundation unites passionate manifestation of the themes and methods that have supporters of contemporary art across North and South underpinned Richter’s historic practice in painting, America, amplifying the voices of American artists on repetition, improvisation and chance. the world stage and we thank our supporters for their incredible ongoing support and partnership. The tallest bronze sculpture to date by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (2024), was installed by the As we embark on another transformational year, with Round Pond (July to November 2024) and marked several successful projects - including our 2025 Pavilion Kusama’s return to Serpentine, the site of her first - already underway, we extend our deepest gratitude for British retrospective in 2000. Known for her immersive your continued support and guidance. We look forward installations, large-scale sculptures and intricate to keeping you updated and sharing more exciting paintings, Kusama often features ‘kabocha’ , or pumpkin, developments in the months ahead. in her work and the artist’s signature polka dot pattern. Sincerely,

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Bettina Korek
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Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine.

TruSTeeS’ reporT 2024/25

The Trustees, who are also Directors of the Serpentine Trust for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, have pleasure in submitting their annual report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2024. Photo: © Jo Underhill. Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE and Serpentine.

STraTegic reporT 2024/25

Serpentine has presented pioneering contemporary art since 1970. From the Pavilion to our exhibitions, we champion new ideas in art across our programme of exhibitions, architecture, education, and live events. Our programme takes place across our galleries and online. Access to the galleries is free for all visitors. Thanks to our unique location, Serpentine reaches a broad audience and we maintain a deep connection with our local community.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

our STory

Serpentine’s story is the story of modern and contemporary art. Since its launch in 1970 within a Central London lakeside former teahouse, Serpentine has grown in scope, scale and ambition to become one of the most innovative, influential and important arts venues in the world. Defined by our commitment to remain open, accessible and free for all, Serpentine has shaped and defined the last 50 years of art in Europe.

Our commitment to offering an exhibition platform to underserved artists from across the globe, as well as intimate engagements with established artists’ practices, Serpentine has transformed how the public at large sees, understands and connects with the art, artists and ideas of our time. Today, Serpentine’s pioneering programmes of arts technologies, ecology and long-term embedded civic engagement redefine what an arts institution can be and should do in the 21st century.

our viSion

Building new connections between artists and society.

our miSSion

Art and ideas for a changing world.

Serpentine commits to:

Supporting artists to explore new possibilities through exhibitions, architecture, commissions, research and learning initiatives.
Championing artists working across ecology, technology and community.
Including and empowering diverse audiences and our collaborators.

organiSaTion oBjecTiveS

Our aims for the four years from 2023-2027 are to:

Deepen our local roots and expand our global reach, chiefly through technology.
Cement our place as an artist-led, global brand, with a full user experience of art, appealing to a full spectrum of visitors online and within our spaces.
Lead a digital transformation and become known as a global leader in arts technologies, creating new models for exhibitions, funding, distribution and audience engagement.
Deliver an ambitious and world-class programme highlighting ecology, community and technology, emerging and under recognised artists.
Progress our plans towards a net-zero emissions target thanks to our sustainable practices.
Foster an inclusive and collaborative working culture to better reflect the diversity of our home city.
Test new entrepreneurial income models and secure multi-year income streams.

Key oBjecTiveS

1. 360º Artistic Production

To successfully conceive and deliver an ambitious and thought-provoking artistic programme, leveraging technology to highlight community and ecological awareness.

2. Art for All

To strengthen the journey towards an audience-centric and artist-led organisation, appealing to a full spectrum of diverse visitors both online and within our spaces.

3. Arts Technologies Sector Leadership

To lead the sector in advocating for creative research and development in the arts, experimenting with new technologies and new models for exhibitions, funding, distribution and audience engagement.

4. Dynamic and Inclusive Culture

To develop an environment that nurtures an inclusive and collaborative culture, focused on the successful achievement of organisational, team and personal objectives.

5. Flexible Development and Entrepreneurial Leadership To underpin the current income strategy with new commercial activities, thereby reaching a blended mixed economy through flexible and entrepreneurial leadership.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Judy Chicago: Revelations , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Judy Chicago and Serpentine.

World claSS programming

Serpentine presents pioneering exhibitions from a wide range of emerging practitioners to the most internationally recognised artists of our time. Each year, we invite artists from around the world to contribute to an ambitious and innovative world-class programme that unfolds across our gallery spaces, throughout the surrounding park and at off-site locations.

We welcome a broad and diverse audience from local communities and around the world to inspire and challenge them with the urgency of art and architecture today. Our programme is designed to be thought-provoking, exciting and stimulating for our audiences while remaining relevant and responsive to a wider cultural, social and political context. We are committed to broadening our research, deepening our relationships with artists over time and establishing meaningful partnerships with other institutions. Every event we present seeks to respond to the questions: Why here? Why now?

We develop long-term and supportive relationships with the artists and architects we commission, while nurturing their conversation with our audiences. Emerging and celebrated artists and architects are given an open landscape for experimentation and creative collaboration. Our curators carry out regular studio visits, offer constructive critique and provide references and introductions for artists at all levels to encourage the creation of new artistic partnerships, networks, commissions and educational opportunities. We embrace the increasingly interdisciplinary approaches of practitioners and create an environment in which the artists we work with can engage with different media, spaces and forms. We work predominantly with living artists, with around one-third of our programme comprising brand new commissions.

We are committed to programming exhibitions that reflect the diversity of contemporary England. We ensure selected artists come from a range of economic and educational backgrounds while supporting new talent, both UK and international, and engaging new audiences. Each exhibition is carefully conceived in relation to both the scale and architecture of the gallery buildings and their unique location in London's Kensington Gardens.

Each year since 2000, landmark architectural pavilions are created for the Serpentine lawn by internationally acclaimed architects who have not yet completed a structure in England at the time of invitation. The Serpentine Pavilion creates a context for a live programme of discussions, conversations and gatherings around ideas. It also provides a platform for more experimental, interdisciplinary work, including our annual Park Nights series. Serpentine Pavilion 2024, Archipelagic Void , by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies, traced the history of past pavilions in order to explore new possibilities and previously untold spatial narratives.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

arTS TechnologieS

Serpentine’s Arts Technologies programme explores the impact of technology through art, research and experimental projects. It supports artists to produce projects that use advanced technologies and convenes people working in art, technology, law, policy, and academia to share knowledge and develop new ideas about technology and society.

The foundation of the Serpentine Arts Technologies’ programme is in an evolving R&D platform that nurtures innovation for future art ecologies by securing a crucial institutional space for pragmatic interventions and necessary risk-taking at the intersection of art, science and technology. This is achieved through dedicated research labs, orientation and knowledge-sharing with the wider sector through Future Art Ecosystems and co-facilitation of a national Creative R&D Working Group.

ecologieS programme

Since 2014’s Extinction Marathon with artist Gustav Metzger, Serpentine has been at the forefront of environmental action and thought. With the establishment of the General Ecology project in 2018, our Ecologies initiatives nurture Serpentine’s ongoing engagement with ecology, climate breakdown, more-than-human consciousness, environmental justice and complexity in a changing world. We were the first institution to embed ecological research and principles with this project and the associated post of Curator of Ecology, to research the role of the arts in addressing climate challenges.

In 2023, the project evolved into a department with areas of responsibility reaching throughout the institution. Ecologies is a strategic effort to embed environmental subjects and methods throughout Serpentine’s outputs, structures and networks. At the same time, Ecologies works to bring these environmental and innovative principles into the fabric of the organisation itself and promotes projects and programmes for the public and the staff body alike. We are committed to environmental sustainability, with environmental and ecological concerns embedded across all Serpentine’s programmes, infrastructure and networks. This extends to the gallery sites themselves, where Serpentine South was the first Grade II listed building in the UK to feature solar panels.

infiniTe ecologieS maraThon

The Infinite Ecologies Marathon was a year-long research project that took place over the course of several daytime and evening events as well as artist-led commissions. It focused on acknowledging the cyclical nature of environmental processes, paying attention to regeneration, renewal and recurrence through artists and scientists. A Gathering on Art and Land (13 July 2024) brought together artists including Yinka Shonibare, Marcus Coates, Sky Hopinka and AnneLee Davis to examine the unexplored connections between art and farming and paid particular attention to the regenerative and circular aspects of seeding, planting, harvesting and composting.

Also part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon was a weekend focused on the cycles of food consumption and production, including Seeds , a day-long communal table event featuring talks, performances, screenings, and specially-designed courses collaboratively devised by four artists and the Chefs of SILO , the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. The following day, eminent philosopher Vanessa Machado de Oliveira led a reflection session on what aspects of contemporary life may need to be ‘composted’ in order to restore balance with nature. The Infinite Ecologies Marathon also featured a newly commissioned table-top roleplaying card game by David Blandy, titled Alien Pastoral , which invited players to explore, through play, the implications of genetically modifying foods and the impact of monocultural plantations.

The dinner parTy + BooK launch

The Magazine Serpentine North 9 March 2025

Continuing Ecologies’ exploration of the ecologies of art through food, Sandra Knecht prepared an intimate fine dining experience at Serpentine with the chefs of Friends of Ours’ Magazine Restaurant .

Audience:

The Infinite Ecologies Marathon brought together more than 1,500 in-person attendees over the year. Alien Pastoral was later invited to be played among policymakers at COP16 for Biodiversity , a rare and notable achievement that reflects the core mission of Ecologies: to create bridges between environmentally innovative and hopeful imaginations, and wider society, encouraging new systems and new forms of civic participation.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education. Design: In the shade of a tree. Photo: © readsreads.info

educaTion and civic projecTS

Serpentine’s Education and Civic Projects programme seeks to redefine the role of the arts in times of transition and social change, addressing issues such as migrant rights, care, schooling and labour with individuals and groups excluded from the decision-making processes that shape the places where they live and work. Grounded in a long-term study of radical pedagogy, the programme includes ongoing commissions and workshop series, alongside toolkits and resources for change. Our projects continue to serve under-represented communities, supporting thousands of educational encounters and producing downloadable resources and podcasts. We are proud of the work our Education and Civic curators have facilitated over the last decade, inviting artists to listen to communities before making work with them. We have sought to answer how an institution can hold a process that explores the relationship between art and pressing social issues.

neW parTnerShipS

Partnerships with other organisations play an important role in bringing about new exhibitions and collaborations that expand the reach of contemporary art to new audiences locally and globally as well as supporting artists. Serpentine continues to engage with existing and new partnerships across its programme.

Corporate partners are an integral part of Serpentine's ambitions and provide vital funding towards the gallery’s ambitious programme. In June 2024, Serpentine celebrated a decade-long partnership with Goldman Sachs, one of its most enduring and longstanding relationships. Goldman Sachs continues to support the annual Pavilion commission, underscoring a shared commitment to public engagement. During the summer season, Serpentine also introduced a major collaboration with Dior. Their support of Serpentine's female artist-led programme including Judy Chicago and Lauren Halsey enabled us to help amplify these key artist voices to new audiences across the UK.

In partnership with DMINTI and our longstanding collaborator Tezos, Serpentine presented an interactive digital project inspired by Judy Chicago’s seminal work What If Women Ruled the World . This initiative invited audiences, both in-person and online, to explore ideas around gender equality and imagine alternative futures. It marked an exciting step forward in our ongoing exploration of emerging technologies and how they can deepen engagement both within and beyond gallery walls.

In 2024, Serpentine was able to deepen engagement with 1OF1, led by patron and philanthropist Ryan Zurrer, who partners with forward thinking artists and institutions by contextualising and supporting art for the digital age. We brought Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, two of the most exciting voices working across music, art and AI to the forefront to imagine new bold futures.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Summary of our acTiviTieS, achievemenTS and performance

At the core of Serpentine’s activities is our bold and innovative exhibition programme, which embraces an integrated, interdisciplinary and diverse approach to contemporary art and visual culture. In 2024/25, we presented five major solo exhibitions by artists spanning different generations, who look to the future and engage with themes of activism, advanced technologies and the environment.

Our programme also included the Serpentine Pavilion, four major public art commissions and a series of digital artworks, enriched by live events, educational initiatives, civic engagement activities and digital programming. These activities attracted widespread international media coverage across print, digital and broadcast platforms highlighting Serpentine’s exhibitions, civic technology projects, ecology initiatives, architectural commission and live events.

We continued our objective to expand global access to contemporary art and build new connections between artists and audiences throughout 2024/25. A total of 886,507 people experienced Serpentine’s programme, including 886,507 in-person visitors and 758,755 online users. Serpentine South welcomed the majority of inperson visitors, accounting for 700,476 (79%), while Serpentine North received 173,311 (19.5%) and offsite projects attracted 12,720 visitors (1.4%). Overall, we exceeded our target of in person visitors by 123%.

Public art emerged as a major strand of our programming this year, drawing significant audiences and expanding engagement beyond the gallery walls, representing 47.2% of visitors to Serpentine and reflecting growing public interest in art in open, accessible spaces. Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin attracted 152,684 visitors (17.2%) while the accompanying PR campaign was a major success, generating 338 pieces of media coverage. Gerhard Richter’s STRIP-TOWER welcomed 227,643 visitors (25.7%) and generated 275 pieces of media coverage, including features in Artnet , Wallpaper* , Daily Telegraph and The Architect’s Newspaper . Murals by Esther Mahlangu and Atta Kwami also drew strong footfall. In partnership with Outernet, we continued to expand our digital reach, with American artist Barbara Kruger’s artwork, Silent Writings , reaching an additional 10,650 people in a dynamic urban setting in Central London.

As we approach a quarter century since the ambitious Serpentine Pavilion Commission began with Dame Zaha Hadid’s original structure in Hyde Park, our 2024 Pavilion, Archipelagic Void , designed by Seoul-based Korean architect Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies, attracted 152,684 visitors (17.2%) and provided the backdrop to our rich Live Programme.

In February 2025, we proudly launched the Serpentine Reader , a new annual publication - both online and in print - dedicated to innovation in long-form writing. Created as a platform for deep research, reflection and creative exploration across a range of formats, the inaugural edition was met with an enthusiastic response, with nearly all 250 copies of the first print run sold and a second edition in production. Online, the publication attracted over 2,300 readers and recorded significantly higher average engagement times compared to the rest of Serpentine’s site, alongside a notable rise in active users.

We are proud to champion artists who are redefining how technology shapes our world, ensuring they have a meaningful role in shaping how powerful new technologies influence the future of society. In 2024, we marked ten years of pioneering work through our Arts Technologies programme with a landmark ‘Year of AI’ - a vibrant, year-long exploration of how artists are pushing the boundaries of machine learning, training data and creative experimentation.

Our 2024 programme began with a major exhibition by LA-based artist and technologist Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive . Known for his digital artworks and large-scale public installations that present realtime, generative visual environments, this was Anadol’s first ever UK exhibition utilising years-long research in ground-breaking data visualisations and machine learning methods and the creative potential of AI. The exhibition focused on two site-specific artworks featuring the premiere of a new work inviting visitors to immerse themselves in virtual spaces inspired by rainforests, the ocean environment and the plight of coral reefs. The exhibition was covered by The Financial Times , Forbes and Creative Review among other publications.

From April 2024, Serpentine presented a solo exhibition of works by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA at Serpentine South. Shonibare's interdisciplinary practice explored cultural identity and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. The exhibition gained significant media attention, including a five-star review in the Guardian and four-star reviews in the Evening Standard , The i Newspaper and The Times as well as features on BBC Radio 4 , Sky News , Channel 4 News and BBC Radio London .

In Summer 2024, we presented an exhibition of trailblazing artist, author, educator and feminist icon Judy Chicago. Revelations was Chicago's first solo presentation in a major London institution. With a specific focus on drawing, the exhibition charted the arc of the artist's career, allowing visitors to uncover the breadth of her practice. The exhibition garnered significant media coverage including four-star reviews from The Telegraph , The Observer and Time Out .

The 23rd Serpentine Pavilion, Archipelagic Void , designed by Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies opened in June 2024, with Goldman Sachs supporting the annual project for the 10th consecutive year. The announcement generated widespread global interest, particularly across the arts, architecture and design media - including key Korean media. Coverage highlights included in-depth features in The Guardian , Daily Telegraph , Financial Times , RIBA Journal , Dezeen and Monocle alongside prominent stories in key lifestyle, culture, arts, design and architecture publications.

The Pavilion also played host to a season of specially curated activations, including two newly commissioned soundscapes, a library, a tea house and a dynamic programme of performances, talks and public gatherings. Designed as a space for both reflection and interaction, it also featured the Play Tower - a striking pyramid structure fitted with a bright orange netscape, inviting visitors to climb, explore and engage through outdoor play.

In July 2024, to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Serpentine Extinction Marathon , the Infinite Ecologies Marathon took place as a midsummer festival across Serpentine sites, including the Magazine restaurant and the Pavilion. The Marathon convened participants across the arts, sciences, activism and humanities and proposed practical actions, stories, imaginaries, futures and cosmologies rooted in the principles of environmental interconnection, attunement and responsibility.

Serpentine South presented the first solo exhibition in the UK of new works by LA-based artist Lauren Halsey in the Autumn, emajendat . Her vibrant energetic work merges past, present and future via her interests in the iconography of ancient cultures in the African diaspora, visionary architecture and the graphic maximalism associated with Funk. The gallery was transformed with a new installation.

Also in Autumn, Berlin-based artists and technologists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst - named by TIME magazine among the 100 most influential people in AI - explored what it means to be an artist in the age of AI. The Call centred on developing new protocols and materials for the creation of choral AI models. To train the AI, Herndon and Dryhurst composed a songbook of hymnals, singing exercises and a recording protocol, travelling with the Serpentine Arts Technologies team to record fifteen community choirs across the UK. The choristers are now part of a Data Trust experiment that allows for the distribution of power between the contributors to the training data and those who use the models. The artists were on the cover of ArtReview and the exhibition was featured in The New York Times and The Art Newspaper among other important publications.

The exhibition followed the launch of Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI , our latest strategic briefing which sets out to break down the implications of Al for the cultural sector and offers strategies for claiming greater agency within Al-driven economies. This initiative garnered widespread coverage and secured an ongoing monthly column spotlighting the work of the Arts Technologies team in The Art Newspaper to explore AI and technological advancements shaping the art world.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Serpentine Pavilion 2024 Archipelagic Void designed by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies. © Mass Studies. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine.

exhiBiTionS, puBlic arT, live programme, ecologieS, archiTecTure

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

exhiBiTionS

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine.

refiK anadol echoeS of The earTh: living archive

“It’s not about

Serpentine South

replacing nature or making an alternative nature; it’s just about understanding nature, and doing it from scratch, with a new perspective. What I had found missing in all our earlier AI research was nature, which I have a deep love and respect for. So we set out to create the world’s most advanced open-source AI model on it, called the Large Nature Model. And that is a gift to humanity.”

16 February to 7 April 2024

Serpentine presented the first ever UK exhibition of Refik Anadol, an LA-based artist and technologist who transformed the gallery into an immersive funk garden with a site-specific installation that responded to Kensington Gardens. A pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence, Refik Anadol is known for his innovative media works and large-scale public installations. Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive, Anadol’s first major institutional solo exhibition in the UK, enveloped viewers in immersive environments that utilised years-long experimentation with visual data of coral reefs and rainforests and showcased the creative potential of AI.

Refik Anadol – Financial Times

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine.

The exhibition featured the UK premiere of Living Archive: Large Nature Model , a new commission adapted specially for Serpentine North. The installation wrapped the gallery walls in AI generated images inspired by data of flora, fungi and fauna from over 16 rainforest locations globally, which was collected using technologies such as LiDAR and photogrammetry. At the crossroads of visual art, science, and technology, Anadol also presented Artificial Realities: Coral , a sound and video experience highlighting the vital role of coral reefs in the ocean ecosystem. Also on view was Artificial Realities: Rainforest , Anadol’s most recent project at the time, which marked the longest continuous generative AI visualisation on nature to date. It was the first installation in a growing body of work that had been created employing The Large Nature Model , the world’s first open source generative AI model dedicated to nature. Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive investigated the ways in which technology can alter our perception of the natural world and our experience of time and space.

Engagement: 12,039

Total visitors: Overall attendance of 65,889 visitors between FY 2023/24 and FY 2024/25

“The piece also includes a summary of his work – Anadol talks a lot about the collective over the personal. Not interested in the notion of a solitary artist wrestling with psychic demons or mining intellectual formalism, he seeks a universal language that transcends all identities, biases and boundaries — dreamscapes for the 21st century’s global human aggregate.”

The Economist

“Engagement with AI, including establishing the Creative AI Lab, highlights its leadership in discussions on technology's cultural impact. Its commitment to free access ensures the exhibition reaches a wide audience, furthering the dialogue on art and technology's evolving relationship.”

Forbes

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine.

“Refik Anadol captures the power of technology as he turns AI from an abstraction in the cloud into art before your eyes.’ and ‘His work speaks to the innovation and anxieties of the current moment. For him, AI is a powerful creative tool. In a world where so much of life happens in a digital realm, he argues, data has become a new pigment.”

The Economist

“We will be sitting in these worlds and with all our senses: smelling them, touching them, tasting them, interacting with them. This is a new portal for the imagination. This exhibition is a milestone to communicate this with the public. There will be an extraordinary change in humanity, where we will question reality. We are celebrating that moment.”

Forbes

“Whether this art looks like a dream or a beautiful banality depends on the viewers. But like it or not, people will be seeing a lot more of Mr. Anadol’s work.”

The Economist

“Anadol has had a highly visible recent path, with his pieces - based on the transformation of raw imagery into arrays of colour and light, powered by AI - featured at Art Dubai, Art Basel, the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA), the Grammys and more; with a new show opening this month at Serpentine North, London. And his work was featured in the eye-opening first season at the giant Sphere immersive institution in Las Vegas.”

The Art Newspaper

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2024. Photo: © Jo Underhill. Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE and Serpentine.

yinKa ShoniBare cBe ra SuSpended STaTeS

“Installed with beautiful spareness, the Serpentine show features work made since 2017. It reflects how nimbly Shonibare evolves his work, with subtle extensions of earlier bodies of work alongside revelatory new pieces. And that trusty Dutch wax fabric remains constant, if in different degrees of saturation’ alongside ‘It’s classic Yinka: a knack for immediate visual allure with subtle, knowing, lingering, disquieting meaning.”

Serpentine South

12 April to 1 September 2024

Serpentine presented a solo exhibition of new and recent works by British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962, London, UK). Titled Suspended States, the exhibition was presented at Serpentine South from 12 April to 1 September 2024. It coincided with the artist’s presentation at the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia from April 2024. The first solo exhibition of Shonibare’s work for over 20 years in a London public institution, it marked a return for the artist who first exhibited at Serpentine South in 1992 as a finalist in the Barclays Young Artist Award, and as a participant in Serpentine’s 2006 Interview Marathon.

Suspended States included new and recent installations, sculptures, pictorial quilts and woodcut prints. The works on view exploded central themes of colonial power, sites of refuge and shelter. Shonibare’s new works centred on conflicts and related migration, and conversations on public sculptures and their significance in our cities. The exhibition also delved into the ecological impact of colonisation, the European legacy of imperialism and consequential attempts at peace.

The new installation, Sanctuary City , comprised a series of miniature buildings which were or have historically been places of refuge for persecuted and vulnerable groups. These included recent buildings Hôtel des Mille Collines, Rwanda, and Refuge’s headquarters in London; sites of worship such as Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, and the Chinese Methodist Church, Hong Kong; ancient sites Temple of Thesius, Greece and the Tokeiji Temple, Japan were also included in the largescale installation. Each model was painted black, with Dutch wax print interiors illuminated with lights from within, creating a sombre atmosphere to contemplate humanitarian needs for shelter around the world. The artist described the shelter crisis as ‘one of the most pressing political concerns right now.’

Evening Standard

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2024. Photo: © Jo Underhill. Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE and Serpentine.

Continuing Shonibare’s Library series was The War Library , the second new installation in the show which featured 5,000 books bound in Dutch wax print, with gold lettering on the spines, indicating conflicts and peace treaties with links to imperial ambitions. Shonibare reflected that this work raised questions about ‘human memory and amnesia.’

Central to the exhibition were themes of climate emergency and food sustainability. The series of African Bird Magic quilts juxtaposed images of African artefacts which inspired Western Modernism with images of endangered African birds. These pieces explored the degradation of the African environment through colonial industrialisation and its disastrous effects on ecology.

The exhibition also explored how Shonibare’s social practice is an extension of his visual one. The artist has developed and built two new artist residency spaces in Lagos and Ijebu, Nigeria, that opened in May 2022. Outside the village of Ikise near Ijebu Ode, is a working farm, two hours from Lagos that focuses on trans-disciplinary craft, design, art and the environment, food sustainability and agriculture. Yinka Shonibare CBE said: ‘I established the farm because I realised the importance of research around nature, developing creative projects and celebrating the relationship with nature and the notion of food sustainability. It is very important, particularly for a place like Nigeria where food is heavily imported. The farm is a place where we’re growing food and where creative people can stay. It’s about entering my studio practice as well as my social practice.’

Shonibare’s Creatures of the Mappa Mundi drew from the imagery of Hereford Cathedral’s medieval map. The works looked to the history of xenophobia in European history and the resulting extinction of species. Shonibare explained: ‘The map reflects our contemporary concerns of fear of the stranger or ‘other’ which often leads to xenophobia. The depictions of extinct creatures of legend are a reminder that we may yet become extinct if we do not take care of our environment.’

Throughout the exhibition were works incorporating Shonibare’s signature use of Dutch wax print, a symbol of the tangled relationship between Africa and Europe. This brightly coloured fabric was inspired by Indonesian batik designers, massproduced by the Dutch and eventually sold to British colonies in West Africa.

Replicas of London public monuments including colonial figures such as Queen Victoria and Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener were scaled down and painted with Dutch wax print-style patterns to query their public authority in the series Decolonised Structures . These works drew attention to the role of the original monuments and questioned their continued presence in the public realm.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2024. Photo: © Jo Underhill. Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE and Serpentine.

109,267

They paralleled Unstructured Icons and Cowboy Angels featuring African masks superimposed over the faces of Western power holders and cowboys. Unstructured Icons highlighted luxurious lifestyles supported by colonisation and the importance of African art to the global culture and economy.

‘My work has always been about the crossing of boundaries; geographically, visually, historically, and conceptually. Suspended States is an exhibition that addresses the suspension of boundaries, whether psychological, physical, or geographical - all boundaries of nationhood are in a state of suspense. This is an exhibition in which Western iconography is reimagined and interrogated, at a moment in history when nationalism, protectionism and hostility towards foreigners is on the rise.’

Yinka Shonibare

Engagement:

★★★★★ The Guardian

★★★★

The Times

★★★★ Evening Standard

★★★★ Time Out

★★★★ The i

“Agree or not, we can talk about it. Shonibare’s joyous comic remake of public statuary lets you approach history with a rational detachment. Queen Victoria seems more alive covered in wax print flowers. Even Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, mounted on horseback in a pith helmet, becomes disarmingly human here.”

The Guardian

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2024. Photo: © Jo Underhill. Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE and Serpentine.

“Suspended States is contemporary, thoughtful and tremendously moving. It is, indeed, a masterclass in how a successful artist can marshal his considerable resources in extraordinary ways.”

The i Newspaper

“The statues put me in mind of ancient ruins overgrown with vines, only here the vines are psychedelic paisleys, trailing hibiscus flowers and an eruption of tulips. Shonibare goes in more for raillery than rage. Better to tweak the nose of history, twitch the thread of the tale, than tear the whole lot down.”

The Times

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Judy Chicago: Revelations , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Judy Chicago and Serpentine.

judy chicago revelaTionS

Serpentine North

23 May to 1 September 2024

Serpentine presented the first major interdisciplinary, immersive institutional exhibition in London of trailblazing artist, author, educator, cultural historian and feminist, Judy Chicago (b. 1939, Chicago, USA). Revelations focused on drawing, bringing together new and littleseen works and preparatory studies, alongside audio, visual and new technology materials. For the first time, Serpentine and Thames & Hudson published a manuscript Chicago penned in the early 1970s that provided the underlying vision of equality that shaped her career.

Chicago came to prominence in the late 1960s when she challenged the maledominated landscape of the art world by making work that was boldly from a woman’s perspective. An artistic polymath, Chicago’s work is defined by a commitment to craft and experimentation, either through her choice of subject matter or the method and materials she employs. Throughout her six-decade career, Chicago has contested the absence and erasure of women in the Western cultural canon, developing a distinctive visual language that gives visibility to their experiences. To this aim, Chicago has produced both individual and collaborative projects that grappled with themes of birth and creation, the social construct of masculinity, her Jewish identity, notions of power and powerlessness, extinction, and expressed her longstanding concern for climate justice.

★★★★

Daily Telegraph

★★★★

The Observer

★★★★

Time Out

“Forget today’s drizzle, a summer of culture in the capital awaits. The Standard’s front page belongs to Judy Chicago, toasting a seven-decade career with a stunning retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery. Chicago is as radical, colourful and pioneering as ever, having come to prominence in the Sixties, challenging a male-dominated art world.”

Evening Standard

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Judy Chicago: Revelations , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Judy Chicago and Serpentine.

70,231

Engagement:

The exhibition charted the full arc of Chicago’s career, with a specific focus on drawing that highlighted rarely seen works. Several immersive, multimedia elements, including an AR app, a video recording booth and other audio-visual components, set this show apart from previous surveys of Chicago’s work. With never-before-seen sketchbooks, films and slides, video interviews of participants from The Dinner Party (1974–79), audio recordings and a guided tour of The Dinner Party by Chicago herself, this novel approach to exhibiting Chicago’s work made the artist’s presence felt throughout the gallery.

The exhibition took its name from an unknown illuminated manuscript Chicago penned in the early 1970s which was published for the first time in conjunction with the exhibition by Serpentine and Thames & Hudson. Titled Revelations, this visionary work was a radical retelling of human history recovering some of the stories of women that society sought to erase, and one that Chicago never imagined would be published in her lifetime.

“Intense: that’s the vibe inside the Serpentine’s new retrospective for the 84-year-old American feminist artist Judy Chicago’, summarising Revelations as ‘we’ve come a long way since 1990, when Chicago’s work was denounced in the US Congress as ‘pornographic’. Men may not feel enormously welcome inside Revelations, but that didn’t stop this one from succumbing to its spell.”

The Daily Telegraph

“…her answer to Michelangelo’s patriarchal finger: a pulsating nightscape of spiralling fluorescent lines that ripple like tributaries into the mountainous form of a disjointed female creator. Look closely, and her fingers and toes give life to the octopus and starfish while the volcanic lava trickles through her river-like veins.”

The i

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Judy Chicago: Revelations , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Judy Chicago and Serpentine.

“Across venues in Britain and France, six decades of Chicago’s distinctly feminist oeuvre show a remarkable range. Minimalist sculptures; psychedelic spray-painted car hoods; landscapes billowing with bright plumes of smoke; and paintings of swirling, hallucinatory flowers fill the galleries with Chicago’s hallmark bright colors and undulating line.”

The New York Times

“from the outset of her career in the late 1960s, Chicago pretty much ploughed her own furrow; she scrambled for funds; she was often ignored and sometimes ridiculed.”

The Observer

“fierce but gentle, blatant yet often graceful: Judy Chicago’s six-decade survey at the Serpentine North Gallery is not at all as expected’, with the critic going on to observe that ‘Above all, this is an art that holds itself open to dispute. Take a friend. Consider what is being said and shown. Then go ahead and argue.”

The Observer

“shouty and wildly exaggerated – but, my goodness, her latest exhibition is stimulating stuff.”

The Sunday Times

“I’m exaggerating. You have to with Chicago. Exaggeration is one of the weapons she employs in her unceasing attacks on the patriarchy. For 60 years — she was born in 1939 — Chicago has been making thunderous art driven by the certainty that men are bad and women are good. Not a millimetre of grey has ever been allowed into the mix.”

The Sunday Times

“few artists are as deserving of the title ‘icon’ as Judy Chicago; she’s spent her career quite literally blazing a trail (no, literally, there’s been a lot of smoke and fire in her art) for feminist art, creating works filled with trippy swirling colours, clever conceptual installations and hefty amounts of righteous ire. Somehow, this is her first solo show at a major London institution.”

Time Out

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

holly herndon and maT dryhurST The call

“With their latest exhibition ‘The Call,’ at Serpentine in London’s Kensington Gardens, Berlin-based artist duo Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst have set out to disprove some of our assumptions about A.I. For example, that it only outputs speedy, low-quality pastiches of human efforts, or that it will be used to create impenetrable screen-based works that are only of interest to die-hard techies.”

Serpentine North

4 October 2024 to 12 February 2025

Serpentine presented The Call at Serpentine North, the first UK solo exhibition of Berlin-based artists and musicians Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. Named by TIME Magazine as among the 100 most influential people in AI, Herndon and Dryhurst are renowned for their pioneering work in music, machine learning and software development.

The exhibition was a participatory sonic experience of AI-systems-building that addressed current societal concerns with AI, while platforming musical ensembles from across the UK in an engaging public experience.

For Herndon and Dryhurst, AI is to be approached as a ‘coordination technology’. For millennia, group singing and its associated techniques, such as call and response, have been rituals for mass communication, enabling us to build spaces and structures for gathering, processing, transmitting information and creating meaning in social and civic life. Centred on the collective creation of new vocal datasets, governance frameworks and polyphonic AI models, The Call positioned the process of data collection and AI model-training as artmaking. This resulted in an experience of human and machine voices in which the audience became entwined with, and at times part of, the choir.

Artnet

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

Engagement:

Navigating today’s AI systems requires similar coordination. A central component of the exhibition were newly commissioned choral AI models, trained in collaboration with choirs throughout the UK. To train the AI models, Herndon and Dryhurst composed a songbook of hymns and singing exercises that were sung by fifteen ensembles and captured by a multi-channel recording protocol as part of a choral dataset tour in Spring 2024, from Belfast to Leeds, from Bristol to Bath, and many other cities. The Call showed how AI can enhance the power and artistry of the voice and envisage new cultural, legal, and technical methods necessary to build AI systems collaboratively and ethically.

56,261

“Is AI the future of art – or a massively overhyped, empty technology? It may be many years before we know its true contribution to creativity. But Berlinbased artists Herndon and Dryhurst can’t wait that long and present ‘rituals’ for working with AI to bring out the magic of the machine.”

The Guardian

“AI-generated art has flooded the internet, and a lot of it is derivative, even boring or offensive. But what could it look like for artists to collaborate with A.I. systems in making art that is actually generative, challenging, transcendent?”

New York Times Podcast

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

“Herndon and Dryhurst see each stage of the process - developing songs, recording the vocal data sets, training their AI models, and generating outputs - as a work of art. With The Call, they aim to develop a protocol that can be carried on by others. They are looking to offer ‘a beautiful way to make AI.”

The Art Newspaper

“Ethics play an important role in ‘The Call,’ part of which involves what is dubbed the ‘Data Trust Experiment,’ led by the Serpentine’s Victoria Ivanova with the Alan Turing Institute’s Jennifer Ding acting as ‘Data Intermediary’. Several ‘Data Conversations’ have been held to discuss the ethical frameworks surrounding the material they have amassed, with the members of participating choirs surveyed about their data preferences. Dryhurst has stated, ‘We’re not just going around the UK recording a bunch of choirs and having their voices contribute to the model that we as artists are putting together. We’re also trying to come up with mechanisms for those individuals and groups to collectively own their own data and have some say in what happens to it going forward.”

Artforum

“… next year, she and Dryhurst have an exhibition at the Serpentine, in London, and will be part of a ‘prestigious group show’ this spring in New York. (When asked if the group show was the kind that happened only biennially, Herndon declined to elaborate.) In recent years, she and Dryhurst have also fought for artists’ self-determination in the era of A.I. ‘I always felt they were so far ahead of everybody else’, Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of the Serpentine, said. ‘They really think about what it does to the whole ecosystem: the artistic, the technical, the social, the economic aspects of these technologies.”

The New Yorker

“The pair understands the voice as a means of expressing an individual perspective as well as collective belonging. In their work, the voice is both a metaphor for how AI functions and an example of its use.”

Frieze

“The result, which echoes from speakers throughout the Serpentine’s cavernous brick spaces, is uncanny, exquisite, unpredictable.”

New York Times

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

“A fascinating sonic exploration of AI's limitlessness, filled with choral music and data deep dives’. Eddy goes on to explain: ‘The call of the title is a call to collectivise, to unite and take control, to imagine a utopian future that’s as safe, welcoming and natural as a choir, singing together as one.”

Time Out London

“A strangely human show that addresses such a non-human medium, beautifully conceived and packed with wonderful sensory experiences.”

Forbes

“What happens if AI is trained to write choral music by feeding it a specially created vocal dataset? Moving new exhibition The Call tackles some thorny questions about AI and creativity – and stirs the soul with music.”

The New Scientist

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

lauren halSey emajendaT

Serpentine South

11 October 2024 to 23 February 2025

For the past decade, Lauren Halsey has developed a distinctive visual vocabulary deeply rooted in the South Central neighbourhood of Los Angeles where she and her family have lived for generations. emajendat, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK, built on several recent major projects including the eastside of south central Los Angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (l), for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden Commission, New York (2023) and keepers of the krown at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024) where the artist reconfigured the form of the Hathoric column by carving the capitals with the likenesses and stories of people from her local community. Both projects offered increasingly ambitious architectural schemes that engaged with their surroundings while functioning as testing grounds for one of Halsey’s ultimate ambitions to create a public sculpture park sited in South Central Los Angeles.

“The show, on view until the end of February, is replete with live foliage, chromatic collage, and life-size figures frozen within the quotidian of a public park lined with holographic CD cladding. The maximalist psychedelia that inundates much of the sculptor’s aesthetic world is a visual language as dense as the archive she stewards.”

Artnet

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

58,425

Engagement:

Through maximalist installations and stand-alone objects, Halsey archives and remixes the signs and symbols that populate her environment. Describing herself as obsessed with material culture, her regular wanderings through her neighbourhood, in which she documents the changing streetscape, are accompanied by a gathering of objects, posters, flyers, commercial signs, slogans and tags that celebrate local businesses and the communities’ activism which she adds to her studio archive. These eventually find their way into her floorand wall-based assemblages, and miniature dioramas embedded in her ‘Funkmound’ sculptures.

emajendat transformed the gallery into a site-specific immersive ‘Funk Garden’. Inspired by South Central’s improvisational backyard culture which thrives despite a lack of green spaces in the city, emajendat offered an extension of Kensington Gardens into the galleries. At the heart of the exhibition was a walk-in version of Halsey’s signature vignettes, usually seen in miniature within her ‘Funkmound’ sculptures or as intricately arranged tableaux. The CD clad walls and floor created a prismatic effect, while scaledup figurines originally collected from swap meets in and around South Central shared space with Funkmounds and a live water fountain. Bespoke wallpaper and sand dunes provided the setting for Halsey’s first moving image work. Traversing time and drawing on a wide range of sources, the exhibition celebrated South Central’s rich visual culture and its inhabitants, offering blueprints for imagining new futures.

“Her South Central is vibrant, energetic, inviting and beautiful….With her Funk Garden, she makes a space that reflects the pride and power in her community and her place, magnifying them both. I’m glad to have visited.”

Evening Standard

“Sampling and remixing images and words like a DJ, Halsey combines disparate vocabularies – spanning funk music, afrofuturism and ancient Egypt – into works that speak to complex intellectual histories and the lived reality of the contemporary Black experience.”

Frieze

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

“Thinking global but acting local seems to be Halsey’s holy grail. Her practice is as much about transporting her community to the world as it is about ensuring that it reaps the benefits.”

“Yes, her work exudes a sense of joy, funk and pride, but beneath the euphoria and kaleidoscopic hues are real people and real stories that she won’t let be forgotten. The goal is to one day have a project that is a palm tree grove, where it’s hundreds of [mirrored palm trees] that acknowledge the [women’s] lives and memorialises them in the right way.”

The Observer

“Halsey has created a multicolour, candyfloss, shout-out vision of a universe, a Gesamtkunstwerk that is maximalist yet hyper-specific, a metacommentary on what it is to be part of something, to have a past and a future, to believe and to thrive, to make a mark. I leave the show upbeat and a little confused, in all the right ways.”

Studio International

“This October, she will transport a piece of South Central to London’s Serpentine for her first solo show in the UK, which will be, she says, a ‘kaleidoscopic, technicolour garden of our material culture’. A place of rest, she adds, ‘for people to sit and kick it’. In tangible terms, expect ‘a fountain, full-scale figures, fluorescent sand dunes, mirror and prism elements’, she says. Sponsored in part by Dior, it sounds like her trippiest installation yet.”

Vogue UK

“I wanted to present a garden that was completely in contrast to Kensington Gardens — saturation, kaleidoscopic moments, technicolor and bright. I wanted to just sort of blow out the rooms. In the west gallery, I wanted to leave the windows as transparent as possible to sort of pull people in. And then in the east gallery, there’s this super saturated, kind of trippy window graphic that I also hope will pull people in. It’s a place to sit, ponder and just be,’ she said.”

WWD

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Arpita Singh, Remembering , Serpentine North © Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Arpita Singh and Serpentine.

arpiTa Singh rememBering

Serpentine North

20 March to 27 July 2025

Serpentine presented the first institutional solo exhibition of artist Arpita Singh outside of India, spotlighting the artist’s 60 year-career. Remembering was the first solo institutional exhibition of Arpita Singh outside India, featuring key works selected in close collaboration with the artist from her prolific career spanning more than six decades. Singh’s paintings centre on her emotional and psychological state, drawing from Bengali folk art and Indian stories, interwoven with experiences of social upheaval and global conflict.

The exhibition traced Singh’s luminous works from the 1960s to recent years, showcasing her large-scale oil paintings as well as her more intimate watercolours and ink drawings. Remembering presented the artist’s exploration of Surrealism, figuration, abstraction and her inspiration from Indian miniature paintings. Since the 1990s, Singh has increasingly explored themes of motherhood, the aging female form, feminine sensuality, vulnerability, and violence, demonstrating the impact of relationships and external events on the emotional and psychological landscape of the artist.

Her works are intimate portrayals of domestic and inner life but equally concerned with the experiences of women navigating the outside world. Resisting singular interpretation, Arpita Singh explores an omnipresent tension that arises from weaving together labyrinthine cityscapes with observations of unsettling historical events and everyday life.

“Singh has always been piecing together in her work what she knows and sees everyday: the planes flying above her head, the stories she learnt as a child, her neighbours and friends, the violence of decolonization. Still, her focus doesn’t appear to be on making political statements. Instead, it would seem, she needs to paint for herself, pouring her mind onto the canvas, brushing and washing her memories in colour.”

Frieze

8,832 (to 31 March 2025)

Engagement:

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Arpita Singh, Remembering , Serpentine North © Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Arpita Singh and Serpentine.

“Step into the world of one of India’s most celebrated artists and experience more than 60 years of her shifting style, ranging from bold reinterpretations of traditional Indian imagery to striking large-scale works that tackle themes of motherhood, oppression and identity.”

Elle UK

“Singh wants viewers to take the work at face value, to interpret it for themselves. So what you’re left with is a sort of beautiful chaos of memory, a vision of life where the political, personal, societal and domestic meld into one big past. That’s how we remember, isn’t it? Everything jumbled together and hopefully, in the end, quite beautiful.”

The Guardian

“Distinct bodies of work emerge — and a painter of imagination and skill. I particularly love a series on the zodiac, and works from the Nineties that seem to joyfully celebrate the middle-aged female body.”

The Times

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Arpita Singh, Remembering , Serpentine North © Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Arpita Singh and Serpentine.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin , 2024, © Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner. Photo: George Darrell.

puBlic arT aT SerpenTine

The Sculpture Commission located on the plinth adjacent to Serpentine South Gallery provides a platform for new work by international artists of all generations. Occasionally artists exhibiting in the galleries expand their presentations outside and the outdoor exhibition programme invites a world-renowned artist to create an exhibition of new and/or existing sculptures across different locations in Kensington Gardens.

Public art has emerged as a major strand of Serpentine’s work and our programme offers an opportunity for visitors to the park and our onsite programmes, to encounter art outside of the gallery walls. It focuses on Serpentine’s immediate environment as a space for artists to engage with the natural landscape of Kensington Gardens. Public art and the activation of outdoor spaces and the lawn surrounding the gallery have been part of the Serpentine’s activity since it was founded in 1970, with exhibitions such as Inside Out (1996-7) comprising artist commissions, a collection of Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculptures (1987) and the permanent Ian Hamilton Finlay installation of the stone circle and benches (1998). In recent years, our public art programme has emerged as a central strand of Serpentine’s work with artists who are constantly expanding the possibilities of what public art could be today.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

gerhard richTer STrip-ToWer

Serpentine South 25 April to 9 February 2025

STRIP-TOWER (2023) was a new large-scale public artwork at Serpentine South that expanded on Richter’s six–decade exploration of painting, photography, digital reproduction and abstraction. He 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, scanned, digitally manipulated and divided into two strips, then four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two. The vertical strips of the painting were stretched horizontally and laminated onto aluminium and covered with Perspex. STRIP-TOWER employed a similar method, in which colourful striped ceramic tiles formed a dense composition covering two perpendicular panels. The intersecting panels created a cross section that visitors could stand within.

STRIP-TOWER built on Richter’s ongoing interest in the idea of reflections, systems and repetitions, which was seen in 4900 Colours, exhibited at Serpentine in 2008. Composed of bright monochrome squares randomly arranged in a grid formation, the works in 4900 Colours created stunning sheets of kaleidoscopic colour. STRIPTOWER’s glossy tiles subtly mirrored the viewer and the surroundings of the Royal Parks.

“This is not the first time that Serpentine has made use of its verdant surroundings in Kensington Gardens to display public artworks. Just a year after its launch in 1971 it hosted Blow Up ’71, an outdoor exhibition of inflatable and kinetic sculptures. Since then, it has continued to present significant works in collaboration with The Royal Parks, like Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirrors in 2010 and The London Mastaba, a mammoth installation by Christo on Serpentine Lake in 2018.”

Artnet

“The structure, made of ceramic tiles, will stand in the West London park until October 27.”

Daily Telegraph

“Here, Richter revisits this mixed-media approach, casting striped ceramic tiles on panels in a cross-section that invites visitors inside in a play on patterns, repetition and reflection. The work forms the latest project in the Serpentine’s longstanding partnership with The Royal Parks to install public artworks in the public green havens.”

Wallpaper*

Engagement: 227,643

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Esther Mahlangu, Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu , 2024. Serpentine North Garden, 4 October 2024 – 28 September 2025. Courtesy Serpentine and The Melrose Gallery. Photo: George Darrell.

eSTher mahlangu umunTu ngumunTu ngaBanTu

Serpentine North Garden 4 October 2024 to 28 September 2025

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu , presented in the garden at Serpentine North, was Dr Esther Mahlangu’s (b. 1935, South Africa) first public mural in the UK. Painted over sixteen wooden panels, the work depicted Ndebele shapes and patterns outlined with black borders. The title of the work translated directly from Ndebele as ‘I am because you are’, emphasising the importance of communities and unity among humans and other living species.

Celebrated for her brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, Dr Esther Mahlangu has been creating large-scale and site-specific works for over eight decades. She began painting at the age of ten, learning the matrilineal Ndebele techniques and visual language of covering houses in bold patterns from her mother and grandmother. Mahlangu uses natural pigments mixed with clay, soil and cow dung to paint directly on the exteriors of structures in her village. Rather than using stencils and tape to achieve lines and shapes, she paints by hand with chicken feathers and an array of different brushes. The artist also works with acrylic paints on canvas, which allows her to explore different scales and a broader colour palette.

Engagement: 6,915

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin , 2024, © Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner. Photo: George Darrell.

yayoi KuSama pumpKin

The Round Pond, Kensington Gardens 9 July to 3 November 2024

Pumpkin (2024) was installed in Kensington Gardens and represented Kusama’s tallest bronze pumpkin sculpture to date, standing at six metres tall and 5.5 metres in diameter. The work, installed by the Round Pond, in Kensington Gardens, offered a wide range of viewpoints and was in dialogue with the surrounding environment. Known for her immersive installations, large-scale sculptures and intricate paintings, Yayoi Kusama often features kabocha , or pumpkin, in her work. Since 1946, Kusama’s pumpkins have taken many forms, colours and shapes, but they are always covered in the artist’s signature polka dot pattern. Kusama’s relationship to the kabocha is rooted in her childhood – the artist’s family cultivated the plant’s seeds and their home was surrounded by fields of this squash. Pumpkins frequently appear as stand-ins for self-portraits. Kusama admires them for their everyday quality, hardiness and unique, frequently humorous forms. She has said ‘Pumpkins have been a great comfort to me since my childhood. They speak to me of the joy of living. They are humble and amusing at the same time, and I have and always will celebrate them in my art.’ The artist’s sculptures have been installed in museums and galleries around the world, and various outdoor spaces, including parks, gardens and at the seaside. Since 1994, a yellow and black pumpkin has been permanently on display at the Benesse Art Site Naoshima – an island in Japan’s inland sea dedicated to displaying art within nature.

“Another sculpture by Kusama, one of her trademark black polka-dotted orange pumpkins, has been installed near the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens by Serpentine until November 3. Made this year and towering some 20 feet tall, the bronze monument is her tallest ever edition from the Pumpkin series to date. The beloved autumnal vegetable has been an oftreturned to motif in Kusama’s work since 1946.” Artnet

“Serpentine Galleries and The Royal Parks have announced that Kusama's ‘tallest bronze pumpkin sculpture to date’ (all six metres of it - in height) will be installed in Kensington Gardens this summer (9 July - 3 November). The towering Pumpkin piece will be installed by the Round Pond and should soon become a beacon for joggers and dog walkers alike.”

The Art Newspaper

“Japanese conceptual pioneer Yayoi Kusama has become one of the world’s most popular artists in recent years, thanks in large part to her immersive Infinity Mirror Room installations. But she’s not just about fancy lights and mirror tricks; she also does a fine line in enormous, psychedelic gourds, and the Serpentine has announced that it’s bringing one of her gargantuan pumpkins to London this July.”

Time Out

“Well, this sculpture is a pumpkin or a kabucha, a great big vegetable in Kensington Gardens. It's a striking yellow colour with black dots and it's a very large piece, six metres tall, and it creates a great impression, set on this lawn close to the round pond. And I'd encourage anybody to go and have a look at it this summer. I think we're really lucky in London to have so much green space centrally, perhaps more on the west than in the east, but this is a huge expanse of parkland that's open to everybody and when we get some sun, it's a gorgeous place to be.”

The Standard Podcast

Engagement:

152,457

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

aTTa KWami: maria laSSnig prize mural

Serpentine North

6 September 2022 to 30 September 2024

In partnership with the Maria Lassnig Foundation, Serpentine presented a public art mural by the late painter, printmaker, independent art historian, and curator Atta Kwami (1956–2021). With a career spanning 40 years, Kwami’s practice brought together painting, architecture, sculpture, and education. Born in Accra, Ghana he trained and taught for 20 years at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Kwami lived primarily in Kumasi and later in Loughborough, UK, keeping a studio in both cities and drawing inspiration for his paintings from both global and local art histories and traditions. His compositions of geometric strips, stripes and grids particularly connect to Northern Ghanaian wall and house painting, street vendor kiosks, commercial sign painting, woven textiles, Ghanaian music, and jazz.

Alongside making paintings, prints and artist’s books, Kwami also became known for painting constructions – kiosks and archway sculptures – that were conceived as expanded three-dimensional paintings within outdoor spaces. The commission originated from a painting on canvas that Kwami reworked in his studio in 2021, shortly before his death – making this the final, landmark public work of his pioneering career. Designed in dialogue with the North Gallery Garden, the mural Dzidzɔ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace) , 2021-22, embodies the artist’s vibrant palette and fluid abstract painting style. Its title is in Ewe, a West African language spoken by Kwami and its composition characteristically plays with the colour and form improvisations distinctive to Ghanaian architecture and strip-woven textiles found across the African continent, especially kente cloth from the Ewe and Asante people of Ghana.

The mural was painted on wood – the surface Kwami used for outdoor constructions – by artist Pamela Clarkson, Kwami’s widow who shared a studio with him for over 30 years, and designer Andy Philpott, his friend and collaborator on constructions in Amsterdam, Folkestone and Loughborough.

“Terribly courageous – Atta Kwami’s glorious posthumous mural unveiled at the Serpentine.”

The Guardian

Engagement: 19,033 [47,884 visitors in FY 2023/24]

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Steve McQueen, Grenfell , 2019. Installation view, Serpentine South, 2023. Photo by Richard Ivey.

Touring exhiBiTionS

grenfell STeve mcQueen

Tramway, Glasgow

Tours six cities across the UK

In partnership with The Common Guild 8 – 23 March 2025

In December 2017, artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen (b.1969, London), made an artwork in response to the fire that took place earlier that year on 14 June at Grenfell Tower. 72 people died in the tragedy. Filming the tower before it was covered with hoarding, McQueen sought to create a record so that it would not be forgotten. Following the fire, a Government Inquiry was launched that was conducted in two phases. The findings of the first and second phase of the Inquiry were reported, the recommendations of which have yet to be implemented, meaning a similar tragedy could happen again. There is an ongoing criminal investigation.

Chapter, Cardiff

17 May – 7 June 2025

MAC Live, Belfast

17 July – 21 September 2025

Tate Liverpool Dates TBC but this will be in 2026

The Box, Plymouth

1 September 2026 – 1 January 2027 (exact dates to be confirmed)

Steve McQueen said ‘I knew once the tower was covered up, it would start to leave people’s minds. I was determined that it never be forgotten.’

MAC Birmingham

Grenfell was first presented in 2023 at Serpentine in London’s Kensington Gardens, following a period of private viewings, prioritising bereaved families and survivors. The work was then placed in the care of Tate and London Museum.

1 October – 28 November 2027

Over three years, Steve McQueen’s film installation will be shown in public art galleries in six major cities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Opening at Tramway in Glasgow in Spring 2025, it will travel to Chapter in Cardiff, The MAC in Belfast, The Box in Plymouth, Tate Liverpool and Midland Arts Centre in Birmingham.

The national tour has been coordinated by Tate in collaboration with the partner venues and made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and from the Art Fund. Each presentation will be free to visit and accompanied by a public engagement programme of talks, workshops and community events supported by the Grenfell Foundation.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

1500 visitors

gaBriel maSSan and collaBoraTorS Third World: The BoTTom dimenSion

As a multi-faceted project with a video game, exhibition and web3 tokens powered by Tezos, Third World: The Bottom Dimension was able to tour in different ways. As such the project was included in group exhibitions and festivals in Europe and South America including in Sao Paulo, ensuring the project continued to be seen by a diverse audience.

Rayon Jouets (Toys Section) Hangar Y, Meudon, France 18 May – 22 September 2024

Like the shelves of a department store, toys come and go, but they don't look the same. Aimed at the public, the exhibition brought together some of the oldest toys found anywhere in the world, alongside recent works by international contemporary artists. With works by some forty major and emerging contemporary artists and loans from four major museum institutions, Rayon Jouets explored toys (as objects), games (as practices) and their ideologies - in other words, the systems of understanding of the world they shape. The Follower , which was commissioned by Serpentine in 2023 as part of Third World: The Bottom Dimension was included in the show.

Gabriel Massan

Third World - The Bottom Dimension Pinacoteca de São Paulo

31 August 2024 – 2 February 2025

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo, a museum under the Secretary of Culture, Economy, and Creative Industries of the State of São Paulo, presented Gabriel Massan: Third World – The Bottom Dimension , an experimental project developed in collaboration with Serpentine in London, which showcased at the Galeria Praça of the Pina Contemporânea building. Conceived from a decolonial perspective, incorporating queer theories and decentralised technological strategies, Gabriel Massan created Third World , a video game set in a fantastical universe. Through collaborative storytelling, this game challenges the colonial concept of ‘exploration’ and urges the audience to rethink their actions in the world. The game Third World: The Bottom Dimension was commissioned and produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies, in association with the Julia Stoschek Collection and powered by Tezos. The optimisation and translation into Brazilian Portuguese was made in collaboration with Pinacoteca de São Paulo and released on Steam on 31 August 2024.

Serpentine released a translation of T hird World: The

Bottom Dimension game in Brazilian Portuguese with 9127 downloads of the updated and translated game in 2024/25. The publication was released in celebration of the project’s tour to Pinacoteca de São Paulo. Focusing on the video game at its core, it covers the context and process of its production, introduces the artistic practice of Gabriel Massan and their collaborators, and shares development materials, including conversations, images, texts, and designs.

Black Ancient Futures

Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon 18 September 2024 – 17 March 2025

Black Ancient Futures brought together a significant group of 11 artists from the vast African diaspora, some of them presented for the first time in Portugal, who employed different languages to propose a wide range of alternative narratives and landscapes that contested the dominant panorama of the contemporary arts. Baloji, April Bey, Jeannette Ehlers, Lungiswa Gqunta, Evan Ifekoya, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Gabriel Massan, Jota Mombaça, Sandra Mujinga and Tabita Rezaire were the participating artists.

The Prix Ars Electronica Exhibition

Ars Electronica

Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz

4 – 8 September 2024

The game Third World: The Bottom Dimension received the Award of Distinction in the Interactive Art + category of the 2024 Prix Ars Electronica , stating in their feedback that ‘Massan is clear in his desire to reveal instead of replicate how systems of power erase and marginalize complicated historical truths. The goal here is not to conquer or extract, but to question colonial notions of expedition and to resist the embedded power structures.’

Engagement: 9127 visitors

danielle BraThWaiTe-Shirley group hug

Water Street Projects, New York

27 September – 20 October 2024

Group Hug was a landmark exhibition of large-scale, sitespecific video game installations. Presented by Onassis ONX with Water Street Projects in collaboration with curators Julia Kaganskiy, Serpentine Arts Technologies and Rhizome, the exhibition invited visitors to play together and lose themselves in the sensorial worlds of each game through sight, sound, and touch.

THE LACK: I KNEW YOUR VOICE BEFORE YOU SPOKE

was inspired by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s love for choose-your-own adventure games, with players’ decisions influencing every element of their surrounding world’s reconstruction. The installation included a performance component, featuring bespoke dance mats as video game controllers and sound generated by players. Brathwaite-Shirley seeks to create an environment of active participation in which the audience is as much the medium as the games she crafts. The Lack for Group Hug was curated by Serpentine Arts Technologies. Originally co-commissioned for Art Night Dundee, 2023 by Art Night, NEoN Digital Arts and Serpentine Arts Technologies.

Engagement:

Bozar Arcade: Gabriel Massan

Commissioned texts from Denise Ferreira da Silva, Lorraine Mendes, Tamar Clarke-Brown and Ayrson Heráclito address the project’s wider thematics of worldbuilding, technology, spirituality and decolonisation, while positioning the critical importance of this innovative project in the socio-political present. The book takes the format of ‘workbook/exercise book’, including commissioned exercises from the project’s contributing artists; Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, LYZZA, Ventura Profana. This fully illustrated publication documents the project and takes a playful and engaging approach to guiding its readers on a journey of multidimensional learning.

Third World: The Bottom Dimension

Bozar, Brussels

27 March – 11 May 2025

Third World: The Bottom Dimension was created by artist Gabriel Massan and collaborators and released in 2023. After stopping at Pinacoteca São Paulo, Ars Electronica festival Linz and MAAT in Lisbon, it travelled to Bozar for another stop of its international tour.

800 visitors (until 31 March 2025)

Engagement:

Engagement: 112, 943 visitors

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Gabriel Massan, Third World: The Bottom Dimension , 2022 [Video Game]. Featuring Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar & LYZZA. Image courtesy Gabriel Massan.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Serpentine Pavilion 2024 Archipelagic Void designed by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies. © Mass Studies. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine.

archiTecTure

Since its launch in 2000, the annual Serpentine Pavilion has become one of the most anticipated events in the global cultural calendar and a leading visitor attraction during London’s summer season of culture. Each year, an internationally known architect is invited to design and create their first built structure in England. Open annually from June to October, the Serpentine Pavilion commission has become an international site for architectural experimentation and presents projects by some of the world's most important architects.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Serpentine Pavilion 2024 Archipelagic Void designed by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies. © Mass Studies. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine.

SerpenTine pavilion 2024

archipelagic void minSuK cho, maSS STudieS

7 June – 27 October 2024

momenTS in SerpenTine pavilionS 2000-2024 Seoul hall of urBaniSm and archiTecTure

Seoul, South Korea

19 July to 25 September 2024

In parallel with the 23rd Serpentine Pavilion, Moments in Serpentine Pavilions 2000-2024 was presented in Seoul, Korea in collaboration with Seoul Hall Urbanism and Architecture. The exhibition showcased the unique design of the Pavilions over the years through the photographic works of Iwan Baan, Hélène Binet, James Winspear, John Offenbach and Waler Herfst. It also included archival materials such as videos, interviews, catalogues and leaflets illustrating the history of this annual architecture commission. A series of talks and conversations were held in conjunction with the exhibition, which brought together curators, scholars, architects and artists to discuss the significance of public spaces in the urban cultural landscape with a public lecture from Minsuk Cho sharing his practice and design of the 23rd Serpentine Pavilion Archipelagic Void to local audiences.

127,459

Engagement:

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Lenio Kaklea, Αγρίμι (Fauve) , 31 October - 1 November 2024, Presented by Serpentine in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis Studio. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy the artist and Serpentine.

live programme 2024/25

minSuK cho in converSaTion WiTh hanS ulrich oBriST

Serpentine’s Live Programme reflects our commitment to artist-led programming. Most of the performances take place in our annual architectural commission, the Serpentine Pavilion. Each year, Pavilion commissions, including Park Nights, create new opportunities for audiences to experience architecture through performances, live talks and activations. Over the years, the Live Programme has supported many artists at formative stages in their careers.

Serpentine Pavilion 7 June 2024

To mark the opening of A rchipelagic Void , the 23rd Serpentine Pavilion, Minsuk Cho was in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine. The conversation explored the inspirations behind this year’s Pavilion, Cho’s approach to architecture, and the history of the commission.

Audience: 114

Archipelagic Void , designed by architect Minsuk Cho, became the centre stage for a series of interdisciplinary artistic expressions on selected evenings over summer.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Eun-Me Ahn, North Korea Dance , part of Serpentine’s Park Nights 2024. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland.

parK nighTS oTher live programme evenTS

eun-me ahn

neW currency

Serpentine Pavilion 28 – 29 June 2024

Serpentine Pavilion 28 September 2024

The 2024 Park Nights season kicked off with the UK premiere of North Korea Dance from renowned choreographer, Eun-Me Ahn and her dance company. The piece explored the differences and similarities between North and South Korean dance and imagined a possible future beyond the border through shared movements.

New Curriculum by New Currency is an evolving framework that fosters learning through discourse, interaction, and the exchange of diverse perspectives. Its inaugural session, ‘001’ , debuted at the 2024 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Mass Studies. This extended event brought together artists, curators and innovators from various fields for conversations that reshape how we perceive creative practice in a rapidly changing landscape.

Audience: 301

pavilion family day

Temporal magic

Serpentine Pavilion 21 July 2024

Serpentine Pavilion 19 July 2024

A family day in the 2024 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies. Free hands-on activities and creative workshops throughout the day. All families were invited to bring a picnic to enjoy on the Serpentine Lawn. Programmed in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Centre.

For Park Nights 2024, Serpentine presented Temporal Magic, an evening of poetry that brought together the voices of distinct literary scholars Anne Boyer, Don Mee Choi and Denise Riley.

Audience:

177

Audience:

582

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Adham Faramawy, Daughters of the River , 2024, performed as part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon, 11 July 2024, Stone Nest. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy of the artist and Serpentine.

infiniTe ecologieS maraThon

adham faramaWy: daughTerS of The river

david Blandy, alien paSToral: The STrain

Off site

The Magazine, Serpentine North 27 September 2024

11 July 2024

In Daughters of the River, Adham Faramawy incorporated dance, sound and spoken word to tell stories of the romances and toxicities of rivers and waterways. Borrowing from Alexander Pope’s poem ‘Windsor-Forest’, the performance slipped between poetic and narrative storytelling, taking the audience on a fluid journey through these aqueous ecosystems.

The first event of this weekend series exploring worlding and life cycles through the lens of ecology. Part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon. Alien Pastoral: The Strain centred on a biological research station, run by an Authority , as the scientists try to engineer a new strain to solve an existential problem. An adaptation of Blandy’s previous work Gathering Storm , this game explored the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism.

Audience:

a gaThering on arT and land

SeedS

Serpentine Pavilion 13 July 2024

The Magazine, Serpentine North 28 September 2024

A Gathering on Art and Land was a day centring art and design-led approaches to planting, farming, seeding, gardening and burying. Through conversations and presentations, the event explored our relationship to the land, using ground and soil practices to start ecological conversations and reveal their potential for transformation, regeneration and hope.

Seeds was an extended lunchtime programme addressing worlding through the lens of ecology, part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon. Continuing the legacy of The Magazine Sessions, Seeds delved into the multifaceted significance of seeds as vehicles for world building. Beyond their role in food production, seeds carry history, memory and serve as potent metaphors for growth, ideas and exchange. This extended lunchtime series aimed to create space to discuss the complex narratives embedded within seeds and their ecological and imaginative potential.

Audience:

203

Audience:

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

Seeds , 2024. Presented as part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon . The Magazine, Serpentine, September 2024. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland. Courtesy Serpentine.

WorKShop: radically Tender inviTaTionS for re-fuSing and aBSciSing

The Magazine, Serpentine North 29 September 2024

A workshop by Radical Tenderness , a collaboration between Vanessa Machado de Oliveira and Dani D’Emilia, this was a weekend series exploring worlding and life cycles through the lens of ecology. The workshop started from the idea that a different future depends on the quality of our present relationships. It looked at ways of deactivating human exceptionalism to focus on a wider sense of care, kinship, relationality and visceral responsibility.

Audience: 19

vaneSSa machado de oliveira, hoSpicing moderniTy

The Magazine, Serpentine North 29 September 2024

A talk by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, author of Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism , was followed by a conversation with Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies at Serpentine. In her effort to break the ‘spell’ of colonial modernity, Vanessa Machado de Oliveira critiqued the often self-congratulatory tendencies within activism, urging instead for an approach rooted in humility, where failure is embraced as a profound opportunity for growth and deeper living. She challenged us to mature, take responsibility, and actively engage in the work of healing ourselves, our communities and the living Earth, disrupting the destructive patterns of modernity that threaten our planet’s future.

Audience:

david Blandy’S alien paSToral: The STrain aT cop16

Part of Plant Lab: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) Off site 25 October 2024

Serpentine and Nowadays presented David Blandy’s Alien Pastoral: The Strain at COP16 as part of Plant Lab: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) . Plant Lab: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) was a participatory design session that brought together people, plants and the planet to imagine a greener future. Participants received tools for including nature in their boardrooms, delegations and policymaking spaces. Supported by interactive works, this part-workshop, part-community round table looked at alternative models for how to centre the rights of nature and build a better world.

Audience:

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

100

101

Audience: 26

SaTurday TalKS

TamSin hong on yinKa ShoniBare cBe: SuSpended STaTeS

Serpentine South

4 May 2024

Tamsin Hong, Exhibitions Curator, led a tour of Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States.

chriS Bayley on judy chicago: revelaTionS

Serpentine North

1 June 2024

Chris Bayley, Associate Exhibitions Curator, led a tour of Judy Chicago: Revelations.

alexa choW on SerpenTine pavilion 2024 deSigned By minSuK cho, maSS STudieS

Serpentine Pavilion

22 June 2024

Alexa Chow, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, led a tour of Serpentine Pavilion 2024, designed by Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies.

Audience:

alexa choW on yinKa ShoniBare cBe: SuSpended STaTeS

Serpentine South

6 July 2024

Alexa Chow, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, led a tour of Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States.

Audience:

diane gelon on judy chicago: revelaTionS

Serpentine North

27 July 2024

Diane Gelon, friend and collaborator of Judy Chicago and The Dinner Party Producer, led a tour of Judy Chicago: Revelations.

Audience:

liz STumpf on judy chicago: revelaTionS

Serpentine North

31 August 2024

Liz Stumpf, Assistant Exhibitions Curator, led a tour of Judy Chicago: Revelations.

Audience:

eva jaeger on holly herndon & maT dryhurST: The call

Serpentine North

26 October 2024

Eva Jäger, Arts Technologies Curator, led a tour of Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call. A collaboration between artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, and Serpentine Arts Technologies, The Call proposes new cultural, legal, and technical rituals for art in the age of AI.

Audience:

chriS Bayley on lauren halSey: emajendaT

Serpentine South

30 November 2024

Chris Bayley, Exhibitions Curator, led a tour of Lauren Halsey: emajendat

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

102

103

Serpentine Cinema: Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Such Feeling , 2024. 25 March, 2025, Institut français du Royaume-Uni. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland. Courtesy the artist and Serpentine.

ruTh WaTerS on lizzie carey-ThomaS on holly herndon & maT dryhurST: lauren halSey: emajendaT The call

Serpentine South

25 January 2025

Serpentine North

11 January 2025

Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Director of Programmes and Chief Curator, led a tour of Lauren Halsey: emajendat.

Ruth Waters, Arts Technologies Producer, led a tour of Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call. A collaboration between artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, and Serpentine Arts Technologies, The Call proposed new cultural, legal, and technical rituals for art in the age of AI.

Audience:

Audience: 30

eva jaeger on The call pluS live choral performanceS

Serpentine North

18 January 2025

Choir director Jeffry Borradaile led members of Blackburn People’s Choir, South Lakes Acappella and Ordsall Acappella in performing songs from Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s AI Training Songbook. The event included a guided tour of Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call led by Eva Jäger, Arts Technologies Curator, and concluded with a final performance.

Audience: 60

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

105

104

214

SerpenTine cinema

paul B. preciado: SerpenTine cinema: orlando an evening WiTh ja'Tovia gary

Ciné Lumière, Institut Français du Royaume-Uni, London 30 May 2024

Ciné Lumière, Institut Français du Royaume-Uni, London 14 October 2024

Serpentine Cinema presented Paul B. Preciado‘s Orlando, My Political Biography , accompanied by a conversation between Paul B. Preciado and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine.

Serpentine Cinema presented An Evening with Ja’Tovia Gary accompanied by a conversation between Ja’Tovia Gary and Derica Shields. Artist and filmmaker Ja’Tovia Gary employs an intersectional Black feminist approach to documentary film and experimental video art to address themes of representation, race, gender, sexuality and violence.

Audience:

192

SerpenTine cinema: jonaS meKaS, reQuiem

Ciné Lumière, Institut Français du Royaume-Uni, London 18 September 2024

Alex Baczyński-Jenkins’ first feature-length film started as a prologue to his choreographic exhibition entitled Such Feeling at Kunsthalle Basel. This process-led cineperformance followed a group of friends, Aaa, Billy, Dawid, Filipka, and Olo, who perform, protest and support each other in the face of a hostile environment for queer people in Poland.

Audience:

adam faramaWy: daughTerS of The river

Presented as part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon Off site

11 July 2024

Audience:

jonaS meKaS

Close Up Cinema, London

14 October 2024

Serpentine Cinema presented Jonas Mekas‘s Requiem , presented as part of World Poetry Day and initiated by the G. Pompidou Centre for Art and Culture, Paris.

Audience: 41

SerpenTine cinema: alex BaczynSKi-jenKinS, Such feeling

Ciné Lumière, Institut Français du Royaume-Uni, London 25 March 2025

Serpentine Cinema presented Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Such Feeling, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins’ first feature-length film which started as a prologue to his choreographic exhibition entitled Such Feeling at Kunsthalle Basel. This process-led cine-performance follows a group of friends, Aaa, Billy, Dawid, Filipka, and Olo, who perform, protest and support each other in the face of a hostile environment for queer people in Poland.

Audience:

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Serpentine Reader, Issue 1: Circulation . Photograph by Studio Eskandar.

SerpenTine reader

In February 2025, Serpentine announced the launch of a new online and physical publication dedicated to innovation in long-form writing. This annual publication offers space for deep research, reflection and creative exploration across a range of formats.

Committed to the ethos of slow publishing, the Serpentine Reader fosters dialogue between established and emerging voices. It features contributions from artists and writers passionate about crafting immersive narratives and exploring new literary forms. A new project from the Serpentine editorial team - previously behind the Serpentine Podcast - the Reader embraces editorial experimentation and nurtures conversations across disciplines.

The inaugural issue of Serpentine Reader explored the theme of circulation - the forces that propel us forward and the patterns that keep us trapped. From the movement of history to the endless recycling of ideas, circulation shapes how we engage with the world. This issue examined the myriad ways we navigate the currents of information, energy, culture, and meaning in our interconnected world. Whether circulation acts as a lifeline or a loop, a conduit for renewal or a mechanism of constraint, often depends on how we choose to engage with it. As Serpentine Reader itself entered circulation, readers were invited to reflect on the currents that entangle us, the histories we repeat, and the possibilities for breaking the loop.

Nearly all 250 copies of our first print run sold out. The goal with the Reader was to promote deep engagement with new ideas. We have had over 2,300 online readers and articles from the Reader have recorded significantly higher average engagement times compared to the rest of our website, along with notably high levels of ‘active users’ – a key indicator of deeper, more sustained interaction with our content.

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Artwork Still, Barbara Kruger, Silent Writings, 2009 – 2024.

Beyond The gallery WallS

BarBara Kruger SilenT WriTingS

preciouS oKoyomon: BuT did you die? BooK launch

Outernet London

4 March - 22 April 2024

The Warburg Institute, London 9 September 2024

Serpentine and Outernet Arts continued an innovative partnership presenting digital artwork Silent Writings by American artist Barbara Kruger that explored how we communicate and connect with each other. The piece wove images and words to engage issues of control, power and dominance. Kruger incorporated her own words alongside quotes from writers and philosophers including Aimé Césaire, Goethe, Thomas Mann and Mary Therese McCarthy. These quotes touched on themes of violence, political modes of operation and spectatorship. Kruger manipulated selected words, enlarging or removing them to highlight their meanings and to create new ones. Opposing terms like contact/isolation, order/horror, stupid/clever became fluid and interchangeable.

Serpentine and Wonder announced the launch of Precious Okoyomon’s latest collection of poems, But Did You Die? combining signature divinely-inspired lyricism with vivid illuminations. Precious Okoyomon has been closely linked to Serpentine for many years throughout its programmes including participation in the Work Marathon (2018); The End of the World as part of Park Nights 2019; do it, an ever-expanding set of creative instructions by leading artists (2020-ongoing); The Sky is a Genius – an evening of poetry inside of P. Staff’s exhibition On Venus (2020); 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth (2021) as part of Serpentine’s Back to Earth exhibition; and Poetry and Spiritualism inside Dominique Gonzalez Foerster’s exhibition Alienarium 5 (2022).

Outernet Arts is an independent arts organisation located in the heart of London, offering free and accessible exhibitions in one of the world's largest digital spaces. With screens spanning the height of four storeys, the organisation presents a year-round programme and aims to bring together a diverse network of both established and under-represented artists, commissioning projects that explore the complexities of the ‘media space.’

Audience:

Engagement: 10,650 (total visitors: 22,774)

“For the next seven weeks this blistering new piece will be screened at The New Building on repeat for three hours every Monday evening. In addition, a fleet of London taxis will be driving around the city for the duration of both exhibitions, and Kruger has designed a TikTok effect for the first time, released on the app.”

The Evening Standard

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frieze WeeK programming and Beyond

The legacy of chriSTo and jeanne-claude

The Magazine

Serpentine North

9 – 13 October 2024

Six years after The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake, 2018), Serpentine paid tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude with the release of a new book and the display of a rare original work during Frieze Week. Christo’s original drawing of The Mastaba was exhibited for public viewing in The Magazine at Serpentine North.

From June to September 2018, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s temporary sculpture, The London Mastaba , sat atop Hyde Park’s Serpentine Lake. The piece, which consisted of 7,506 horizontally stacked barrels on a floating platform, was the artists’ first major public outdoor project to be completed in the UK. It coincided with an exhibition at Serpentine detailing their 60-year history of working with oil barrels and accompanied by a digital mobile tour supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The drawing on view, created by Christo just before the realisation of The London Mastaba, stands out as one of the few large format pieces featuring a view of the Serpentine Bridge. It serves as an indelible recollection of the public artwork, capturing a pivotal moment in Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artistic journey, and preserving it for future generations.

The presentation of this artwork was accompanied by the launch of The Christo Interviews, a collection of ten conversations between Christo and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine. The book, published by HENI, celebrates the artists who are best known for their large-scale, site-specific installations. Edited in close collaboration with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, the new hardback book is fully illustrated with images of finished works, drawings and archival photographs from throughout the duo’s long and successful career.

allied ediTionS

Frieze London

9 – 13 October 2024

Allied Editions returned to Frieze London this year, staged in Regent’s Park from 9-13 October 2024. Seven of London’s leading independent spaces, Camden Art Centre, the Chisenhale Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Serpentine, the South London Gallery, Studio Voltaire and the Whitechapel Gallery joined forces to showcase limited edition works by leading artists. For this edition of the fair, Liverpool Biennial joined the co-curated booth.

Initiated in 2011 and supported by Frieze, the collective hosted a shared stand at Frieze London, showcasing specially commissioned works for sale by prominent contemporary artists. All works were donated by the artists to raise funds for these independent spaces.

Highlights this year included a silkscreen printed mirror by Barbara Kruger in support of Serpentine, and a range of editions published to mark the 30th anniversary of Studio Voltaire, including a lithograph by Rose Wylie and a series of handcrafted porcelain roses by Rachel Kneebone.

lenio KaKlea aypimi (fauve)

Sadler’s Wells, Lilian Baylis Studio 31 October and 1 November 2024

Serpentine presents the UK premiere of Αγρίμι (Fauve), a performance by Greek leading dancer, choreographer, director and writer Lenio Kaklea in partnership with Sadler’s Wells. This Serpentine co-commission marked the artist’s first major presentation in Britain.

Audience:

The call: finiSSage

Off site

30 January 2025

Artists Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst and Serpentine’s Arts Technologies team created a final choral recording that celebrated the closing days of their exhibition, The Call, inviting the public to sing together from the songbook developed for the exhibition. The evening’s recording was added to the UK Choral Dataset for AI training, a resource created as part of the exhibition.

Audience:

110

SerpenTine reader launch evenT iSSue 1: circulaTion

Off site

27 February 2025

An evening that celebrated the launch of the first issue of Serpentine Reader - a new online and physical publication focusing on innovation in long-form writing. The yearly publication offers space for deep research, reflection, and creative exploration across various formats. Committed to slow publishing, the Reader fosters dialogue between established and emerging voices. Featuring contributions from artists and writers passionate about crafting immersive narratives and pushing the boundaries of literary expression, the publication explores editorial experiments and fosters cross-pollination between disciplines.

Audience:

radio BalladS: SongS for change BooK launch

Off site

22 March 2025

Serpentine Civic Projects presented a new publication: Radio Ballads: Songs for Change ; The launch comprised a day of readings and music to celebrate the launch of the book by Serpentine Civic Projects. The book takes inspiration from the revolutionary Radio Ballads series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1957-64, a time of rapid change across the UK. Combining song, music and sound effects with the voices and stories of communities, each original Ballad focused on the lived experiences of workers and groups whose voices were rarely, or never, heard in the media. Over sixty years later, Radio Ballads: Songs for Change (2019-23), builds on these histories of collective song and storytelling. The publication shares the process of creating four new Radio Ballads (2019-23), with artists Sonia Boyce, Helen Cammock, Rory Pilgrim and Ilona Sagar in collaboration with carers, organisers, social workers and residents in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Audience:

Launch event:

344

183 guests

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The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

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Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education. Design: In the shade of a tree. Photo: © readsreads.info

leading a pioneering educaTional and civic programme

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How We Hold Launch Event. Photo: Matthew Ritson.

educaTion and civic

Serpentine Education and Civic continues to develop dynamic programmes with people excluded from the decision making processes that shape their lives. The department works in collaboration with artists to generate and shape creative processes with groups of people and develop tools for change, supporting creativity, self-determination and community building. Building on the success of How We Hold: Rehearsals for Art and Social Change, Serpentine Education and Civic developed four further publications and toolkits designed to disseminate practice to local, national and international audiences. Education and Civic generate programmes, resources and internal processes designed to support Serpentine to become a socially relevant organisation that is inclusive, dynamic and accessible to all.

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Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education. Design: In the shade of a tree. Photo: © readsreads.info

educaTion

cracKS in The curriculum

Cracks in the Curriculum was launched in 2016, sparked by conversations with young people navigating the education system about what they were being taught - and why. It is a multipart series that addresses themes missing from or misrepresented in the UK school curriculum, bringing together artists, educators, organisers and young people to ask how we can use creativity to collectively address pressing social issues. Cracks in the Curriculum takes the form of a series of toolkits for change. There have been four iterations to date.

The series explores key questions that include:

How can we create supportive networks for students and teachers to build community?
How can we amplify young people’s voices to create more equitable classrooms?

“There's hope within it. The idea that we are art teachers and art is a direct form of action and agent of change. It made me feel really hopeful. And this is what I guess most of us did come into teaching for.”

Secondary school teacher, London 2024

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Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education. Design: In the shade of a tree. Photo: © readsreads.info

cracKS in The curriculum 5: WhaT iS iT To Be oneSelf?

What is it to be Oneself? is the fifth edition in the series and aims to hold space for young people in secondary school to explore their multiple and fluid identities. It was developed by artist Jade de Montserrat in collaboration with Serpentine Education and a group of educators. The resource supports teachers working with young people to consider the impact gender, race, class, religion, disability, culture, and politics has on our sense of self. What is it to be Oneself? delves into Afrofuturism and digital culture, using the process of collage to normalise fluid exploratory approaches to the formation, deconstruction and reformation of identity. It offers ways we might imagine liberated futures where everyone can live freely and thrive.

In many school cultures and curricula, certain identities are legitimised whilst others are silenced. Around half of LGBTQ+ students experience bullying at school for being themselves. Black, neurodiverse and disabled young people are disproportionately excluded from school. Recent government guidelines have created barriers that prevent young people from speaking to teachers about their gender without the risk of being outed at home, potentially putting them in harm’s way.

At the same time, recent government guidelines prohibit teachers using ‘anti-capitalist’ materials in classrooms, raising questions about freedom of speech in schools. What is to be Oneself asks: how can we use art-making to safely explore our own identities and create the blueprint for new relationships and worlds premised on compassion, empathy and humanity?

How can educational settings find communality and connection and embrace difference?
What is the potential of creative processes to celebrate difference and create a sense of belonging?

Presented in print and digital versions, the resource features critical questions, creative exercises, sources of support and a short story by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. It folds out into a poster designed by Jade de Montserrat which combines a quote from the 19th century abolitionist Sojourner Truth with the Progress Pride flag. This juxtaposition stresses how historical struggles can provide sustenance for contemporary campaigns. Teachers are invited to place this poster in the classroom and reflect on which voices are legitimised and which voices are silenced in the classroom. The artist created a selection of music to accompany Cracks in the Curriculum: What is it to be Oneself? and a series of recommendations for further study.

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Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education. Design: In the shade of a tree. Photo: © readsreads.info

reSource developmenT proceSS

The resource was developed through three workshops with UK based educators in state schools and organisers throughout and collectively co-edited with a small group of teachers. Physical copies have been shared with all secondary art teachers in twelve inner London Boroughs (Camden, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster), a total of 270 schools. Copies were also shared with the 20 Art and Design initial teacher training providers throughout the UK.

“These resources align perfectly with the work we are doing with our student teachers around negotiating the politics of representation in the classroom. I will share them with the whole cohort.”

Programme Lead, Art and Design PGCE UCL

“(Cracks in the Curriculum) are amazing resources. It’s such a brilliant series.”

PGCE Art tutor, Birmingham City University

“I am module lead for our Undergraduate Education Studies module on anti-racist Education Practice and PGCE module on Equality and Inclusion and I have been sharing Cracks in the Curriculum as examples of good practice to our students since I discovered them two years ago. I will continue to share these as such high quality examples of resources are often hard to find and access, especially for free.”

Senior Lecturer in Education, South Bank University

Through the evaluation the teachers we spoke to described how the resource addresses a gap in the curriculum and the lack of resources and support they have in order to address inequality and exclusion. All six of the teachers in the evaluation process reported using or planning to use the resource in their classroom. The teachers gave positive feedback about the resource, highlighting the creative exercises, guidance on how to approach discussions with students and opportunities for developing the workshop into a longer project.

“I can feel there is a gap and we need to try to close that. I feel like there's a lot of work to do in regard to that in regards to identity.”

Teacher, London 2024

“You've got some really great ideas here that are tackling the issues that I want to tackle in my classroom. I'm thinking, OK, great. I can actually do this, whereas a lot of the time one of the barriers to doing more kind of profound work in the classroom is just time constraint. You don't have time to do it thoroughly and make it really thoughtfully done. (The resource) is like being helped along and it is just a really high quality resource.”

Teacher, London 2024

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Cracks in the Curriculum #5: What is it to be Oneself? By Jade de Montserrat, 2024. Serpentine Education.

cracKS in The curriculum filmS and huB page

Throughout 2024, the Education team worked with Cracks in Curriculum artists to create a series of films to be presented online and shared with young people in the classroom. In previous workshops, teachers had expressed a desire for video components to complement the Cracks in the Curriculum resources; these artist films provide an introduction to their creative practice, explanations of why they chose to make the resource, reference points for exercises and ideas for further study.

“I think it's really lovely to hear from the artists themselves and the visuals to go alongside them speaking’s obviously really helpful.”

Teacher 2024

“I feel like it's a really wonderful resource and it's great to see the voice of the artist behind the work.”

Teacher 2024

“I think the power of having the people who’re actually making artwork in front of them so they could see that they're just like them. Showing them they could become artists when they're older or just open up a door in their mind would be really, really meaningful.”

Teacher 2024

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Sam Curtis with Portman Early Childhood Centre, ‘Which Way Now?’ 2018, A Changing Play commission by Serpentine Galleries. Photo: Sam Curtis.

Which Way noW?

Throughout 2024, the Education team worked with educators and artist Sam Curtis to develop the Which Way Now? toolkit, a teacher’s resource for developing walks with children in urban environments. Designed to bring schools and neighbourhoods into closer conversation with each other, the child-led walking method presented in the toolkit offers a way to support children in deepening their connection to and understanding of their neighbourhood through an embodied, sensory, relational practice. It encourages adults to work alongside young children, to become more attuned to their thoughts and feelings about place and to consider how we might learn from children to imagine our neighbourhoods otherwise.

Which Way Now? centres the voices and experiences of young children, including neurodiverse and disabled children. Some of the children who shaped the project do not primarily use verbal language to communicate. The project explores how movement, gesture, sensory appreciation and image-making, alongside spoken language, might open a richer dialogue of movement and gesture between adults and children about the places in which they live.

The toolkit emerged from a series of local walks in and around North London led by children aged three, four and five years old, in collaboration with artist Sam Curtis and the Portman Early Childhood Centre. Through the project children were invited to lead a series of walks through the Church Street neighbourhood. Building on an established practice at the centre, priority was given to neurodiverse and disabled children. Artist Sam Curtis worked with the Portman to deepen and extend this walking practice, building on children’s lived experiences, and recognising them as producers of knowledge about themselves and their community.

Serpentine Education has collaborated with the Portman, a centre for children aged 0-5 and their families since 2014, through the ‘Changing Play’ programme. Changing Play builds on Serpentine’s ongoing exploration of the role of artists in society, and asks what possibilities might emerge from a long-term and genuine commitment to the everyday realities, hopes and dreams of young children and their families. Over the last ten years, Serpentine Education has commissioned artists to collaborate with people who use the centre as they navigate a decade of austerity measures, hostile environment policies and an ableist education system. Through long-term embedded creative processes artists, children, workers and parents come together to collectively identify and respond to issues and work towards change. The tools that have emerged from the projects are shared through workshops, forums, films, toolkits and publications.

The Which Way Now? toolkit uses an enquiry-based approach, and is guided by questions that include:

How does walking together create a sense of belonging to a place?
How might child-led walks support children to develop and deepen their relationships to each other and with the people, plants and animals who live in their neighbourhood?
How can we support children to walk however they choose, creating space for running, jumping, rolling, skipping and zigzagging, for example?

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Serpentine Pavilion Family Day 2024. Photo: Harry Richards.

Welcoming familieS on SiTe

family friendly prinT

children and young people WorKing group

In collaboration with Audiences, Serpentine Education developed a new printed guide to welcome families to the galleries, offering ways to navigate the campus and providing tools to engage with Serpentine exhibitions, the Pavilion and our public sculpture programme for Summer 2024. We also developed a series of open-ended creative prompts that aimed to centre children’s ways of being in the world, inviting sensory exploration of Serpentine, building families’ confidence to explore different parts of the campus, welcoming visitors who are new to contemporary art by centring curiosity, playfulness and imagination rather than prior knowledge and supporting an intergenerational and social experience by encouraging interaction and collaboration between children and adults.

In Summer 2024, Serpentine Education initiated an internal working group, bringing together colleagues from Audiences, Visitor Experience and Education to improve the experience for children and young people on site. Since July 2024, the group has been meeting regularly, using a framework developed by Kids in Museums to map how we can make the Gallery more welcoming, accessible and inclusive for families.

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Gathering and workshop at 198 Contemporary Art & Learning for Support Structures, London, 2022.

civic

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Radio Ballads Songs for Change © Matthew Ritson.

radio BalladS: SongS for change

Serpentine Civic developed a new publication: Radio Ballads: Songs for Change, which asks what kinds of collective songs are needed today? Radio Ballads: Songs for Change takes its name from a revolutionary series of radio programmes broadcast by the BBC from 1957-64, a time of rapid change across the UK. Combining song, music and sound effects with the voices and stories of communities, each original ballad focused on the lived experiences of workers and groups whose voices were otherwise rarely, or never, heard in the media.

“This song is an offering to inspire courage, to move on purpose and with intention. It is inspired by my Caribbean ancestors and all those who have shaped change through the powerful vibrations of sound system culture. This song has a call and response rhythm. You are invited to sing to yourself, sing with loved ones or co-conspirators. Sing for the ancestors or the descendants to come. Sing it as many times as feels good.”

Camille Barton

Building on these histories of collective song and storytelling, the publication traces the process of Serpentine Civic Projects in creating four new Radio Ballads over sixty years later (2019-23), with artists Sonia Boyce, Helen Cammock, Rory Pilgrim and Ilona Sagar, in collaboration with carers, organisers, social workers and residents in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Radio Ballads: Songs for Change centres the voices and experiences of those whose care, through civic, grassroots and informal networks, keeps many of us afloat. Sharing complex and intimate stories of living and working through multiple ongoing crises, the four projects are interwoven with eight songs of collaborative work: Working In and Against Systems , Listening , Processing , Embodying , Dreaming , Supporting , Connecting and Voicing . Together, they explore how creative collaboration can open new spaces to reflect on experiences of mind/body health, domestic abuse, terminal illness, grief and end-of-life care, while also nurturing interdependence and collective healing.

By exploring new possibilities for gathering and organising together, Radio Ballads: Songs for Change asks: What kinds of collective songs are needed today? The book was launched with a day of readings and music at Valence Library in Dagenham, bringing together the many collaborators who helped initiate and shape the songs within its pages.

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Camila Bañol Montoya.

SupporT STrucTureS for SupporT STrucTureS

The programme supports artists who have demonstrated a commitment to experimenting with and producing projects that have an impact on their communities and address social urgencies. Support Structures for Support Structures was conceived in 2021 in collaboration with Pavilion architect Sumayya Vally and Amal Khalaf, Serpentine’s Civic Curator and with support from artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Given the scale and visibility of the Pavilion commission, Vally recognised its potential to be life-changing and wanted to extend that impact to other artists.

The second iteration of the Support Structures for Support Structures programme took place in 2024. The fellowship offers an unrestricted grant to individual artists and collectives across the UK, alongside a support network and timely mentoring sessions tailored to a pivotal moment in their careers. The 2024 recipients were Ashley Holmes, Janie Doherty, Roo Dhissou, Taey Iohe, and the co-founders of Noisy Women Present: Faradena Afifi, Maggie Nicols, Gwendolyn Kassenaar and Marion Treby.

The fellowship is grounded in the history and ongoing work of Serpentine’s Education and Civic programme, which supports artists in working with people and communities across London to engage with the complexities of social change. Recognising that many creative practitioners working in community-based practices require sustainable support, often through grant initiatives or institutional partnerships—the fellowship was designed to help address this barrier by creating new platforms for exchange.

Support Structures recognises that interdisciplinary artistic practices that centre collaboration with communities, often extend beyond traditional definitions of art. These practices are typically experienced through in-depth processes and public interventions, becoming opportunities to rethink cities and neighbourhoods, challenge our understanding of how knowledge is shared, and explore new models for creative economies.

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We Rise Voice and Survivorship resource. Commissioned by Serpentine Civic in collaboration with We Rise Domestic Abuse Hub. Photo: Matthew Ritson.

We riSe: voice and SurvivorShip

We Rise: Voice and Survivorship is a toolkit developed by Serpentine Civic with vocal practitioner Marged Siôn in collaboration with the We Rise Hub in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Following a two-year collaborative process, the group created the toolkit, sharing their experiences and exercises with other survivors, organisers and practitioners working towards futures free from violence.

The resource draws on voice as an embodiment practice to reclaim voices, reconnect with bodies and reshape self-perception and storytelling. The toolkit addresses the impact of trauma on one’s ability to express needs and desires and offers embodied ways to listen and imagine collective futures.

We Rise emerged in response to over thirteen years of significant cuts to survivor services, which have made it increasingly difficult for women to leave dangerous situations and heal from trauma. Championing community and survivor-led approaches, the project offers a trauma-informed embodiment practice not typically accessible through public services. It launched at the Women’s Museum in Barking in June 2024

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Photo credit: Lewis Rhodes & © Photo: readsreads.info

arTS TechnologieS SecTor leaderShip

Serpentine’s artist-led programme proposes critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the role of emerging technologies. As we stand at the brink of the next technological revolution, Serpentine is committed to supporting new experiments in art and technology, challenging and shaping its role in our cultural and social landscape. We work with artists to produce new works that consider emerging technologies as a medium, a tool or a topic that can operate beyond the gallery walls. Through exploring artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics and drones, biotechnology and immersive technologies, our Arts Technologies programme examines the critical impact of these innovations on the way we work, think and collaborate.

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arTS r&d TechnologieS plaTform

Serpentine’s Arts Technologies programme explores the impact of technology through art, research and experimental projects. It supports artists to produce projects that use advanced technologies. It brings together people working in art, technology, law, policy and academia to share knowledge and develop new ideas about technology and society. Areas of focus include blockchain, artificial intelligence and video games.

Serpentine’s Research and Development Platform is a space where our institution’s ‘back-end’ (operations, protocols, in-built values) and ‘front-end’ (what we produce) are brought into experimental realignment. In today’s environment of hyper-production and accelerated change, arts organisations need a reflexive space that allows for thoughtful and conscious advancement. Historically, art has frequently taken the form of social risk-taking and thus an undercover engine of ‘innovation’, presenting a distinctly different paradigm for innovation to the fields of science and technology. Meanwhile, the importance of arts organisations as scalable sites for dedicated artist-led research and development is only now becoming apparent.

The R&D Platform at Serpentine develops organically from the organisation’s long-standing commitment to advancing new forms of cultural production. It is built on interoperable modules that manifest themselves in capacity-building workshops for the wider sector, roundtables and summits, bringing experts from different fields to develop an art-field specific view on innovation and precedent-setting artworks that challenge conceptions of what art is and where the boundaries of art’s impact lie.

Some of the questions guiding the development of the R&D Platform include:

How can art institutions become better at identifying and harnessing their evolving capabilities?
What will the core values of cultural production be in 2050?
How can greater focus on infrastructural care and design build a more resilient and socially significant cultural field?
What can the full stack of contemporary artistic production (i.e., all stages of a project’s development) teach arts organisations and other fields about innovation?
What new organisational processes would be required for the art field to develop more meaningful and long-term relationships with other fields invested in seeking answers to today’s most challenging questions?
How does the art field claim an active position in shaping future technologies that yield significant impact on contemporary and future societies?

Recent labs have included Legal Lab , led by Alana Kushnir, Director of Guest Work Agency, Blockchain Lab , led by Ruth Catlow, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Furtherfield and DECAL DeCentralised Arts Lab and Penny Rafferty, Artist; Creative AI Lab , led by Eva Jäger, Curator, Arts Technologies and Creative AI Lead and Dr Mercedes Bunz, Professor of Digital Culture & Society, at King’s College; Synthetic Ecologies Lab led by Yasaman Sheri, Creative Director and Designer. Although emerging from Serpentine, the R&D Platform is a constantly growing community of individuals and organisations without whom it would not be a reality.

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fuTure arT ecoSySTemS

Future Art Ecosystems (FAE) emerged from a need to inform organisational development in the arts, with a specific focus on ecosystem design for art and advanced technologies (AxAT). While there is a rich discursive space that revolves around art’s critical interventions into contemporary technologies such as AI, blockchain and immersive technologies and their mainstream narratives, a dedicated focus on operational and infrastructural conditions for supporting and developing AxAT has been largely lacking. Since 2019, FAE has brought together and platformed the voices of leading artists, technologists, cultural organisations and civic actors, whose efforts are directed towards building new systems that can drive both organisational and creative innovation.

annual STraTegic Briefing

Arts Technologies’ annual publication, Future Art Ecosystems (FAE), focuses on the implications of different technologies for art and cultural organisations. FAE briefings identify the dynamics and opportunities within emerging technology spaces and offer a roadmap for building 21st-century public cultural infrastructure. Past publications have accurately predicted a variety of phenomena that now dominate the art and technology landscape, from the changing role of art patronage with the expansion of the tech sector to emergence of a new artist-led technological and commercial practice (FAE1), and the use of the art space as a test case for new technology-driven economic and governance models (FAE3).

fuTure arT ecoSySTemS 4: arT x puBlic ai

In March 2024, Serpentine Arts Technologies released the fourth volume of the annual strategic briefing, Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI (FAE4). The publication focused on the emerging landscape of AI technologies as they impact the creative economy and society at large. With insights from leading voices in art, tech industry and government policy, this publication maps the risks and opportunities in building and integrating various elements of AI systems within the cultural domain. The publication also offers conceptual tools for practitioners and organisations to navigate this technological landscape and to develop pragmatic approaches to creative and organisational strategies. In 2024/25, the FAE team focused on advocacy while building on FAE4’s recommendations and the ongoing research of the Creative AI Lab to develop a prototype R&D project that was embedded within the 2024/25 Arts Technologies exhibition, The Call by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. This project was called the Choral Data ‘Trust’ Experiment .

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The Call , Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst with sub, Serpentine, 2024. © Leon Chew.

choral ai daTa ‘TruST’ experimenT

In June 2024, 15 UK choirs participated in The Call, recording performances from a songbook composed by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst to create a choral dataset for AI training. This dataset was used to train AI models featured in the artists' exhibition at the Serpentine from Autumn 2024 to Winter 2025.

With both the dataset and models now available, they have the potential to serve additional purposes and benefit a broader range of users. The Chora AI Data ‘Trust’ Experiment involved establishing a trusted data intermediary - a novel structure to foster a more balanced negotiation of interests between training data stakeholders, model developers and users who wish to build upon the models and their outputs.

pioneering a TruSTed daTa inTermediary for ai model Training in The culTural SecTor

Through a hands-on experiment, Future Art Ecosystems established the first trusted data intermediary within a cultural organisation. Serpentine Arts Technologies collaborated with artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, partnering with the Centre for Data Futures at King's College London, RadicalxChange, AWO and Keystone Law to create a legal and governance framework that enables responsible data stewardship for AI training. This pioneering work has yielded valuable insights into developing collective governance for training data, particularly regarding participatory decision-making challenges and legal constraints.

The findings fall into two key categories:
Best practices for AI training dataset development, including the appointment of a Data Steward to facilitate participatory governance for both The Call project and future AI development.
Leveraging data rights, intellectual property frameworks, and intermediating entities as tools for collective empowerment within the AI ecosystem.

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The uK choral ai daTaSeT

The UK Choral AI Dataset is an audio dataset curated and produced by the Serpentine Arts Technologies team as part of The Call commission by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. The dataset was created to train and fine tune generative audio models for the exhibition as well as other potential downstream usage outside the project. The data collection methods were designed to create a unique and rich dataset which may be useful for a wide range of audio tasks. The dataset:

Contains 483 recordings of performances of vocal exercises and compositions devised by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst
Is licensed for ML research and development and is GDPR compliant
Represents choral outputs of 15 UK-based choirs
Includes the stereo mixes from the different
microphone sources, a main mix and the isolated mono recordings from each microphone

• Is available in three segments: Complete WAV, Complete Ogg and Preview Ogg

Can be requested on Hugging Face – a platform where the AI community collaborates on AI models, datasets and applications

choral daTa 'TruST' experimenT WhiTe paper

In February 2025, the Choral Data 'Trust' Experiment White Paper: Prototyping a GLAM Trusted Data Intermediary for Public Interest AI written by Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategic Lead and Jennifer Ding, Co-director, Boundary Object Studio was published, presenting the findings from the project. This research was also presented at:

New Solidarity for an AI-Disrupted Economy , organised by Global Solutions Initiative, the Sciences Po Technology and Global Affairs Innovation Hub, and the RadicalxChange Foundation.
Centre for Data Futures Summit, King’s College London
Developing Data Trusts in Practice: A Data Trusts Stakeholder Event, 21 May 2024, RIBA
AI Fringe 2025: Supporting creative futures in arts, culture and AI , 11 Feb 2025. London. Alongside the AI Action Summit in Paris hosted at the British Library Knowledge Centre
NeurIPS 2024: Workshop: Generative AI and Creativity: A dialogue between machine learning researchers and creative professionals
AI Impact Alliance: Art-Laws 2025 Exhibit & Insights: AI Meets Art and Creativism

ai arT Beyond The gallery: exploring The capaciTy of culTural inSTiTuTionS To impacT Tech policy: Braid felloWShip WiTh King’S college london

Dr Mercedes Bunz, Professor of Digital Culture & Society, and co-founder of Serpentine’s Creative AI Lab was awarded a BRAID Fellowship by an AHRC funded programme dedicated to integrating Arts and Humanities research into the Responsible AI ecosystem, as well as bridging the divides between academic, industry, policy and regulatory work on responsible AI. The project investigates how a cultural institution's experimentation with AI can inform public policy. It looks at how artistic AI research can be shared beyond the gallery to influence government policies and lead to a broader and more humane understanding of AI. The project was instrumental in initiating a dialogue with policymakers and civic initiatives, specifically relating to the Choral Data ‘Trust’ Experiment.

London Data Week 2024

The white paper is publicly available on Zenodo , an online platform for open science. As of 31 March 2025, the white paper has been downloaded 1396 times.

Serpentine was able to submit a response to the UK Government’s Copyright and AI Consultation and was invited to submit to a further consultation on Data Intermediaries through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

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evenTS

puBlic ai: a vieW from culTure’S ‘Boring revoluTion’

Warsaw, Poland

17 October 2024

A public presentation on Future Art Ecosystems 4 by Victoria Ivanova (Arts Technologies), was delivered as part of an evening exploring the impacts of AI, hosted by the Open Future Foundation, a think tank with a mission to reimagine and reframe openness by addressing powerrelated issues and the imbalances they can create.

Audience:

arT x ai: collecTive inTelligence, collecTive governance

Science Gallery 24 October 2024

Can we imagine a fair AI, and if so what parts need reimagining? Can collective governance be a way to build more supportive structures for AI projects? Current concerns about AI and creativity often revolve around training data, which is scraped and extracted from the internet to train AI models. This may empower developers but often overwrites the interests of data creators. However, data grows in value when joined and combined. Likewise, the power of voice grows in an ensemble. The Serpentine exhibition, The Call, by artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst in collaboration with 15 choirs from across the UK explored the parallels between collective voice and collective data, in this case the choir recordings. This event presented and introduced the Choral Data ‘Trust’ Experiment run with the choirs. In discussion with Serpentine’s curators, the artists, and the data intermediary, the event explored how the making of the exhibition envisioned protocols and materials for the creation of AI models differently.

Panel speakers included Jennifer Ding, Co-director, Boundary Object Studio; Mat Dryhurst, artist; Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategic Lead; Eva Jäger, Curator, Arts Technologies & Creative AI Lead; Aidan Peppin, Policy & Responsible AI Lead, Cohere for AI Research Lab and Mercedes Bunz, Professor of Digital Culture and Society, King’s College London.

from Theory To pracTice: Building TomorroW'S daTa infraSTrucTure for puBlic ai

14 January 2025

As part of The Call , a project with artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, at Serpentine North, the institution’s research arm, Future Art Ecosystems , hosted a data governance experiment and developed a Trusted Data Intermediary framework, which is being put into practice. Designing for responsible data stewardship that serves cutting-edge AI development and diverse societal needs is one of the most urgent problems of our moment. How can we expand data governance beyond ‘opting in’ and ‘opting out’ of AI training? What legal mechanisms can help us achieve a fairer but more streamlined data infrastructure for AI development? What practical steps can organisations take to become ‘trusted data intermediaries’, in culture and beyond?

Panel speakers included Alasdair Taylor, Keystone Law; Alex Lawrence-Archer, AWO Agency; Cullen Miller, Spawning; Jack Hardinges, Data Empowerment Fund; Jennifer Ding, Data Steward, Choral AI Dataset and Victoria Ivanova, Serpentine Arts Technologies.

Audience:

100

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Photo credit: Lewis Rhodes & © Photo: readsreads.info

reSearch phaSe for fuTure arT ecoSySTemS 5: arT x creaTive r&d

With the growth of the art and technology ecosystem over the course of the last decade, ‘creative R&D’ has been gaining traction as a self-standing area of artistic and institutional activity. The fifth volume of Future Art Ecosystems 5: Art x Creative R&D (FAE5), planned for release in May 2025, maps out this evolving space and makes recommendations as to how the cultural sector, creative industries, civic technology and policy contribute to its development. FAE5 explores the impacts and public value that R&D can have as a major aspect of cultural production by demonstrating the R&D potential of artistic production processes as a vital space of societal experimentation with advanced technologies. Over the course of 2024/25, the FAE team undertook 35 interviews and three roundtables focused on policy, industry and R&D production in order to develop insights and strategies for the sector and beyond.

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Spawn pictured on top of the piano. Left to right: Roman Ole, Evelyn Saylor, Jules LaPlace, Holly Herndon, Josa Peit, Mathew Dryhurst and Albertine Sarges. Phot: Boris Camaca, 2019.

communiTy developmenT

r&d plaTform neWSleTTer

Ongoing

The R&D Platform newsletter is dedicated to communicating the Arts Technologies programme, sharing relevant information and opportunities from the wider sector as well as growing the Future Art Ecosystems community. In 2024/25, subscribers grew by 10%.

fuTure arT ecoSySTemS

Quarterly Community Call

Ongoing

Quarterly community calls take place online and offer an opportunity for the Arts Technologies team and our wider network to share work-in-progress and to receive feedback from the international art and technology community.

arTS TechnologieS TWiTch channel

Ongoing

The Arts Technologies Twitch channel, launched in July 2021, hosts live, interactive conversations and projects with artists, thinkers, collaborators and co-conspirators from our R&D Labs, Arts Technologies network and a growing audience.

docToral reSearch collaBoraTionS

Ongoing

The Arts Technologies programme at Serpentine supports and facilitates both practice-based and academic doctoral research projects in collaboration with leading research centres and universities. In 2024/25, two PhDs were awarded to research undertaken at Serpentine:

Alasdair Milne, PhD in Digital Humanities: Engineering a concept of collaboration for machine learning art practice, awarded by King’s College London
Victoria Ivanova, PhD in Creative Technologies: Infrastructural Praxis: A New Model for Art & Technology Curation and Organisational Innovation, awarded by London South Bank University

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Beyond culTureS of oWnerShip

Beyond Cultures of Ownership is an everevolving R&D project and global community of artists, researchers, activists, technologists and policymakers exploring the role of art and culture in reconfiguring ownership. It is part of an ongoing collaboration between Serpentine Arts Technologies and RadicalxChange, dedicated to nurturing a space where art and culture meet civic activism and techno-social experimentation. Growing from the research and findings of Future Art Ecosystems 3: Art x Decentralised Tech (2022), which investigated the possibilities of developing new ownership and distribution models by leveraging blockchain technologies, Beyond Cultures of Ownership has led to the development of the following projects.

parTial common oWnerShip (pco)

A flagship R&D project, PCO is a new stewardship system for art developed by Serpentine Arts Technologies and RadicalxChange. Its aim is to allow artists, communities and holders of art to create structures of shared ownership and value distribution. In 2024/25, activity included:

releaSe of faircloudS BeTa

Fairclouds , a prototype PCO project developed in collaboration with the Aerocene Foundation, founded by artist Tomás Saraceno. Initiated as part of the exhibition Tomás Saraceno: Web(s) of Life in 2023 at Serpentine, Fairclouds is a collective, intergenerational artwork made with and for the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc. Over 750 crowd sourced drawings imaged on cloudscapes have been contributed as part of Saraceno's exhibitions at Serpentine, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in LA and Red Brick Art Museum in Beijing, as well as online via a dedicated repository. The PCO stewardship system is integrated into the artwork as a mechanism for raising funds to support the Indigenous Communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc in Jujuy, Argentina as they fight to preserve their environmental and cultural ecosystems in the face of lithium extraction.

releaSe of pco proof-of-concepT

October 2024

Serpentine Arts Technologies has developed an online tool that enables diverse communities to learn about PCO and experiment with how it functions. This educational proof-of-concept tool serves as a foundation for further PCO collaborations with artists CROSSLYCID and Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, as well as Refraction DAO, Artdao collective and curator Alice Scope.

STeWardShip ToolS

Stewardship Tools is a collaboration between Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, Serpentine and RadicalxChange. It is a series of stories about responsible distribution to inspire innovation guides created in dialogue with the release of the Partial Common Ownership (PCO) proof-of-concept.

evenTS

pco TalK & WorKShop fWB feST

Idyllwild, California

1 August 2024

Since 2022, FWB FEST has provided the backdrop for creatives and technologists to converge for a weekend that’s equal part emerging tech conference and music festival. Serpentine Arts Technologies’ presentation of PCO was part of a select line-up of talks and workshops. Speakers: Victoria Ivanova and Kay Watson, Arts Technologies and Matt Prewitt, RadicalxChange.

Audience:

pco preSenTaTion dWeB camp

Camp Navarro, California 18 August 2024

The goal of DWeb Camp is to create a collaborative space for people to connect, learn, share and have fun as the community works towards building a better, decentralised web. Serpentine Arts Technologies presented PCO as a critical contribution to nurturing infrastructure based on the principles of trust, human agency, mutual respect and ecological awareness. Speakers: Tommie Introna, Arts Technologies, Barry Threw, Gray Area, Matt Prewitt, RadicalxChange.

Audience:

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creaTive ai laB

Creative AI Lab is a collaboration between the Serpentine R&D Platform and the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. From artistic practice, new approaches to technical and narrative aspects of machine learning/ artificial intelligence (AI/ML) emerge, continuing a lineage of artistic endeavours building/ critiquing computational systems both as tools for communication and analysis. Since 2019, the Creative AI Lab has been a space for longterm research into artistic practices (and their attendant collaborators) working with AI/ML. By focusing on the ‘back-end’ environment of artistic production, the Lab uses artistic practice and prototyping to speculate on the systemic impacts of emerging tools, systems and infrastructures both within the arts and humanities but also, importantly, in terms of wider public interest.

The Lab is run by:

Professor Mercedes Bunz - Department of Digital Humanities, KCL

• Dr Daniel Chávez Heras - Department of Digital Humanities, KCL

Eva Jäger - Arts Technologies, Serpentine

• Dr Serena Iervolino - Culture, Media and Creative Industries, KCL

• Alasdair Milne - LAHP PhD Researcher, Department of Digital Humanities, KCL

Professor Joanna Zylinska - Department of Digital Humanities, KCL

Activity in 2024/25 included:

releaSe of The puBlicaTion: under The cloud: infraSTrucTural field reSearch in SouThWeST china

In 2024/25, Serpentine released the publication: Under the Cloud: Infrastructural Field Research in Southwest China . This stemmed from a trip by a group of artists, curators, media theorists and anthropologists to Guizhou in May 2023. The province is one of the eight national ‘big data hubs’ under the ‘Data in the East, Computing in the West’ programme - the Chinese strategic approach to data that aims to leverage the distinct advantages of each region toward technological growth. The group, led by curator Iris Long and artist HE Zike, visited key sites of computational infrastructure (the hardware, software, and networking components that collectively enable computers to run and process data) that have emerged in Guizhou province over the last decade.

These explorations investigated the real-world implications of techno-industrial policy that increasingly aims to optimise data and computing capabilities to adopt artificial intelligence. For Iris and Zike, the goal is to develop and test a fieldwork methodology for artists within infrastructural studies - a discipline that draws from technology, ethnography and environmental studies. The week-long trip, documented in a new publication (in English and Chinese) published by Serpentine Arts Technologies in 2024/25 that shared details from the trip including this fieldwork and written reflections by the participants.

Participants were Cao Fei, Liu Chuang, Kevin Ziyu Liu, Payne Zhu, Shi Qing, Wang Hongzhe, Xu Haomin, Yu Weiying, Zhou Tao, Zhao Xiaoxiao, Eva Jäger, Xu Chuan, Tim Zuo and Gary Zhexi Zhang.

BlocKchain laB arTS TechnologieS Since 2017, Blockchain Lab has supported commiSSioning

Since 2017, Blockchain Lab has supported network development between visionary artists, cultural workers, blockchain entrepreneurs, as well as local initiatives, communities, institutions and businesses to foster new translocal and transnational systems and an ethos of global cooperation within the arts.

Serpentine’s artist-led Arts Technologies programme develops contemporary artworks with artists that focus our attention on emerging technologies as a medium, tool or topic that can operate beyond the gallery walls through which the Arts Technologies team supports advanced production, development, distribution and engagement. Each commission aims to expand how we understand the effect of technologies on artistic and cultural practice today while having broader societal impact; forging connections with industry, academic, policy and civic technology organisations to deepen the impact of art and technology practices.

The first series of events ran in 2017/18 in collaboration with the Goethe Institut London, with international artists, engineers, crypto-economists, musicians, technologists and theorists joining forces to understand how blockchain technologies could enable a critical, sustainable and empowered culture. This was followed in 2019 by the Blockchain and Art Knowledge Sharing Summit UK in collaboration with Digital Catapult , which examined the cultural sector opportunities available for working with blockchain technologies. 2022 saw the conclusion of a five-year research project, led by Ruth Catlow and Penny Rafferty, with the publication of Radical Friends: Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Arts , in partnership with the Goethe Institut.

In 2024/25, the Blockchain Lab advanced the next phase of its work, currently focused on R&D for a prototype project. This initiative will develop the protocols to regenerate city art ecosystems by creating new pathways for exchanging value both translocally and within local communities, with production planned for 2025/26 and public outputs in 2026/27. The project is led by Blockchain Lab Co-Principal Investigators Ruth Catlow and Penny Rafferty. Its mission is to establish processes, expertise and translocal exchange that enable art patrons and institutions to direct resources into the hands of cultural communities in evolving global cities, thereby centring local cultures, urgencies and social practices, whilst building new translocal exchange systems.

With the development of Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s project, Serpentine Arts Technologies led on many aspects of the project including:

The UK Choral AI Dataset Tour: developing a recording protocol and travelling the UK to record 15 choirs who became the basis of the UK Choral AI Dataset which ensured that each choir had a voice in how their data is used in the long-term.
The Choral Data 'Trust' Experiment White Paper shared learnings with other fields including policy and data governance.
All Media is Training Data, a publication that shared knowledge from 10 years of Herndon and Dryhurst’s practice while contextualising this practice in terms of the impact of creative R&D and art and technology beyond the cultural field.

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Serpentine Pavilion Family Day 2024. Photo: Harry Richards

Welcoming a Broad & diverSe puBlic

In 2024/25, Serpentine welcomed 886,507 physical visitors representing an increase of 31% vs 2023/24, driven by strong attendance across exhibitions, the Pavilion and public art. Digital users reached 817,122, an increase of 7.6% vs 2023/24, due to increased engagement on Instagram, TikTok and free-ticketing increasing sign ups to our newsletter.

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Photo: Andy Stagg 2023.

phySical viSiTorS

A total of 886,507 people experienced Serpentine’s programme of exhibitions, the Pavilion and public art programme in 2024/25, exceeding our target of 718,163 and reaching +123% of our goal for the year.

Our summer exhibitions saw particularly strong attendance, outperforming the previous year. Yinka Shonibare’s Suspended States attracted 37.8% more average daily visitors than Tomás Saraceno’s 2023 exhibition. Judy Chicago’s Revelations attracted 40.7% more average daily visitors than Gabriel Massans’ 2023 exhibition. The Serpentine Pavilion 2024 by Minsuk Cho, also saw a notable rise in attendance, a 46.4% increase in average daily visitors compared to the 2023 Pavilion. New marketing strategies, such as targeting local boroughs and investing in influencers, as well as audience first initiatives such as special late exhibition openings in partnership with media partners or family days, have significantly helped to attract new and broader audiences. We also saw a high rate of return visits, with many guests returning within a 12-month period, demonstrating the enduring appeal and impact of our programme.

Serpentine also diversified who came to the exhibitions, welcoming more families, young people and global majority audiences. The family audience expanded considerably this year, with 17.5% of gallery visitors attending with children. This was supported by a combination of targeted efforts, including collaborations with family influencers, focused digital advertising, and leaflet distribution in local neighbourhood venues. Dedicated family-friendly programming and resources, such as printed and digital family guides and a Pavilion Family Day, were key drivers of this engagement. We also welcomed a diverse audience, with 19.3% of our visitors from overseas, with summer and Frieze Week remaining key moments that attract international tourists to our park-based location.

Onsite we saw strong engagement from our visitors on Bloomberg Connects. From July to October, we recorded 1,741 guide starts and significant foreignlanguage engagement. In August, Serpentine ranked among the top 20 performing institutions on Bloomberg Connects globally.

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Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

digiTal uSerS

Our digital audience maintained a steady 7.6% growth compared to the previous year. We saw a meaningful increase in engaged followers driven by Instagram, TikTok, and newsletter subscription growth.

Our social media strategy centres on human-led storytelling, informal formats, and thought-provoking content, with a particular focus on reaching Gen Z and Millennial audiences across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. On Instagram, by focusing on quality over quantity of posts, we achieved a 27% increase in account engagements, an 6.5% increase in followers, and a 14% increase in the engagement rate.

Visitors to our website have also increased by 17% compared to last year, driven by the Summer 2024 marketing campaign which resulted in a 13% increase in people searching for Serpentine Gallery on Google, and a 26% increase in engagement on our Meta advertising.

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preSS coverage

Yinka Shonibare CBE

Suspended States stands as one of Serpentine’s most successful PR campaigns to date, generating 511 pieces of coverage across national, broadcast, cultural and specialist media with an equivalent in publicity of £1.4m (Cision). With broadcast a strategic priority for the exhibition given the high-profile nature of the artist and the resonant themes explored within the exhibition, key highlights included interviews with the artist with BBC Radio 4: Front Row , Sky News , Channel 4 News and BBC Radio London Robert Elms. The exhibition received widespread critical acclaim, including a five-star review in The Guardian and four-star reviews in The Evening Standard , The i Newspaper and The Times . Additional features and profile pieces on the artist appeared in Esquire , World of Interiors , Financial Times , Time Out and Harper’s Bazaar UK and Italy, spanning photo stories, reviews, interviews and in-depth features. The peak in coverage was around the opening in April.

Judy Chicago

May marked the launch of Judy Chicago’s exhibition, Revelations , alongside the publication of her corresponding illuminated eponymous manuscript. The resulting PR campaign generated significant and extensive interest, securing excellent coverage across a wide spectrum of media - from culture and lifestyle to the arts and social pages with an equivalent in publicity of £2.7m (Cision). The exhibition earned four-star reviews from The Telegraph , The Observer and Time Out , while exclusive in-depth interviews were secured in key national outlets The Observer , BBC Radio 4: This Cultural Life , The I and The Evening Standard and extensive coverage in the The New York Times . Judy Chicago was featured on three special covers in the Evening Standard with a unique artwork, Flash Art and Middle Plane with dedicated photoshoots. Other media explored in the campaign included The Art Newspaper podcast. The special panel discussion and private view event hosted in August 2024 in the exhibition generated more significant visibility in The Art Newspaper . The peak in coverage was around the opening in May and in the summer due to international exhibitions by the artist (France).

Serpentine Pavilion 2024

Serpentine Pavilion 2024 architect, Minsuk Cho, was officially announced to the media in January 2024 following an exclusive interview with the Guardian’s architecture and design correspondent, Oliver Wainwright. The announcement generated widespread global interest, particularly across the arts, architecture and design media - including key Korean media with an equivalent in publicity of £1.2m (Cision). The campaign created significant momentum ahead of the Pavilion’s unveiling in June 2024. Coverage highlights included in-depth features in The Guardian , Daily Telegraph , Financial Times , The Architects’ Journal , RIBA Journal , Dezeen , Elle Decor and Monocle alongside prominent stories in key lifestyle, culture, arts, design and architecture publications. Korean publications such as the Korean Herald , Elle Korea , the Chosun Daily and Seoul Daily News among others also spotlighted the story. Internationally, the Pavilion featured in Tatler Hong Kong , Arkitepo , DOMUS and Esquire Japan , with interest further amplified by a series of high-profile interviews by Minsuk Cho throughout the Pavilion run around the world. Media coverage peaked in distinct phases: initially in January 2024 with the announcement of the architect, followed by a surge during the opening week in June, and again later that month around the Serpentine Summer Party.

The Summer Party 2024

The Pavilion hosted Serpentine’s annual fundraiser, the Summer Party , a highly successful event that attracted Editors-in-Chief and secured media coverage across lifestyle, arts, music, entertainment, business, and technology press. Coverage spotlighted the evening’s immersive activations, the unique setting, and the notable guests in attendance. Highlights included the arrivals and the step-and-repeat, Judy Chicago’s interactive photo moments with guests, and other engaging elements that offered compelling stories for a broad range of publications.

Gerhard Richter

With 275 pieces of coverage secured across the installation run, the unveiling of STRIP-TOWER successfully amplified the broader themes of Serpentine’s commitment to public art with an equivalent in publicity of £94k (Cision). By strategically targeting listings, ‘the legacy of public art at Serpentine’, picture-led stories and ‘last chance to see’ opportunities while building on the momentum of Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin in summer 2024, the campaign reached a wide and diverse audience. Features in Artnet , Wallpaper* , The Daily Telegraph and the Architect's Newspaper demonstrated a strong media appetite for the story across a range of high-profile media titles. Peaks happened around the unveiling of the sculpture in April and across the summer to coincide with Yayoi Kusama’s sculpture unveiling and as part of the public art at Serpentine narrative.

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Yayoi Kusama

Summer 2024 marked the unveiling of Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin sculpture beside the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens. Driven by Kusama’s public appeal, the accompanying public art PR campaign was a major success, generating 338 pieces of media coverage with an equivalent in publicity of £192k (Cision). One of Serpentine’s strongest campaigns for national picture story placements and references to the history of the gallery with an exhibition presented in 2000, it saw creative strategies result in features across key national outlets including The Evening Standard , Financial Times , The Times , The Guardian and The i . The campaign also secured prominent broadcast coverage via Associated Press and London Live alongside strong pick up across key cultural, London, family and lifestyle media.

Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst

In October, Serpentine launched the first solo exhibition by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, presenting their vision for collaborative artmaking in the age of AI. The resulting media coverage became one of Serpentine’s most successful campaigns, continuing to shape the narrative around the intersection of technology and art. Throughout the exhibition campaign, there were 288 mentions (Cision), spanning print, online, social media and broadcast platforms with an equivalent in publicity of around £891k. Both ArtReview and AnOther Magazine featured special front covers dedicated to the artists, extending the exhibition’s reach and significance. ArtReview conducted a traditional photoshoot, while AnOther Magazine commissioned a specially designed cover, personally supervised by Holly Herndon. In November 2024, Serpentine partnered with AnOther and the Dazed group to stage a special private view event honouring the artists.

Other major highlights included multiple interviews with The Art Newspaper , a special edition distributed at Frieze London and Frieze Masters, a live conversation with Mat Dryhurst on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and a review in The New York Times .

Further coverage appeared across leading art, lifestyle, science, technology, London and music outlets, including Artforum , Artnet , Condé Nast Traveller , Time Out , HUBE , New Scientist , Wallpaper* and Forbes - demonstrating a strong editorial and audience appetite for experimental art. The campaign peaked during the exhibition opening in October 2024, with additional spikes tied to the 2024 Programme Announcement in October 2023 and the early year 'look ahead' listings with significant press at the time in The New Yorker and the New York Times podcast.

Lauren Halsey

On 11 October, coinciding with Frieze Week, emajentdat by Lauren Halsey opened at Serpentine North. Interest in the exhibition began well in advance, with The Art Newspaper featuring it as early as October 2023 in an article spotlighting American artists in Serpentine’s upcoming programme. The exhibition generated strong media attention, resulting in a total of 248 significant mentions of coverage and an estimated publicity value of £834k (Cision).

Although Lauren Halsey had limited availability for interviews, she was prominently profiled in British Vogue , The Observer and Women’s Wear Daily - serving as highimpact previews of the show. Arts and culture outlets gave the show extensive visibility, including Art Monthly , Art Basel , Artdaily , Artnet , Artsy , Cultured and Galerie magazine. Additional notable coverage appeared in The Financial Times ahead of Frieze Week, The Times , which featured the exhibition in its picture slot and the Evening Standard gave the exhibition four stars in its review by Nancy Durrant.

The show also attracted strong attention from lifestyle media, with features in Glass , Juxtapoz , W Magazine , Wonderland , Wallpaper* and others around the UK and European art seasons. Media coverage peaked around the opening and again toward the exhibition’s close in March 2025, with strong visibility in ‘last chance to see’ listings.

Lenio Kaklea

In October, Serpentine presented a captivating performance by dancer and choreographer Lenio Kaklea, delivered in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells. A joint press release announced the project, generating strong interest across dance and cultural media, notably achieving interview and preview coverage in Dance Art Journal , HUBE magazine, FAD and several other cultural and dance specialist titles.

Support Structures for Support Structures

The announcement of the awardees of the Support Structures for Support Structures programme was made in December 2024 and generated significant news stories including coverage in Artdaily and in FAD magazine, raising awareness on the artists and the grant.

Announcement of our programme

In November 2024, as the year drew to a close, Serpentine unveiled its annual programme, outlining upcoming exhibitions and events. The announcement was featured in Ocula - with particular attention to the Giuseppe Penone exhibition - as well as in The Daily Telegraph , Galerie Magazine , Artdaily , FloLondon , FAD , HUBE magazine and other outlets.

The positioning of the exhibition fell under the umbrella of Serpentine’s announcement of being the ‘Year of AI’ which was initiated earlier in the year with information about Future Art Ecosystems Report, Refik Anadol’s exhibition and other technology-focused events. This strategy garnered key interviews, mentions and features across the year focused on the intersections of arts and technologies including with ARTNews , Forbes , The Art Newspaper , Ocula , and ArtReview among others.

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developing diverSe, highperforming & engaged TeamS

At Serpentine, we aim to be an employer of choice for our current and future talent. This means creating an inclusive and safe environment where employee voices are valued, behaviours are aligned, and everyone has a clear understanding of our shared goals and their individual contributions.

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Arpita Singh, Remembering , Serpentine North © Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy Arpita Singh and Serpentine.

aTTracTing and reTaining TalenT

We recognise having a diverse, inclusive team with a variety of different perspectives and experiences will enhance Serpentine’s strategic aims. Our recruitment and retention strategies are designed to attract top talent from diverse backgrounds and foster an inclusive and supportive work environment to retain them. We pay particular focus to organising regular events to encourage social cohesion and knowledge-sharing.

recogniSing our employeeS fairly

Serpentine remains an accredited Living Wage Employer. This commitment applies to directly employed staff as well as contractors providing services to Serpentine. We regularly benchmark employee salaries and benefits to remain competitive in the talent market.

our commiTmenT To incluSiviTy

Our commitment to becoming a more inclusive art institution and employer means developing a culture in which our people feel safe and can flourish, producing a vibrant programme that attracts diverse audiences and by supporting a range of emerging and established artists.

We are committed to deepening our awareness and understanding of inclusivity and ensuring it is at the heart of everything we do. This is an ongoing journey, and we acknowledge that there is always more that can be done.

We continue to drive forward our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work alongside our EDI group. This work includes:

Fostering a regular drumbeat of internal communications, training and celebration events
Ensuring inclusivity is at the forefront of our thinking when reviewing or introducing any new process, policy or event. This includes all people processes such as recruitment.
Creating development pathways such as apprenticeships for employees who have not travelled through conventional educational or gallery networks.

This year, we paid particular focus on setting up an Accessibility group to ensure we are accessible to our audiences and employees. We set up our Parents and Carers network to ensure our family policies and processes are not only fit-for-purpose but sector-leading. We also placed a strong emphasis on preventing sexual harassment, reinforcing our commitment to maintaining Serpentine as a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.

We continue to hold regular Listening Circle meetings, which provide a confidential, safe space for individuals of all backgrounds to discuss their experiences or concerns and to engage in open conversations about the issues that matter to them.

As of 31 March 2025, our workforce is 71% women, 32% Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse, 13% LGBTQ and 9% individuals with disabilities. Our team brings together a diverse mix of backgrounds, spanning both artistic and non-artistic fields.

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Esther Mahlangu, Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu , 2024. Serpentine North Garden, 4 October 2024 – 28 September 2025. Courtesy Serpentine and The Melrose Gallery. Photo: George Darrell.

fuTure planS

In three years, Serpentine will have:

Our mission for 2024/25 is to build new connections between artists and society, leveraging technology and to inspire local communities and ecological awareness.

Deepened our local roots and expanded our global reach, chiefly through technology
Cemented our place as an artist-led, digital-first, global brand, with a full user experience of art, appealing to a full spectrum of visitors online and within our spaces
Led a digital transformation and become known as a global leader in arts technologies, creating new models for exhibitions, funding, distribution and audience engagement
Delivered an ambitious and world-class programme, highlighting ecology, community and technology and emerging and under-recognised artists
Progressed our plans towards a net-zero emissions target, thanks to our sustainable practices
Fostered an inclusive and collaborative working culture, to better reflect the diversity of our home city
Tested new entrepreneurial income models, securing multi-year income streams

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Our world-class arts programme, digital touchpoints and experiences will speak to the following strategic programming pillars:

Dynamic memory

Shaping a more just, diverse and polyphonic art history - for example, with solo shows by artists who have been working for decades but have not always received the exhibitions they deserve.

Support for emerging artists

Giving emerging artists major opportunities: their first museum shows in Europe, through the Pavilion and/or the Park Nights experimental programme.

New experiments in art and technology

Commissioning works rooted in and reliant upon emerging technologies.

Civic engagement

Commissioning artists to address urgent issues like ecology and community - with public art and the annual Pavilion, going beyond gallery walls allowing people to encounter our art in unexpected ways and places.

Convenings

Fostering new alliances and producing reality through collaboration.

New blockbuster user experiences

Both physical and virtual experiences that go beyond the gallery space.

exhiBiTionS for 2025/26

In 2026, Serpentine will mark a quarter century since the launch of our ambitious annual Pavilion commission, which began with Dame Zaha Hadid’s inaugural structure in Hyde Park in 2000. To commemorate this milestone, Serpentine will present major solo exhibitions by artists across generations who are pushing the boundaries of media in response to today’s landscape of technological innovation, civic discourse and environmental challenges.

Arpita Singh Remembering Serpentine North

20 March – 27 July 2025

The first solo institutional exhibition of Arpita Singh outside India continues in 2025, featuring key works selected in close collaboration with the artist from her prolific career spanning more than six decades.

Giuseppe Penone Thoughts in the Roots Kensington Gardens & Serpentine South Gallery

3 April – 7 September 2025

Opening in April 2025, Serpentine South will present a solo exhibition by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947 Garessio, Italy). This will be the most comprehensive survey of his practice in a major London institution, featuring sculptures and works on paper from 1977 to today.

Play Pavilion Commission Serpentine and the LEGO[®] Group Sir Peter Cook

Serpentine South

11 June – 10 August 2025

Serpentine and the LEGO® Group announced the Play Pavilion , a new vibrant, interactive play commission that will be situated alongside Serpentine South in London’s Kensington Gardens. The public art project will be designed by British architect Peter Cook and showcase the power of play, with an unveiling on World Play Day on 11th June.

Incorporating LEGO® Bricks into the design, the Play Pavilion will be an immersive environment where visitors can explore the creative power of play in three dimensions. By partnering with the LEGO® Group, the Play Pavilion will extend a shared mission of building connections around play, beyond Serpentine’s gallery walls and into the park itself.

The Play Pavilion continues a new series of programmes presented by Serpentine, welcoming families, younger audiences and teenagers, that is centred on the idea of engaging with activities for enjoyment and recreation.

Serpentine Pavilion Commission Celebrating 25 years of the Serpentine Pavilion Commission

This pioneering commission, which began in 2000 with Dame Zaha Hadid, has presented the first UK structures by some of the biggest names in international architecture. 2025 will see the unveiling of a new Pavilion and kickstart a programme of events to reflect on the commission, its history and its future.

Peter Doig House of Music

Serpentine South

3 October 2025 – Winter 2026

Serpentine will stage House of Music , a new project by one of today's leading British artists: Peter Doig. The exhibition will mark a return to Serpentine for Doig who first exhibited at the gallery in 1991 in the Barclays Young Artist Award. Presenting Doig's paintings for the first time, the exhibition will highlight the significance of other disciplines to the artist's practice, including music and film, alongside the importance of sites of communal gathering and creative exchange.

Serpentine Arts Technologies Exhibition Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Serpentine North

Autumn 2025 – 2026

In Autumn 2025, Berlin and London-based artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) will present a major new collaborative video game, exhibition and R&D project, commissioned and produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies, at Serpentine North.

Serpentine Pavilion 2025 Marina Tabassum Architects

6 June – 26 October 2025

Celebrated for her work in establishing an architectural language that is both contemporary and deeply connected to a specific place, climate, context, culture and history, Marina Tabassum will bring her distinctive vision to the Serpentine Pavilion 2025. Her design will evoke a meaningful dialogue between the permanent and ephemeral nature of the commission.

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our SupporTerS ThanK you

Trustees of Serpentine

Michael R. Bloomberg Chairman The Hon Felicity Waley-Cohen CBE Co-Vice Chair Barry Townsley CBE Co-Vice Chair Marcus Boyle Treasurer Eugenio López – appointed 08 October 2024 Nicoletta Fiorucci Russo Off. OSI Lady Elena Foster Maja Hoffmann Ruth Mackenzie CBE Megha Mittal Robert Rosenkranz Amanda Sharp OBE Jonathan Wood Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Andrew Cohen – resigned 11 December 2024

International Council of Serpentine

Lady Elena Foster Chair Narmina Marandi and Francis Sultana

Co-Heads of Cultural and Social Affairs Committee The Hon Felicity Waley-Cohen CBE Head of Education Committee Iwan Wirth Head of Exhibitions Committee Nina Fialkow and Kristín Ólafsdóttir Co-Heads of Film Committee Saffron Aldridge Robin and Esha Arora Ms Goga Ashkenazi Sofia Barattieri-Weinstein and Brian Weinstein Erin Bell and Michael Cohen Nicolas Berggruen Mrs Laurence Bet-Mansour Blavatnik Family Foundation Ivor Braka Donatella Campioni Kate and John Carrafiell Tom and Ruth Chapman Priscilla and Louis de Charbonnieres XiaoMeng Cheng Irene and John Danilovich J & M Donnelly Carla du Manoir Griet Dupont Alia El Gazzar James and Jennifer Esposito Mr. Fares Fares and Mrs. Tania Fares Yael and Gary Fegel Idit and Moti Ferder Nina and David Fialkow Nicoletta Fiorucci Russo and Giovanni Russo Ms Silvia Fiorucci Candia Fisher The Lord and Lady Foster of Thames Bank

Futura Seoul – Dahoe Ku

Alys and Jim Garman Sasan and Yassmin Ghandehari Good Produce Ltd. Richard and Odile Grogan Harriet and Fabian Hielte Sue Hostetler-Wrigley Mr Huh Yongsoo Helene and Johannes Huth Alex Ionescu Frédéric Jousset Kirsh Foundation Zeynep Koseoglu Nicolette Kwok Murtaza and Manal Lakhani Andrew Law & Diana Abousleiman Xin Li-Cohen Camilla and John Lindfors Mrs Aarti Lohia Sanda Lwin and Farhad Karim Tony Lyu Narmina and Javad Marandi Svetlana Marich Ioannis and Maya Martinos Samantha McManus Usha and Lakshmi N. Mittal Alexandre and Mahsa Mouradian Anthony and Amie Munk Kate Munk Eugenie Ora Niarchos Batia and Idan Ofer Kristín Ólafsdóttir and Thor Björgólfsson Rosemin and Javed Opgenhaffen Simon Palley Aashi and Kunaal Patawari Mrs. Natasha Poonawalla Hans Rausing Christian Ravina and Robin Woodhead

Patrizia Re Rebaudengo Frances Reynolds Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr Bianca Roden Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, LondonParisSalzburg Mr and Mrs Spas Roussev Karen and Ely Michel Ruimy Almine Ruiz-Picasso Suzan Sabancı Dinçer Mr and Mrs Jean Salata Dr Catherine Schmid Anders and Yukiko Schroeder Faiza Seth Andrée Shore Tatiana Silva Thea Sprecher Kate and John Storey John Studzinski CBE Odeta Stuikys Francis Sultana and David Gill Antigone Theodorou and Stefan Bollinger Madeleine Thomson Laura and Barry Townsley Mrs Aizel Trudel Piril and Igno Van Waesberghe Tamara Varga Robert and Felicity Waley-Cohen CBE Millicent Wilner Manuela and Iwan Wirth Jonathan and Lucy Wood Anita and Poju Zabludowicz

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Programmes supported by

1OF1 AG Sarah Arison

Debra and Glenn August Bagri Foundation Veronica and Lars Bane Hannah Barry MBE

Deborah Beckmann Kotzubei and Jacob Kotzubei Marc and Lynne Benioff Diego Berdakin Bloomberg Philanthropies Kate and John Carrafiell Camalotte Foundation Radhika Chopra Cockayne Grants for the Arts at The London Community Foundation James Cohan Gallery The John S Cohen Foundation Pilar Crespi Robert and Stephen Robert Cristea Roberts Gallery Nancy and Steven Crown Suzanne Deal Booth Cultural Trust Don Quixote Foundation Katherine Farley and Jerry Speyer Fellowship Nina and David Fialkow Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation Ford Foundation Stephen Friedman Gallery Gagosian Goethe-Institut

Goldhirsh Foundation Goodman Gallery Kenneth C. Griffin Agnes Gund Seher and Taimur Hassan

HENI

Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation Yongsoo Huh Kadima Foundation The Korea Foundation Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G Luma Foundation SP Lohia Foundation Mayor of London Maria Lassnig Foundation Melrose Gallery The Meliore Foundation The Milstein family and The Edward Lawrence Milstein Foundation Victoria Miro

Aditya and Megha Mittal Jarl Mohn Angella Nazarian Kristín Ólafsdóttir Gilberto Pozzi Qatar Museums Authority Bob Rennie Ressler-Gertz Family Foundation Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr Thaddaeus Ropac The Rosenkranz Foundation Suzan Sabancı The Samsung Foundation of Culture Tarun and Tarana Sawhney Jordan Schnitzer, The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation Jessica Silverman, San Francisco Reggie and Leigh Smith Sprüth Magers Adam and Jessica Sweidan Terra Foundation for American Art Vadehra Art Gallery Olivia Walton and The Momentary Lars Windhorst

Capital Gifts

Wolfson Foundation

Platinum Corporate Benefactors

AECOM Bloomberg Dior Dorsia Goldman Sachs Louis Vuitton Lugano Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Gold Corporate Benefactors

Google Ruinart Maison Northern Trust

Silver Corporate Benefactors

Edwardian Hotels London Gallowglass Health and Safety The Pictet Group

Bronze Corporate Benefactors

BMW Group DP9 Stage One The Technical Department Whispering Angel Zumtobel

Principal Corporate Members

Bloomberg Citi Foster + Partners Opera Gallery Therme Group

Associate Corporate Members

CBRE London Essence Travers Smith

Serpentine Americas Foundation Board

Susan Danilow Chair Marina Abramović Sarah Arison Debra August Abigail Baratta, Treasurer Lauren Schor Geller Kasseem, Swizz Beatz, Dean* KAWS Bettina Korek, ex officio Robin Saunders Rirkrit Tiravanija Diana Carroll Toole, Secretary Ted Vassilev

*Honorary Member

Serpentine Americas Foundation Supporters

Sarah Arison | Arison Arts Foundation Debra and Glenn August Abigail Baratta Debra Black Jehan and Jeannie Chu Sarah DeBlasio & The DeBlasio Family Foundation The Dinan Family Foundation Shaari Ergas Katherine Farley and Jerry Speyer Martin and Lauren Geller Scott D. Greenberg Mimi Haas Agnes Lew / East West Bank Marx Family Advised Fund at Aspen Community Foundation Angella Nazarian Otis and Elizabeth Chandler Foundation The Steve and Kaayla Roth Foundation Patricia and Douglas Sacks Pamela and R. Douglas Schafler Douglas Schoen Andrea Virgin Barbara and David Zalaznick

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Patrons

Kate Gordon Chair Joy Adams Alka and Ravin Agrawal Nora Alangari Almine Rech Jose Antonio Alcantara Kamel Alzarka Zachery and Deanne Anderson Parita Bagheri Dr Bettina Bahlsen Veronica and Lars Bane Berry Bloomingdale Romanos Elie Brihi

Mr. Adam Brunk and Dr. Madeleine Haddon Burger Collection Aditi Chadha Radhika Chanana

Katherine Chapman Stemberg Quaid Childers Greg and Ania Coffey Niki Cole Coleridge Capital Pilar Corrias Frederic Court Thomas Croft Colleen De Bonis Sophie Diedrichs Valentina Drouin Genevieve Dunn Holland Ugoma Ebilah Maryam Eisler Dr Paul Ettlinger Leonie Fallstrom Kateryna Filippi Sara Fitzmaurice Mr Tim Flynn Katia Francesconi Marc Freeman and Camilla Freeman-Topper Mala Gaonkar Amy Gardner Steve Goldring Richard Grosse Francesca Guagnini Oliver Haarmann Linford Haggie Maxine Hargreaves-Adams Josh and Layla Harris Isabelle Henkell von Ribbentrop Eva Lindholm Ispahani and Iraj Ispahani Mrs Mary Jeffers

Mrs Sonja Koenig David and Karen Korn Vivian Landau Wipf Maged Latif Lyndon and Sophie Lea David and Laura Lewis Simon and Lily Liebel Olena Lutsenko Daniel Macmillian

Cary Martin and Adrienn Almásy-Martin Pramod Mittal Natalia Miyar Manuela Morgano John Mortimer Maiguelle Moulene Natasha Müller Richard Muirhead Paul and Charlotte Munford Opera Gallery London Asli Ozok Maureen Paley Asta Paulauskaite Alexander Platon Bettina Prentice Ahmed Rahman Marc Renard-Payen Luciana Rique Kimberley Robson Francesca Roni Binello Shefali Roy Tarika Sawhney Ajazul Shah Henrietta Shields Nayrouz Tatanaki Adi Tiroche Ms Warly Tomei Emily Tsingou Anastasia Velikovsky Julia Zaouk Mr and Mrs Zorbibe David Zwirner

Future Contemporaries Committee

HRH Princess Eugenie of York Alayo Akinkugbe Alia Al-Senussi Milo Astaire Hannah Barry Evelyn Booth-Clibborn Efe Cakarel Chiara Carboni Laura De Gunzburg Alex Eagle The Hon Paola Foster Jasper Greig Anna Guggenbuehl Landau Joe Kennedy Nicholas Kirkwood Karen Levy Joanna Masiyiwa Alexander Hankin Eugenio Re Rebaudengo Annabelle Scholar Robert Sheffield Hikari Yokoyama

Future Contemporaries Members

Jade Adams Toluwani Adejuyigbe Chard Adio Sara AlRashed Aurore Ankarcrona Hennessey Nur Arvas Mila Askarova Marco Assetto Mrs. Bahamdan Tosca Baharani Josephine May Bailey Adam Baldwin Alastair Balfour Isabel Barrachina Gomez Jonkvrouw Isa Beelaerts van Blokland Anna Nora Berstein Andrew Bezhenar Valeria Biamonti Maribelle Bierens Sabina Bilenko Lucas Bitencourt Julia Bolgova Cassandra Bowes Leonie and Mikael Brantberg Romanos Elie Brihi Žanete Bukarte Alexandra Burston Jonny Burt Manfredi Campioni de Filippo Jez Cartwright Louis Chapple Tahira Chawla Claudia Cheng Rowena Chiu Chen Chowers Nathan Clements-Gillespie Hugo and Charlotte Cobb William Comfort Yoav Dangoor Sherrett Dahlstrom Filipe de Almeida Assis Sophie De Mello Franco Sophie Dickson Margarita Domuschieva Catherine Doronin Carolina Drago Warren Ehgoetz Izly El-Hammouti Angela Enzo Rayan Fayez

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Eduardo Foster Phoebe Forster Natalia Fuller, Galerie Max Hetzler Maria Garmaeva Yasmin Gee Mikel Giordano Jonni Glick Adam Gordon Martell Graf Von Hardenberg Nico Guardans

Lydia Guett Bibi Hamidi Lina Hares

Laura M. Herman Aubrey Higgin S Holt

Elise Huff

Amanda Ibrahim Charles Janeway Millie Jason Foster Javier Jileta Peter Jones Zoe Karafylakis Sperling Simmy Kaur Shakil Karim Minnie Kemp Bella Kesoyan Victoria Kleiner Yulia Kondakova Mimi Koné Zeynep Köksal Dustin Kronsbein Darya Kravchenko Anna Kuchina Cansu Kucuk Philip Kwok Flavia Lascetti Arianna Laufer Charles Du Manoir Jasmine Li Pinyuan Li Sam Lincoln Matilda Liu M-C Llamas Simon Lyall-Cottle Sonia Mak Jean-David Malat JD Malat Gallery Quinn Martinelli Magnus and Maria-Theresia Mathisen Oliver T.R Marques Lena McCroary

Jayne Mckenna Alexandra Meyers Olga Meymand Olivia Mieke-Maria Paulina Martha Abigail Miller Nina Moaddel Francisco Mourao Mu Qing Patrick Oehlschlaeger Charlie Pannell Pietro Pantalani Santa Pastare Jan-Christoph Peters Ryan Poon Polina Proshkina Mr and Mrs Alexander Purcell Rodrigues Christopher Pullen Jacob Rawel Brooke Reese Piotr Rejmer Jonathan Ridgway Niklas Röhling Anastasia Ruimy Phoebe Saatchi Yates Ceyda Sabancı Dinçer Haluk Sabancı Dinçer Valerie Sadoun Kiara Salazar Cabanillas Valery Salazar Salima Sarsenova Sally Eugenia Schwartz Kitty Shenlin Mai Miss Alaira Tirtha Shetty Bianca Shi Skylar Oksana Smirnova Nicolas Sorbac Joseph Spieczny Mithra Stevens Kira Streletzki Jana Suhani Soin Gigi Surel Roxana Sursock Karam Molly Susman Alexandra Tango Fida Tashfia Leopold Thun Milan Tomic Margo Trushina Elina Tsokri Jason Tucker

Dexter Ukaegbu Ceyda Ulaşan Alina Uspenskaya Rachel Verghis Angelina Volk Miss Lucy von Goetz Zeynep Utku Alexa and Marcus Waley-Cohen Pamela Weinstock Tish Weinstock Stella Rae Werther Katy Wickremesinghe Agata Woloszczuk Susan Wu Arthur Yates Maya and Roy Zabludowicz Fabrizio D. Zappaterra

Thank you to all International Council, Patrons and Future Contemporaries and to any supporters who wish to remain anonymous.

And kind assistance from The Royal Parks

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Public Funding by Arts Council England

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financial revieW

overvieW

Over the past year, Serpentine’s financial performance has contributed to our mission to deliver art and ideas for a changing world. Building on our fundraising efforts in the prior year, our income increased further, allowing us to develop our investment in the quality execution of our activities during the year to meet our strategic objectives and engage audiences in a meaningful way. We were able to apply restricted funds brought forward and generously received during the year towards their intended purposes for exhibitions and events. As a result, despite ending the year with an overall deficit, we saw an increase of our unrestricted reserves in line with our reserves policy. In summary, the financial year 2024/25 results have continued to build on Serpentine’s financial and operational resilience and sustainability.

We will continue to monitor the environment in which we operate, to ensure we can anticipate and prepare for any potential shocks that could have a negative impact on our ability to fundraise our operations. We will maintain our fundraising efforts, engaging existing and new supporters through our ever-changing and ambitious programming. Furthermore, we are increasing our investments in the maintenance of our buildings, in order to keep our galleries free for all visitors in such a special location for the years to come.

Summary of performance

Total income has increased to £14.8m, representing a 9% rise compared to the previous year. Total expenditure has increased to £15.6m, up 7% on prior year results. Overall net expenditure is therefore £0.8m, with a surplus of £0.1m accruing to the unrestricted fund.

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principal SourceS of funding

The majority of Serpentine’s income is from donations and sponsorships. These totalled £6.6m in the year to 31 March 2025, compared to £6.3m in the prior year. After a decrease in Arts Council England funding in the prior year, other opportunities were developed in this area to bridge the gap. Trading income arising from fundraising events, gallery hire and sale of limited editions increased to £1.9m from £1.7m in prior year. This increase was due to the year-on-year growth of our main fundraising event, the Summer Party.

Income 2024/25

Donations and Legacies	£6.6M
Grants	£0.7M
Donations & Support	£5.9M
Fundraising Trading Activities	£1.9M
Merchandise	£0.8M
Other Commercial Activities	£1.1M
Income From Charitable Activities	£6.3M
Exhibitions	£3.7M
Education	£0.3M
Architectural Commission	£2.3M

----- Start of picture text -----
Total Income
£14.8M
----- End of picture text -----

expendiTure

The cost of raising funds has increased to £3.4m (2024: £3.0m) and total expenditure on charitable activities has increased to £12.1m (2024: £11.5m). These increases are attributable to inflation and the level of activities being delivered.

A more detailed analysis of income and expenditure is reported in notes 3 to 8 to the Financial Statements.

Expenditure 2024/25

Raising Funds	£2.2M
Fundraising Trading Costs	£1.2M
Charitable Activities	£12.1M
Exhibitions	£9.2M
Education	£1.1M
Architectural Commission	£1.8M

----- Start of picture text -----
Total Expenditure
£15.5M
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annual fundraiSing acTiviTieS

Fundraising Practices

Serpentine’s Development team is structured to focus on different income streams, namely: Corporate and Partnerships, Individual Giving, Major Gifts, Trusts, Foundations and Government Grants. Each area adheres to relevant rules and regulations and works within best-practice guidelines of the Charity Commission, the Fundraising Regulator and the Institute of Fundraising, as well as Serpentine’s own policies, such as the Ethical Fundraising Policy. Serpentine’s fundraising activities are monitored by the Senior Management team, and additionally overseen and approved by the Board of Trustees.

The Charity does not employ third parties to fundraise on its behalf. The Ethics Sub-Committee also monitors fundraising activities to ensure adherence to due diligence processes. Complaints are dealt with through Serpentine’s complaints and feedback procedures. In 2024/25, Serpentine received no fundraising complaints. The fundraising approach undertaken by the Development team is to take reasonable steps to understand the circumstances of each donor, including taking into consideration whether the donor is vulnerable or requires additional care or support to make informed decisions. Serpentine has complied with all data processing requirements in accordance with GDPR legislation and updated our privacy policy. A clear opt-out process is available on all electronic mailings and communications.

Fundraising Performance

Under the leadership of the CEO and Artistic Director, the fundraising team had a positive year. The significant contribution from the department has been key to Serpentine’s financial sustainability during this period. Corporate fundraising totalled £1.6m (2024: £0.2m), increased from the previous year as we successfully renewed or extended contracts with a number of highprofile partners and found new partners. Individual Giving schemes break down into several levels of engagement and financial support. The ongoing commitment of our supporters led to a membership group totalling 332 (2024: 311), with a combined income to the charity of £2.3m (2024: £2.1m).

We engage closely with our members through several committees including the Exhibitions Committee, the Education Committee, Cultural and Social Affairs Committee and the Future Contemporaries Committee. In 2024/25, we were able to successfully organise a number of curated trips and events, which provided opportunities to re-engage with our members in person. Major gifts were all accepted in accordance with the Charity’s Ethical Fundraising Policy and following due diligence processes. The Development team carry out risk assessments on all new prospective donations or sponsorship opportunities of £10k or more. Major gifts totalled £3.7m (2024: £3.5m) over the financial year. All funding achieved through grants from UK and international Trusts and Foundations followed the protocols and guidance of specific funders.

fundraiSing evenTS

The Serpentine Summer Party, a key event in London’s cultural calendar, successfully united prominent figures from the arts, fashion, music and business sectors. The event, led by Serpentine’s CEO Bettina Korek and Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, served as a major fundraiser and was celebrated for strengthening connections within the Serpentine community.

As in prior years, one of the biggest draws of the Summer Party is its setting in and around the Pavilion. For the summer of 2024, the Pavilion, titled Archipelagic Void , was designed by architect Minsuk Cho. The event at Serpentine South also coincided with Gerhard Richter’s large-scale public artwork STRIP-TOWER and Yinka Shonibare’s exhibition Suspended States . Income from the Summer Party is varied and consists of ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and major gifts. Besides being a highlight of the year, the funds raised made a significant contribution to Serpentine’s ability to carry out its programming during the rest of the year.

The amount raised was £1m (2024: £0.4m), the increase compared to the prior year was mainly due to an increase in ticket sales and individual donations and the increased scope of the event.

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oTher income generaTing acTiviTieS

SG Commerce Limited

The Serpentine Trust owns 100% of the issued share capital of SG Commerce Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales under registered number 8052071. Its financial performance has been consolidated into the Trust’s group accounts.

The company carried out non-charitable commercial trading activities for the Trust, primarily for the sale of limited editions prints, catalogues and other merchandise. In 2024/25, its annual turnover was £1.1m (2024: £1.2m), with profits of £0.5m (2024: £0.8m). The profit will be gifted to the Serpentine Trust.

Serpentine Online Shop

Serpentine’s shop and website offer a range of Serpentine limited editions, exhibition catalogues, print and merchandise and titles released in parallel to the Serpentine programme.

Limited Editions

Serpentine commissions limited edition prints in conjunction with its exhibition programme. Revenue for the year was £0.5m (2024: £0.6m).

Publications

Serpentine produces exhibition catalogues and journals to accompany the programmes. Sales for the year were £69k (2024: £65k).

Gallery Hire

Serpentine offers a unique event space for hire which attracts businesses and individuals. Gallery hire income in 2024/25 was £0.3m (2024: £0.3m).

Magazine Restaurant

During the year under review, operational management of the Magazine restaurant transitioned from Benugo to Friends of Ours . Benugo ceased operations in July 2024 and Friends of Ours commenced trading in November 2024. The gap in operations explains the decrease in income, with total income generated from the Magazine in the year to 31 March 2025 was £0.05m (2024: £0.1m).

Koenig Bookshop

Koenig Books continues to act as the main co-producer and distributor of Serpentine’s exhibition catalogues which are sold in the on-site bookshop, which is the main London branch of Walther Koenig Books Ltd, Europe’s largest independent bookshop. It also stocks a broad range of artists’ books, monographs and international titles relating to art, photography, architecture and design.

Serpentine Americas Foundation

The Serpentine Americas Foundation was launched in 2014 and is an independent charity which brings together supporters from across the Americas to serve as ambassadors for Serpentine. Americas Foundation members' and donors’ generous support, which in 2024/25 amounted to £1m (2024: £0.7m), helps showcase the work of North and South American artists at Serpentine. Members receive access to a range of special events and programmes throughout the year, including two annual meetings in New York featuring noted artists, architects and global leaders.

riSK STaTemenT

The Board of Trustees is responsible for ensuring that there are effective and adequate risk management and internal control systems in place. It discharges this responsibility through the Finance Sub-Committee and Operating Committee, which lead the review and management of the Trust's risk management framework.

The Trustees have assessed all major risks to which the Charity is exposed. Risk areas reviewed include strategy, operations, financial performance, fraud, knowledge management, compliance, reputational and business continuity. For each, a programme of action or review has been developed, which is updated twice yearly.

The following key risks have been identified:

the tightening funding environment is addressed by development of an income pipeline closely monitored by the Trust’s senior management and Operating Committee, with new prospects and opportunities consistently reviewed;
rising costs are managed through the Trust’s budgeting and business partnering approach, with planned annual spend informed by up-to-date market information, and monthly review of forecasts and actuals undertaken by budget managers and members of the finance team, ensuring any variances can be anticipated and addressed in a timely fashion;
staff turnover is kept to a minimum via the benchmarking of salaries against the sector, analysis of exit interviews and performance reviews, and the cultivation of development opportunities to staff.

In addition to the above point, as well as the continued threat of worldwide public health, ecological, and economic crises, the Trustees have continued to take actions to ensure organisational resilience whilst reviewing and monitoring the evolving impact of external factors through more frequent board reporting. The specific actions included a revised strategy and income diversification plan and a risk-based review of reserves requirements. Serpentine developed and implemented a fraud risk register and an integrated data strategy to align audience development with fundraising. The organisation continued to champion equality, diversity and inclusion among staff, artists and audiences.

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Lauren Halsey, emajendat , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine South. © Lauren Halsey. Photo: © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Serpentine.

going reServeS concern

The Trustees regularly review the reserves of the Charity. This review encompasses the nature of and risks to income and expenditure streams, the need to match variable income with predominantly fixed expenditure commitments and the different types of funds held by the Trust.

Serpentine’s unrestricted (including designated) funds were £3.8m at 1 April 2024 and £3.9m at 31 March 2025. Cash balances at 1 April 2024 were £1.9m and £1.6m at 31 March 2025.

Serpentine has considered its ability to continue as a going concern for the 12 months following the signing of the financial statements. Detailed budgets, scenario analysis, and cash flow estimates for 2026 and 2027 have been prepared, taking into account current national and global uncertainties and high inflation and Serpentine’s ability to manage the risks arising from these.

Unrestricted funds at 31 March 2025 increased by £0.1m to £3.9m (2024: £3.8m) and comprised £2.5m reserves (2024: £2.5m) and £1.4m fixed asset funds (2024: £1.3m).

The reserves policy was reviewed by trustees in November 2024, and the revised policy stipulates that Serpentine should hold reserves equivalent to two to three months of forecast annual expenditure. Trustees are pleased to report that as of 31 March 2025, the reserves are in line with the revised policy, which stipulates that reserves should be between £2.3m and £3.5m.

After reviewing these and considering potential short and mid-term opportunities and risks, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that Serpentine has adequate resources to continue its activities for the foreseeable future.

Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

Unrestricted Fund: closing balances at year-end

----- Start of picture text -----
2019/20 £3.0M
2020/21 £2.9M
2021/22 £2.7M
2022/23 £2.6M
2023/24 £3.8M
2024/25 £3.9M
----- End of picture text -----

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STrucTure, governance & managemenT

governance

The charity is a charitable company limited by guarantee. It was founded in 1970 and was incorporated as a company in 1987. It is governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association, which were last amended in November 2015. The primary charitable objective is to promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in all forms of the arts and music.

The Board members, as charitable Trustees and Company Directors, have the legal responsibility for the effective use of resources in accordance with the objectives of the Serpentine Trust and for providing effective leadership and direction.

Directors delegate certain financial and operational functions to the Finance Sub-Committee and Operating Committee, which operate under specific Terms of Reference. The committees meet on a regular basis and their decisions are ratified by the full Board.

Board of TruSTeeS

The Board of Trustees meets quarterly and is responsible for the Serpentine’s management and administration. The following is a list of the Trustees of the Serpentine Trust who served for all or part of the year to 31 March 2025:

Michael R. Bloomberg Chairman Barry Townsley CBE Co-Vice Chairman The Hon Felicity Waley-Cohen CBE Co-Vice Chairman Marcus Boyle Treasurer

Andrew Cohen – resigned 11 December 2024 Nicoletta Fiorucci Off. OSI Lady Elena Foster Maja Hoffman Ruth Mackenzie CBE Megha Mittal Robert Rosenkranz Amanda Sharp OBE Jonathan Wood Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Eugenio Gerardo Lopez Alonso – appointed 8 October 2024

Responsibility for strategy, planning and day-to-day management of operations is delegated to the executive team, who are considered to be the key management team, led by the Chief Executive Officer, Artistic Director and Director of Strategic Operations and Finance. Formal reporting to the Trustees takes place regularly throughout the year.

The Trustees are aware of the Charity Governance Code, which sets out the principles and recommended practice for good governance within the sector. The Trustees are satisfied that the Charity applies the principles of the code within its current Governance arrangements.

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finance SuB-commiTTee

The Finance Sub-Committee meets quarterly and is responsible for audit, finance, operations and remuneration. Salaries, including those of the Executive team, are reviewed annually and any increases take effect from 1 April of the following financial year. Increases are based on benchmarking of average pay awards in the UK combined with the Trust’s ability to pay. The Trust is committed to ensuring that salaries are market competitive and fair, offering the London Living Wage as a minimum to all staff.

The Committee members are:

Michael R. Bloomberg Chairman Barry Townsley CBE Co-Vice Chairman The Hon Felicity Waley-Cohen CBE Co-Vice Chairman Marcus Boyle Treasurer Jonathan Wood

operaTing commiTTee

The Operating Committee usually meets every fortnight and is responsible for monitoring finances and operations.

The Committee members are:

Barry Townsley CBE Co-Vice Chairman Marcus Boyle Treasurer Jonathan Wood

eThicS commiTTee

The Ethics Committee meets quarterly and is responsible for developing and promoting Serpentine’s ethical principles. It safeguards and oversees the overall ethical health of the organisation, as well as the embedding equality, inclusion and relevance values. The committee ensures that all corporate policies, practices and decisions reflect the mission of the Serpentine and adhere to the highest ethical standards. It also promotes the debate and resolution of ethical situations that may arise. Additionally, it is responsible for the organisation's ethical fundraising practices.

The Committee members are:

Jonathan Wood Chair Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Marcus Boyle Treasurer Ruth Mackenzie CBE Amanda Sharp OBE Jemma Read CBE External

recruiTmenT and Training of TruSTeeS

The Serpentine Trust periodically reviews its Board of Trustees to ensure that the range of skills required by the organisation is assessed and provided for. Once recruited, trustees are appointed for up to two four-year terms. The recruitment process is an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the Board, which provides invaluable expertise to Serpentine members of staff, who, at a senior level, are in contact with the Trustees on a regular basis. This collaborative working relationship is of immeasurable value to the organisation and ensures a transparent model of governance.

Each Trustee undertakes an induction programme that includes meetings with the Chair, the Chief Executive Officer and members of the executive team as appropriate. Trustees do not exercise a management function but are encouraged to engage with areas of particular interest through close involvement with management and staff. Trustees give their time freely and no remuneration is paid, except for direct reimbursement of travel expenses.

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Gabriel Massan, Third World: The Bottom Dimension , 2022 [Video Game]. Featuring Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar & LYZZA. Image courtesy Gabriel Massan.

puBlic BenefiT STaTemenT

The Trustees believe that all the Serpentine Trust’s charitable service delivery is for public benefit and note that the great majority is made available to the public without charge. This includes its world-renowned exhibitions and education programmes, as well as its architectural commission.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, ‘Charities and Public Benefit’.

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environmenTal SuSTainaBiliTy and ecologieS aT SerpenTine

These documents and organisational structures SerpenTine ecologieS lay out and implement the principles and protocols of Serpentine’s integrated, holistic approach STraTegy to ecological responsibility throughout the organisation. Steered by Serpentine Ecologies and colleagues across all teams, Serpentine’s Environmental Sustainability Statement lays Serpentine’s Ecologies Strategy is a durational out an approach which is artist-led, adaptive plan which includes a long-term vision, as well and committed to reparative and long-term as short-term aims, implementation strategies, responsibility and reflects its commitment to stakeholder mapping, and risk and mitigation embedding environmental action and thought strategies. Serpentine’s Ecologies Strategy also leadership throughout our infrastructure, lays out the principles for an innovative approach buildings, programming and network.

Serpentine’s Ecologies Strategy is a durational plan which includes a long-term vision, as well as short-term aims, implementation strategies, stakeholder mapping, and risk and mitigation strategies. Serpentine’s Ecologies Strategy also lays out the principles for an innovative approach to the Green Team.

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ecologieS and environmenTal SuSTainaBiliTy STaTemenT

We recognise our responsibility to help protect the planet. We are committed to minimising the impact our galleries and operations have on the environment and supporting those who are working to improve global environmental sustainability.

Serpentine acknowledges the climate emergency and recognises it as the most urgent issue of our time. We are a public institution committed to supporting artists and their visions of the future; we pledge ourselves to new ways of thinking and acting.

As a central pillar of our programming, we have embedded environmental and ecological concerns across the galleries’ programmes, infrastructure and networks. We aim via our main activities to contribute positively to cultural, behavioural and systemic shifts towards environmental sustainability and thriving.

We are actively reducing our environmental impact. Serpentine was part of the Arts Council England Sustainability Spotlight Programme 2018-2023 delivered by Julie’s Bicycle , striving to reduce the environmental impacts of Band 3 National Portfolio Organisations to achieve measurable carbon reductions through the development of environmental management practice. From this work, we have developed and are implementing our Environmental Sustainability Action Plan.

Our Environmental Sustainability Statement informs all of our operations, from procurement and travel to cleaning products and energy and water consumption. This includes using a renewable electricity supplier, Green IT , waste recycling, using recycled and environmentally friendly products where possible and moving towards ‘paperless’. We are collaborating with all suppliers to obtain better data on our consumption of resources, with a view to monitoring and reducing usage in future, and are developing alternative sustainable sources where possible.

Serpentine is also committed to pooling knowledge and convening its networks to share best practices for taking action against the climate emergency through Julie's Bicycle .

Through its networks of artists and organisations, Serpentine seeks to develop and prototype new infrastructures and new protocols for positive and reparative environmental action through art and culture. We aim to move beyond the principle of ‘do less harm’ and towards that of ‘leave things better’.

Areas of current focus include:

Ensuring our governance framework is used to help embed environmental responsibility and sustainability throughout our operations, with staff responsible for these key areas in all departments and at all levels across the organisation;
Continuing to programme in an environmentally conscious and sustainable way, embedding environmental and ecological concerns across the galleries' programmes, infrastructure and networks;
Communicating our environmental commitment and action to our visitors and stakeholders and taking an active role in supporting other social initiatives and networks which can support our approach to environmental sustainability;
Continuing to monitor and minimise the energy use of our buildings and the technologies that we use;
Monitoring and minimising the environmental impacts of our business travel and encouraging staff to consider low emission commuting options. As a gallery with an international reach we welcome dialogue with our artists and partners to monitor and justify all of our journeys and foster sustainable change;
Reducing the production of waste from our offices and exhibition and event production processes by continually improving the sustainability of the products we procure, ensuring they can be reused or recycled, adopting circular models where possible.

We seek to take the long view. As an organisation, we acknowledge that we belong to this planet and share responsibility for its thriving. Through our actions and advocacy, we act in the best interest of future generations of humans and more-than-human beings.

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environmenTal SuSTainaBiliTy acTion plan

Our Environmental Sustainability Action Plan has been developed to deliver the vision laid out in our Environmental Sustainability Statement, by breaking down our ambitions into manageable time-bound tasks that can be delegated across Serpentine's team.

Durational key objectives detailed in the plan are drawn out below:

Staff Engagement

• Continue to increase staff awareness of the environmental work at staff meetings, in regular communications with staff and through the Green Team, encouraging suggestions and improvements from all departments.

Programming

Solidify our department of Ecologies, dedicated to integrating ecological efforts, bringing cultural, behavioural and systematic shifts across infrastructure and networks through programming and advocacy.
Develop an integrated approach to programming and sustainability by actively promoting exchange and mutual learning between Serpentine's different areas of activities and strategic aims.

Energy

Continue to work with our energy management consultant to measure and report on energy and water consumption using the online Carbon Calculator.
Compile statistics to discuss and implement ongoing improvements that can be made with the Facilities team.

Travel and Transport

Monitor the impact of our new travel policy and explore further ways to reduce staff, artist and audience and travel emissions.

Recycling and Waste

Promote environmentally-friendly office practices – switching off computers, lights and fans when not in use and economising where possible on printing and use of paper and other office materials.

SerpenTine green Team

Serpentine’s Green Team is a cross-departmental group of individuals who meet regularly to review Serpentine’s progress along its sustainability pathways. The team meets in two formats:

As an advisory and reviewing body, reviewing current protocols, KPIs and achievements, and making recommendations towards further action;
As part of a wider work-culture and environmental literacy initiative, through artist-led workshops aimed at fostering a sense of environmental belonging, beyond the principles of sustainability.

The Green Team’s terms of reference outline the Team’s responsibilities, frequency of meeting, and advisory agency within the wider organisation.

To support Serpentine in delivery the Action Plan, the Green Team shall:

Promote environmental justice and environmental action literacy across the organisation;
Research and propose positive and reparative interventions across all levels of the organisations;
Champion positive change for environmental responsibility across the Serpentine;
Embed environmental and ecological concerns across the galleries' programmes, infrastructure, operations and networks;
Strive to make Serpentine a leading example of effective environmental stewardship, from harm reduction to a meaningful sense of purpose. and to serve as a source of information and convening for others with similar aspirations;
Work with colleagues across the organisation to implement measures as outlined in the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan:
Monitor the galleries' activities to better understand how we impact the environment;
Identify, investigate and gather best practices to ensure that Serpentine activities promote environmental wellbeing;
Log environmentally positive activity to serve as a record of progress;
Increase staff and artist engagement with environmental issues as active participants in reducing impact on the environment; and
Serve as a source of information regarding environmental responsibility for Serpentine staff, trustees, artists and audiences.

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STaTemenT of TruSTeeS’ reSponSiBiliTieS

The Trustees, who are also Directors of the Serpentine Trust for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

Insofar as each of the Trustees of the company at the date of approval of this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information (information needed by the company’s auditor in connection with preparing the audit report) of which the company’s auditor is unaware. Each Trustee has taken all the steps that he/she should have taken as a Trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditor is aware of that information.

Crowe U.K. LLP has indicated its willingness to be reappointed as statutory auditor. The Trustees’ Report, including the Strategic Report, was approved by the Trustees at their meeting on 7 October 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Michael R. Bloomberg Chairman, Board of Trustees 7 October 2025

Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the provisions of the charity’s constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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independenT audiTor’S reporT To The memBerS of The SerpenTine TruST

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Serpentine Trust (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiary (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other Information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit

the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 216, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations are set out opposite.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Taxation legislation, and Employment legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income, and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, and the Finance Sub-Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect noncompliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Jayne Rowe Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP

Statutory Auditor London Date: 14 October 2025

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conSolidaTed STaTemenT of financial acTiviTieS

For the year ended 31 March 2025

(including income and expenditure accounts)

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Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Total
General Fund Fund Fund 2025 2024
Income and Endowments from: Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Donations and Legacies
Grants 3 708 – – 708 708
Donations & Support 4 5,457 431 – 5,888 5,578
Total Donations and Legacies 6,165 431 – 6,596 6,286
Fundraising Trading Activities
Merchandise 805 – – 805 832
Special Fundraising Events 689 – – 689 465
Gallery Hire and Other Commercial Activities 350 – – 350 353
Interest 57 – – 57 57
Total Fundraising Trading Activities 1,901 – – 1,901 1,707
Income from Charitable Activities
Exhibitions 5 1,145 2,550 – 3,695 3,190
Education 5 – 310 – 310 901
Architectural Commission 5 1,925 330 – 2,255 1,500
Total Income from Charitable Activities 3,070 3,190 – 6,260 5,591
Other Income – – – – –
Total Income 11,136 3,621 – 14,757 13,584
Expenditure on:
Raising Funds 6 2,249 – – 2,249 2,208
Fundraising Trading Costs
Merchandise 438 – – 438 336
Special Fundraising Events 607 – – 607 469
Gallery Hire 134 – – 134 24
Total Fundraising Trading Costs 1,179 – – 1,179 829
Total Costs of Raising Funds 3,428 – – 3,428 3,037
Net Income Available for Charitable Activities 7,708 3,621 – 11,329 10,547
Charitable Activities
Exhibitions 7 5,348 3,129 692 9,169 8,749
Education 7 727 399 – 1,126 1,141
Architectural Commission 7 1,501 330 – 1,831 1,638
Total Expenditure on Charitable Activities 7,576 3,858 692 12,126 11,528
Total Expenditure 11,004 3,858 692 15,554 14,565
Net (Expenditure) / Income 132 (237) (692) (797) (981)
Transfers Between Funds – – – – –
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 132 (237) (692) (797) (981)
Reconciliation of Funds:
Fund Balances Brought Forward at 1 April 2024 3,840 579 6,826 11,245 12,226
Fund Balances Carried Forward at 31 March 2024 3,972 342 6,134 10,448 11,245
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Balance SheeT

Balance sheet for the year ended 31 March 2025

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Group Charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
Fixed Assets Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Intangible assets 13 4 8 4 8
Tangible assets 14 7,256 7,908 7,233 7,878
Heritage assets 15 – – – –
Investment 16 334 323 334 323
Total Fixed Assets 7,594 8,239 7,571 8,209
Current Assets
Stock 17 47 48 – –
Debtors and Prepayments 18 3,746 3,177 3,859 4,076
Cash at Bank and In-hand 1,636 1,924 1,552 1,026
Total Current Assets 5,429 5,149 5,411 5,102
Liabilities
Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within 1 Year 19 (2,575) (2,143) (2,534) (2,066)
Net Current Assets / (Liabilities) 2,854 3,006 2,877 3,036
Total Assets Less Current Liabilities 10,448 11,245 10,448 11,245
Creditors: Amounts Falling Due After 1 Year 0 0 0 0
TOTAL NET ASSETS 10,448 11,245 10,448 11,245
The Funds of the Charity:
Unrestricted Funds 3,972 3,840 3,972 3,840
Restricted Income Funds 342 579 342 579
4,314 4,419 4,314 4,419
Endowment Funds 6,134 6,826 6,134 6,826
20 & 21 10,448 11,245 10,448 11,245
----- End of picture text -----

The unconsolidated deficit of The Serpentine Trust for the year ending 31 March 2025 was £1,255k (2024: £1,744k deficit). The unconsolidated income for the Serpentine Trust for the year ending 31 March 2025 was £13,618k (2024: £12,411k). The notes on pages 225 to 240 form part of these financial statements.

These Financial Statements were approved by the Trustees, authorised for issue on 7 October 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Michael R. Bloomberg Chairman, Board of Trustees

All recognised gains and losses are included above and all activities are continuing. * The notes on pages 225 to 240 form part of these financial statements.

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223

conSolidaTed STaTemenT of caSh floW	conSolidaTed STaTemenT of caSh floW	conSolidaTed STaTemenT of caSh floW
Consolidated statement of cash fow for the year ended 31 March 2025
			2025	2024
Cash fows from operating activities:	Note		£’000	£’000
Net cash provided by operating activities	A		(116)	(2,525)
Cash fows from investing activities: Interest on investments Investment additions Purchase of property, plant and equipment Net cash used in investing activities			57 (12) (217) (172)	57 1,958 (604) 1,411
Cash fows from fnancing activities: Decrease in borrowing Net cash used in by fnancing activities Change in cash in hand in the reporting period Cash in hand at the beginning of the reporting period Cash in hand at the end of the reporting period	B B		– – (288) 1,924 1,636	– – (1,114) 3,038 1,924
Note A: Reconciliation of cash fows from operating activities			2025	2024
Net (expenditure) / income for the operating period (As per the Statement of Financial Activities) Adjusted for: Interest income Depreciation charges Decrease / (Increase) in debtors (Decrease) / Increase in creditors Net cash provided by operating activities			£’000 (797) (56) 874 (568) 431 (116)	£’000 (981) (57) 853 (1,299) (1,041) (2,525)
Note B: Notice of cash and cash equivalents	1 April	2024	Cash Flow	31 March 2025
	£’000		£’000	£’000
Cash		1,924	(288)	1,636
Net cash and cash equivalents		1,924	(288)	1,636
224

noTeS To The financial STaTemenTS

c) Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

1 Principal accounting policies

a) Company Information

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described in this note, Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates, and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The Serpentine Trust is a Public Benefit Entity registered as a charity in England and Wales and a company limited by guarantee. It was incorporated on 24 July 1987 (company number: 2150221) and registered as a charity on 21 March 1988 (charity number: 298809).

The company was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.

The registered address is Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA.

b) Basis of Accounting

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), the Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - effective 1 January 2015.

In the view of the Trustees, no assumptions concerning the future or estimation uncertainty affecting assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date are likely to result in a material adjustment to their carrying amounts in the next financial year.

Critical judgments in applying the entity’s accounting policies:

(i) Impairment of debtors

The financial statements have been prepared consolidating the results of the Trust and its subsidiary SG Commerce Limited (company number: 8052071).

The organisation makes an estimate of the recoverable value of trade debtors. When assessing impairment, management considers factors such as the ageing profile of debtors and historical experience.

The functional currency of the Trust and its subsidiary is considered to be GBP because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the group operates. The consolidated financial statements are also presented in GBP and rounded to the nearest thousand (£’000).

(ii) Useful life and impairment of assets
Assets are reviewed annually to assess that their useful life and carrying value are still appropriate.

(iii) Stock

The Trust has taken exemption from preparing its Statement of Financial Activities under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The unconsolidated deficit for the Serpentine Trust in 2025 was £1,255k (2024: £1,744k deficit).

Stock is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. The organisation makes an estimate of the net realisable value based on edition price on release, and if edition is not currently for sale, based on comparable prices from recent auctions. The net realisable value is reviewed annually.

As disclosed in the Trustees’ Annual Report, the Trust is largely dependent on the generosity of supporters therefore there is a level of uncertainty in the longer-term forecasts. However, considering future plans, budgets, cash flows and reserve levels as well as the risks and uncertainties, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Trust has adequate resources and facilities in place to continue its activities for the foreseeable future. This is supported by regular reviews of the organisation's risk register and potential opportunities by the Senior Management Team and the Trustees in order to facilitate timely decision making, and to ensure that the organisation meets its obligations. Accordingly, the Trust continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements as outlined in the Trustees’ Report.

The organisation also makes a judgement on whether a provision should be made for slow-moving stock that has not been sold in the past three years.

(iv) Heritage Assets

Heritage Assets are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Heritage assets are reviewed annually to assess whether their carrying value is still appropriate.

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d) Income

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities, in which the Trust is entitled to the income and receipt is probable and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.

Gifts in Kind

Goods and services received at no costs for which the Serpentine Trust would otherwise have to pay for are recognised in the financial statements at the value to the charity where this can be reasonably quantified.

Voluntary income

Donations and grants are accounted for on a receivable basis unless they are given for a future specified period in which case they are deferred.

Grants

Grant income is recognised in the statement of financial activities when received or when the charity becomes entitled to receipt. Grants that have been received will be treated as deferred income where there are specific requirements in the terms of the grant that the income recognition is dependent on certain activities being completed in a future accounting period.

Trading income

Income received from the provision of goods or services is recognised in the year in which the good or service is provided, and so entitlement earned.

e) Expenditure

Charitable activities and support costs comprise direct charitable expenditure including direct staff costs attributable to a particular activity. Where costs cannot be directly attributed, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. This has been assessed by using an estimation of staff time spent on each activity as an average throughout the year.

Governance costs are those incurred in compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements and are allocated across charitable activities as a separate component of support costs.

All exhibition costs directly attributable to opening an exhibition are recognised in the year in which the expenditure is incurred. Where appropriate, consideration around whether the expenditure meets the definition of an asset or liability will be made to ensure appropriate accounting treatment has been adopted.

Other costs including the salaries of gallery assistants and similar costs incurred once the exhibition is opened are recognised once a third party has provided a service.

f) Fund Accounting

The General Unrestricted Fund is available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Gallery. Designated Funds are those unrestricted funds set aside by the Trustees for specific purposes or projects.

Restricted Funds are subject to specific restrictions imposed by donors or by the purpose of the appeal. The Refurbishment Funds are restricted funds. Permanent endowment funds are funds where the donors have stated that the funds are to be held as capital and only the interest may be spent. Expendable endowment funds are held as capital but are able to be converted into expendable income with the authorisation of the Trustees.

g) Depreciation

Depreciation is recognised in the statement of financial activities as part of expenditure and is allocated across the expenditure headings on the same basis as Support and Governance costs.

Capital expenditure in excess of £500 is capitalised and depreciated over its estimated useful life or the length of the lease. Current estimated useful lives for the major categories of fixed assets are:

h) Operating Leases

Rentals under operating leases are charged to the income and expenditure account as incurred.

i) Foreign Currency Translation

Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the exchange rate on the date of the transaction. Balances held in foreign currencies at the year-end are translated at the exchange rate at the balance sheet date.

j) Financial Instruments

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the Trust becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. Additionally, all financial assets and liabilities are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into.

Financial assets and liabilities are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs) and are subsequently re-measured where applicable at amortised cost. Assets and liabilities held in foreign currency are translated to GBP at the balance sheet date at an appropriate year-end exchange rate.

major categories of fxed assets are:
Systems and Software	4years
Assets in the Course of Construction	Nil
Furniture and Equipment	4years
Computer Related Equipment	3-4years
BuildingImprovements	4-20years
Leasehold Property	20years

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227

2 Liability of the Members

The Company is limited by guarantee. In the event of its winding up due to insufficient funds, the maximum liability of each member is £1. As at 31 March 2025, the company had 15 members, all of whom were Trustees.

3 Revenue Grants

3 Revenue Grants
2025	2024
£’000	£’000
Arts Council England General Fund 708	708
708	708

4 Donations & Support

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted 2025
Fund Fund
£’000 £’000 £’000
Funds provided by Serpentine Benefactors 4,235 – 4,235
General Donations to Serpentine 95 – 95
American Friends 727 431 1,158
Museum, Galleries and Exhibition Tax Relief 400 – 400
Total Donations & Support 5,457 431 5,888
Unrestricted Restricted 2024
Fund Fund
£’000 £’000 £’000
Funds provided by Serpentine Benefactors 4,475 – 4,475
General Donations to Serpentine 73 – 73
American Friends 706 – 706
Museum, Galleries and Exhibition Tax Relief 324 – 324
Total Donations & Support 5,578 – 5,578
----- End of picture text -----

5 Income from Charitable Activities

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
Unrestricted Grant From: £’000 £’000
Exhibitions:
Sponsorships Various 1,029 –
Tour Income Various 112 –
Ticket Income Various 4 –
1,145 –
Education:
Ticket Income Various – –
– –
Architectural Commission:
Sponsorships Various 425 –
Pavilion Sale Various 1,500 1,100
1,924 1,100
Total Unrestricted 3,070 1,100
Restricted Grant From: £’000 £’000
Exhibitions programme Various Exhibition Patrons 2,550 3,190
Education programme Various Education Patrons 310 901
Architectural Commission Various Architectural Patrons 330 400
Total Restricted 3,190 4,491
----- End of picture text -----

6 Expenditure on Raising Funds

6 Expenditure on Raising Funds
2025	2024
£’000	£’000
Staff Costs 871 Direct Costs 35 Support Costs 1,343 2,249	771 61 1,376 2,208

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228

7 Charitable Activities
Unrestricted Fund	Restricted Fund	Expendable Endowment	2025
£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Exhibition Costs
Installation & Materials 782 Transport 457 Organising Costs 709 Insurance Costs 37 Printing Material & Publicity Costs 217 Development Costs 38 Staff Costs 1,149 Support Costs 1,959 Depreciation – 5,348	457 267 415 22 127 22 672 1,147 – 3,129	– – – – – – – – 692 692	1,239 724 1,124 59 344 60 1,821 3,106 692 9,169
Education Costs Education Programme Costs 315 Staff Costs 38 Support Costs 374 727	173 21 205 399	– – – –	488 59 579 1,126
Architectural Commission Direct Build Costs 992 Indirect Build Costs 218 Staff Costs 21 Support Costs 270 1,501	218 48 5 59 330	– – – – –	1,210 266 26 329 1,831
Total 7,419	4,015	692	12,126
Unrestricted Fund	Restricted Fund	Expendable Endowment	2024
£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Exhibition Costs
Installation & Materials 847 Transport 237 Organising Costs 631 Insurance Costs – Printing Material & Publicity Costs 68 Development Costs 49 Staff Costs 1,111 Support Costs 1,917 Depreciation – 4,860	556 156 415 – 44 32 728 1,266 – 3,197	– – – – – – – – 692 692	1,403 393 1,046 – 112 81 1,839 3,183 692 8,749
Education Costs Education Programme Costs 265 Staff Costs 75 Support Costs 370 710	161 45 225 431	– – – –	426 120 595 1,141
Architectural Commission Direct Build Costs 865 Indirect Build Costs 103 Staff Costs 16 Support Costs 254 1,238	280 33 5 82 400	– – – – –	1,145 136 21 336 1,638
Total 6,808	4,028	692	11,528
230

8 Support Costs

8 Support Costs
	Fundraising	Exhibitions	Education	Architecture	2025
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
MarketingStaff Costs	113	263	45	32	453
Support Staff Costs	336	779	148	81	1,344
General Marketing	98	228	39	27	392
General Overheads	775	1,797	341	186	3,099
Governance Costs: Audit Costs	11	25	5	3	44
Staff Costs	7	7	–	–	14
Support Staff Costs	3	7	1	1	12
	1,343	3,106	579	330	5,358
	Fundraising	Exhibitions	Education	Architecture	2024
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
MarketingStaff Costs	93	215	37	26	371
Support Staff Costs	349	810	154	84	1,397
General Marketing	92	213	37	26	368
General Overheads	822	1,906	361	197	3,286
Governance Costs:
Audit Costs	11	25	5	3	44
Staff Costs Support Staff Costs	7 3 1,377	7 6 3,182	– 1 595	– 1 337	14 11 5,491

9 Net Income

9 Net Income
	2025	2024
Net Income is stated after:	£’000	£’000
Auditor’s remuneration:
Statutory audit Tax and advisory services Depreciation	45 4 866	44 2 854
Operating Lease Charges: Land and Buildings	967	967
Other	–	–

10 Remuneration of Trustees

No Trustees received any reimbursed expenses or remuneration during the year (2024: £0).

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11 Staff Costs

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
£’000 £’000
Wages and Salaries 4,043 3,979
Social Security Costs 435 430
Pension Contributions 121 135
4,599 4,544
----- End of picture text -----

The following number of employees earned more than £60,000 during the year:

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025|2024| |Number|Number| |Employees earning £60,001 – £70,000|3|3| |Employees earning £70,001 – £80,000|3|1| |–|–| |Employees earning £80,001 – £90,000| |Employees earning £90,001 – £100,000|3|2| |–|–| |Employees earning £100,001 – £110,000| |Employees earning £110,001 – £120,000|1|1| |Employees earning £120,001 – £130,000|1|1| |Employees earning £190,001 – £200,000|–|1|

----- End of picture text -----

13 Intangible Fixed Assets

----- Start of picture text -----
Systems and Software
£’000
Cost at 1 April 2024 405
Additions 4
At 31 March 2025 409
Depreciation at 1 April 2024 397
Charge for the year 8
At 31 March 2025 405
Net Book Value at 31 March 2025 4
At 31 March 2024 8
----- End of picture text -----

Pension contributions of £60k (2024: £47k) were made in respect of employees paid over £60,000.

Average monthly number of full-time equivalent employees, analysed by function:

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025|2024| |Number|Number| |(Restated)| |Exhibitions|39|31| |Education|2|4| |Fundraising|17|18| |Support|20|22| |Marketing|8|7| |Total|86|82|

----- End of picture text -----

Average number of employees during the year was 101 (2024: 100).

The total aggregate cost of key management employee considerations for 2025 was £400k (2024: £389k). Key management personnel were the CEO, Artistic Director and COFO. Redundancy costs during the year were £8.4k (2024 - restated: £80k).

12 Operating Lease Commitments

During the next year, the Trust is committed to making the following annual payments on leasehold properties and plant and equipment under operating leases which expire:

----- Start of picture text -----
|||| |---|---|---| |2025|2024| |Land and Buildings|£’000|£’000| |Within one year|1,027|967| |Within two to five years|4,166|4,027| |After five years|2,684|3,478| |7,877|8,472|

----- End of picture text -----

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232

14 Tangible Fixed Assets

----- Start of picture text -----
Furniture and Building Leasehold Trust - Total
Equipment Improvements Buildings
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cost at 1 April 2024 656 6,125 13,833 20,614
Additions 11 202 – 213
– – – –
Disposals
At 31 March 2025 667 6,327 13,833 20,827
Depreciation at 1 April 2024 589 4,884 7,263 12,736
Charge for the year 51 115 692 858
– – – –
Disposals
At 31 March 2025 640 4,999 7,955 13,594
Net Book Value at 31 March 2025 27 1,328 5,878 7,233
At 31 March 2024 67 1,241 6,570 7,878
----- End of picture text -----

Building	Group Total
Improvements -
SG Commerce
£’000	£’000
Cost at 1 April 2024 31 Additions –	20,645 213
Disposals – At 31 March 2025 31 Depreciation at 1 April 2024 1 Charge for theyear 7	– 20,858 12,737 865
Disposals – At 31 March 2025 8 Net Book Value at 31 March 2025 23 At 31 March 2024 30	– 13,602 7,256 7,908

16 Investments

16 Investments
2025	2024
£’000	£’000
At start of the year 323 Additions 11 Disposals –	2,281 – (1,958)
Net gains/losses –	–
At end of the year 334	323

All investments are held in short term cash deposits.

17 Stock

17 Stock
	Group		Charity
	2025	2024	2025	2024
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Trading stock	69	57	–	–
Slow moving stock	(22)	(9)	–	–
Total	47	48	–	–

Trading stock relates to limited edition prints for resale. Stock is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

18 Debtors

18 Debtors
	Group		Charity
	2025	2024	2025	2024
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Trade Debtors Amount due from SubsidiaryCompany	1,303 –	1,094 –	1,256 161	1,018 943
Sundry Debtors Prepayments Taxation and Social Security	2 1,333 174	156 825 77	2 1,326 184	156 825 110
Accrued Income	934	1,025	930	1,024
Total	3,746	3,177	3,859	4,076

15 Heritage Assets

15 Heritage Assets
	2025	2024
	£’000	£’000
At 1 April	–	–
Additions	–	–
At end of the year	–	–

Serpentine has been publishing artists’ editions for more than 30 years. Throughout these years, Serpentine has built an asset library of selected editions which form part of the editions archive. These editions are not for sale; instead, these pieces have been selected to serve as evidence of past activities, to prove provenance and finally, to be used as visual and material reference for any future edition production research.

Serpentine believes that due to the incomparable nature of the heritage assets, that even if valuations could be obtained, the costs would likely exceed the benefits provided by the information. Acquisitions of editions greater than £1,000 are recorded at costs if acquired, or the best estimate of fair value if donated to Serpentine Gallery. Any acquisitions under £1,000 are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities in the period they are incurred.

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234

19 Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year

19 Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year	19 Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year
Group		Charity
2025	2024	2025	2024
£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Trade Creditors 616 Other Creditors –	486 –	616 –	462 –
Accruals 610 Taxation and Social Security 132 Deferred Income 1,195	589 44 954	599 132 1,165	573 45 916
Provisions 22	70	22	70
Total 2,575	2,143	2,534	2,066

Deferred income relates to annual Individual Giving memberships paid for future years £155k (2024: £99k), sponsorship received for future exhibitions and projects £930k (2024: £817k), corporate memberships for next financial year £0k (2024: £0k) and income related to future booked events £110k (2024: £37k).

----- Start of picture text -----
£’000
Deferred Income b/fwd 954
Deferred in the year 1,176
Released to income from prior year (935)
Deferred Income c/fwd 1,195
----- End of picture text -----

20 Funds – Group and Charity

	General	Designated	Restricted	Permanent	Expendable	Total
	Fund	Fund	Income Fund	Endowment	Endowment
				Fund	Fund
Total Fund Balances at 1 April 2024	£’000 3,840	£’000 –	£’000 579	£’000 256	£’000 6,570	£’000 11,245
Income Received	11,136	–	3,621	–	–	14,757
Expenditure Incurred	(11,004)	–	(3,858)	–	(692)	(15,554)
Funds Transferred	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total Fund Balances at 31 March 2024	3,972	–	342	256	5,878	10,448

21 Analysis of Net Assets between Funds

21 Analysis of Net Assets between Funds
	Fixed Assets	Investments	Net Current	Net Assets
			Assets /
			(Liabilities)
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Unrestricted Funds:
General Funds Designated Funds	1,382 – 1,382	78 – 78	2,512 – 2,512	3,972 – 3,972
Restricted Funds	–	–	342	342
Endowment Funds	5,878	256	–	6,134
	7,260	334	2,854	10,448

22 Capital Commitments

23 Related Party Transactions

At 31 March 2025, the Trust had entered into contracts amounting to £2,016k (2024: £1,425k) for the construction of the two Pavilions. Of this, £1,045k (2024: £659k) had been paid prior to the year end. The remaining balance of £971k (2024: £659k) is committed and expected to be settled in the months following year end.

No related party transactions were entered into during the year to 31 March 2025 with exception of those with regards to SG Commerce, the Trust's subsidiary. At 31 March 2025, SG Commerce Limited owed the Trust a net balance of £161k (2024: £943k). This includes a gift aid payment to the Trust of £458k (2024: £763k) related to trading in 31 March 2025, of which £365k was made in advance during the year. Management recharges of £150k (2024: £155k) were charged to SG Commerce Limited in the year by the Trust.

The Serpentine Trust received £972k (2024: 677k) of donations from Trustees, a £1,950k (2024: £2,950k) donation from a Trustee's family foundation.

Expendable Endowment

Expendable endowment funds have decreased from £6,570k to £5,878k at year end. The balance is composed solely of the net present value of the North Gallery building.

Restricted Funds

The Restricted balance relates to funds for specific Exhibition projects taking place in 2025/26 onwards. The total of restricted funds at year end was £342k. There was a brought forward balance of £579k which has been fully utilised in the year.

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237

24 Subsidiary Undertaking: SG Commerce Ltd
2025	2024
£	£
Income 1,138,797	1,172,732
Expenditure (681,282) Operating Surplus 457,515 Gift Aid to The Serpentine Trust 457,515 Proft Before and After Tax –	(409,735) 762,997 762,997 –
The Aggregate of the Assets, Liabilities and Funds was: 2025	2024
£	£
Fixed Assets
Tangible assets 22,139	29,953
Current Assets
Stock 47,415	48,044
Debtors and Prepayments 58,046	76,946
Cash at Bank and In-Hand 84,696 190,157	898,818 1,023,808
Creditors
Amounts Falling Due Within 1 Year (212,196)	(1,053,661)
Net Current (Liabilities) / Assets (22,039) Net Assets 100	(29,853) 100
Shareholders' Funds Share Capital 100	100
Proft & Loss for the year – 100	– 100
The subsidiary is part of a VAT Group comprising the Serpentine Trust and SG Commerce Limited.
238

25 Prior Year Comparatives

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Statement of Financial Activities Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities General Fund Fund 2024
(including income and expenditure accounts) Fund
Income and Endowments from: Note £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Donations and Legacies
Grants 3 708 – – 708
Donations & Support 4 5,578 – – 5,578
Total Donations and Legacies 6,286 – – 6,286
Fundraising Trading Activities
Merchandise 832 – – 832
Special Fundraising Events 465 – – 465
Gallery Hire and Other Commercial Activities 353 – – 353
Interest 57 – – 57
Total Fundraising Trading Activities 1,707 – – 1,707
Income from Charitable Activities
Exhibitions 5 - 3,190 – 3,190
Education 5 - 901 – 901
Architectural Commission 5 1,100 400 – 1,500
Total Income from Charitable Activities 1,100 4,491 – 5,591
Other Income – – – –
Total Income 9,093 4,491 – 13,584
Expenditure on:
Raising Funds 6 2,208 – – 2,208
Fundraising Trading Costs
Merchandise 336 – – 336
Special Fundraising Events 469 – – 469
Gallery Hire 24 – – 24
Total Fundraising Trading Costs 829 – – 829
Total Costs of Raising Funds 3,037 – – 3,037
Net Income Available for Charitable Activities 6,056 4,491 – 10,547
Charitable Activities
Exhibitions 7 4,860 3,197 692 8,749
Education 7 710 431 – 1,141
Architectural Commission 7 1,238 400 – 1,638
Total Expenditure on Charitable Activities 6,808 4,028 692 11,528
Total Expenditure 9,845 4,028 692 14,565
Net (Expenditure) / Income (752) 463 (692) (981)
Transfers Between Funds 2,000 – (2,000) –
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 1,248 463 (2,692) (981)
Reconciliation of Funds:
Fund Balances Brought Forward at 1 April 2023 2,592 116 9,518 12,226
Fund Balances Carried Forward at 31 March 2024 3,840 579 6,826 11,245
----- End of picture text -----

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239

Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland. Courtesy: Serpentine.


2024 Funds - Group	General	Designated	Restricted	Permanent	Expendable	Total
	Fund	Fund	Income Fund	Endowment	Endowment
				Fund	Fund
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Total Fund Balances at 1 April 2023	2,463	129	116	256	9,262	12,226
Income Received	9,093	–	4,491	–	–	13,584
Expenditure Incurred Funds Transferred	(9,845) 2,129	– (129)	(4,028) –	– –	(692) (2,000)	(14,565) –
Total Fund Balances at 31 March 2024	3,840	–	579	256	6,570	11,245
2024 Analysis of Net Assets Between Funds			Fixed Assets	Investments	Net Current Assets /	Net Assets
					(Liabilities)
			£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Unrestricted Funds:
General Funds Designated Funds			1,346 – 1,346	323 – 323	2,171 – 2,171	3,840 – 3,840
Restricted Funds			–	–	579	579
Endowment Funds			6,570	–	256	6,826
240			7,916	323	3,006	11,245

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

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Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive , 2024. Installation view, Serpentine North. Photo: Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine.

Serpentine – Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024 – 2025

242

243

2025-03-31-accounts

The SerpenTine TruST

Annual Report and Financial Statements

conTenTS

referenceS and adminiSTraTion deTailS

Registered Office

Governing Document

Executive Team

Company Secretary

Auditors

Bankers

Solicitors

leTTer from our chair, michael r. BloomBerg

Dear Friends,

Sincerely,

leTTer from our chief execuTive, BeTTina KoreK

Dear Friends,

TruSTeeS’ reporT 2024/25

STraTegic reporT 2024/25

our STory

our viSion

our miSSion

organiSaTion oBjecTiveS

Key oBjecTiveS

1. 360º Artistic Production

World claSS programming

arTS TechnologieS

ecologieS programme

infiniTe ecologieS maraThon

The dinner parTy + BooK launch

The Magazine Serpentine North 9 March 2025

educaTion and civic projecTS

neW parTnerShipS

Summary of our acTiviTieS, achievemenTS and performance

exhiBiTionS

refiK anadol echoeS of The earTh: living archive

Serpentine South

16 February to 7 April 2024

The Economist

Forbes

The Economist

Forbes

The Economist

The Art Newspaper

yinKa ShoniBare cBe ra SuSpended STaTeS

Serpentine South

12 April to 1 September 2024

Evening Standard

Yinka Shonibare

★★★★

The Times

★★★★ The i

The Guardian

The i Newspaper

The Times

judy chicago revelaTionS

Serpentine North

23 May to 1 September 2024

The Daily Telegraph

The i

The New York Times

The Observer

The Observer

The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times

Time Out

holly herndon and maT dryhurST The call

Serpentine North

4 October 2024 to 12 February 2025

Artnet

The Guardian

New York Times Podcast

The Art Newspaper

Artforum

The New Yorker

Frieze

New York Times

Time Out London

Forbes

The New Scientist