Serpentine Splendour

The Serpentine Gallery, in London’s Hyde Park has pulled it off again with this year’s Summer Pavilion. Designed by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen (he of Alexandra Library fame) the Pavilion is a remarkable bringing together of talents each of which has previously had an outing at Tate Modern. Eliasson here places emphasis on the human qualities of sensuality and tactility. Constructed in steel and timber cladding, and incorporating a 150 metre curving ramp, the temporary pavilion brings to Hyde Park special qualities of public appeal which counterbalance the downside of the so-called city of complexity which the park faces.