Hyde Park

February 22 2024

Breath-Taking AI Experience Opened in Serpentine North Gallery – Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive

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Pioneer in AI art and technology, Turkish artist Refik Anadol has opened his first solo exhibition at Serpentine North Gallery, ‘Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive’. The immersive exhibition wraps the gallery’s walls in ever-changing AI-generated images inspired by coral reefs and rainforests.

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[BLOG POST IN BIO] New breath-taking AI exhibition opened at Serpentine North Gallery @Serpentine ‘Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive’ The immersive exhibition wraps the gallery’s walls in ever-changing AI-generated images inspired by coral reefs and rainforests 🪸🦜 #immersiveexperience #AI #aiexperience #londonexhibitions #exhibition #exhibitionlondon #serpentinegallery #CapCut

♬ Der goldene Engel – Schiller

Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive

Photo: Urban Adventurer

NOTE: The exhibition contains flashing imagery.

The exhibition showcases Anadol’s expertise in bringing digital art to life to give us new perspective on how we see the connection between human and nature.

“We are using nature as an input for AI to raise awareness of its beauty and complexity. At the moment, AI research is focusing on human reasoning and how to mimic it, but to me, nature needs a different focus that is very different to our logic.” – Anadol says in an interview with Designboom.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

‘Artificial Realities: Coral (2023)’ was first unveiled at the World Economic Forum in 2023. This project features coral reefs and underwater scenes using a massive dataset of billions of images of corals – openly accessible online – to create a breath-taking visual experience.

Anadol says in the interview that they “found a way to create ultra-realistic that perhaps can be used as a 3D sculpture or a 3D sense of being underwater that can turn into a living ecosystem.”

In the exhibition, AI generates endless variety of abstract coral images, visual and colour combinations based on the enormous data base it has access to.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Another part of the exhibition is ‘Living Achieve: Large Nature Model’ has premiered earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

This project has been adapted specifically for Serpentine North Gallery and showcasing AI images inspired by extensive data of flora, fungi, and fauna form over 16 rainforests across the globe.

‘Artificial Realities: Rainforest’ is also a recent project, showcasing shape-shifting exotic birds. This project marks the longest continuous generative AI visualisation on nature that has ever created.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Anadol’s studio travelled across the globe to understand what it means to live in a rainforest. During their journey they formed a very close relationship with an indigenous family living in Amazonia. As the studio travelled, they were collecting not just images, but also sounds and climate information. As a result, the AI model they’re using now has half billion data points dedicated to Amazonia.

“We have a responsibility as a studio to not just offer beautiful virtual worlds with AI and art, but to highlight that we have something incredibly important that we perhaps lost and find a new way to connect with nature through technology.” – says Anadol.

Practical Info

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Address

Serpentine North Gallery | W Carriage Dr, London W2 2AR

Opening Times

16 February – 7 April 2024

Monday: CLOSED

Tue – Sun: 10am – 6pm

Tickets

FREE | A limited number of pre-booked tickets are available for guaranteed timed entry. If the pre-booked tickets sold out, walk-ins accepted but you may have to queue.

Ready for your next adventure? Whilst you’re in Hyde Park, why not visit Serpentine Galleries’ other venue, Serpentine South Gallery where there’s another free exhibition, called ‘Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.’

February 2 2024

Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. – New Exhibition at Serpentine South Gallery

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Serpentine South Gallery presents, American artist, Barbara Kruger’s first solo exhibition in London in over 20 years. ‘Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.’ combines text, audio clips and memes to explore how we consume online and offline content.

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📇 New thought-provoking exhibition opened at Serpentine South Gallery @Serpentine | Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. #serpentinegallery #barbarakruger #newexhibition #exhibitionlondon #newopening #arttok #artwork #digitalart #CapCut

♬ ART – Jack Madden

Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

“I shop, therefore I am.” This statement welcomes visitors of Barbara Kruger’s solo exhibition at Serpentine South in Hyde Park. If you wait a moment, however, the message shutters into puzzle pieces to reassemble itself again, but this time showing different statements: “I shop, therefore I horde”, “I need, therefore I shop”, “I die, therefore I was”, “I love, therefore I need”.

Barbara Kruger is known for her impactful works with words and images. Her works have been presented across various spaces from billboards to skate parks to buildings and buses.

Having worked as graphic designer for newspapers and magazines for years, such as Mademoiselle, House and Garden and Aperture, Kruger developed her own unique visual language that borrows from newspaper aesthetics, advertising, and social media.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

‘Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.’ is an immersive exhibition with multiple rooms to explore. Each room features a never-ending flow of texts, audio clips, memes or animated photos often using provocative language.

Everchanging sentences and headlines are being written in front of our eyes in Helvetica Ultra Compressed, Futura Bold and Futura Bold Oblique constantly changing the meaning of the sentences. The texts are about consumerism, power, and gender, pushing us to constantly re-think and re-consider our perspectives on how we see the world around us.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

At the same time single-word statements and short phrases are echoing back and forth within the walls of the exhibition rooms, directly addressing the viewer.

Kruger is manipulating the language of social media and online culture. She is sampling memes, lyrics and texts from social media and newspapers, questioning society and authority and our place in it.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The whole exhibition is very photogenic, however, the most Instagrammable room is perhaps the one with the black and white installation covering all the walls and the floor.

A quote from George Orwell’s famous novel, ‘1984’ is installed on the floor, while another quote from Virginia Woolf is installed on the longest wall, highlighting the word “YOU” as if we were looking at it through a fish-eye lens.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Barbara Kruger’s artworks have not only been featured on billboards, galleries, and buses, but her designs have frequently appeared on merchandise. Some limited-edition merch is available to purchase at Serpentine South building.

Kruger’s designs appear not only within but outside the walls of Serpentine South as well. If you’re lucky, you can spot one of the three iconic London taxis with Kruger’s unmissable designs somewhere in London.

One of Kruger’s digital installations, ‘Silent Writings’ 2009/2024 will also be presented in collaboration with Outernet London next to Tottenham Court Road Station.

The artwork will be showing on selected Monday evenings from 4 March 2024. Download Outernet London’s mobile app for timings. App Store Google Play

Practical Info

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Address

Serpentine South Gallery | Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA

Opening Times

1 February – 17 March 2024

Tue – Sun: 10am – 6pm

Tickets

The exhibition is free and open to all | You can book a time slot here for guaranteed entry, however, walk-ins accepted on a first come first serve basis.

Ready for your next adventure? Halcyon Gallery is currently running a free Andy Warhol exhibition. ‘Andy Warhol: Beyond the Brand’– among many others – features 10 never-seen-before artworks from the pop artist’s famous ‘Ads’ series. Make sure you visit both of the buildings of Halcyon Gallery!

October 3 2021

The Real Pet Cemetery

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We all know Stephen King’s famous novel, ‘Pet Sematary’. Many of us spent nights reading the book full of dreadful mysteries about a cemetery dedicated to pets; and the soil bearing spiritual power to let the dead come back to life again.

Well, the pet cemetery does exist and it’s in Hyde Park.

Older Than You Think

The Pet Cemetery is at Victoria Lodge rare garden.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Hyde Park secret Pet Cemetery was not opened by plan.

Let’s go back in time in 1881, when this little graveyard’s story started with Cherry, a Maltese terrier.

Cherry loved spending time in Hyde Park with their owners Mr and Mrs J. Lewis Barned. As they visited Hyde Park quite often, the husband and wife made a friendship with the park’s gatekeeper Mr Winbridge.

When Cherry passed away at an old age, their owner approached Mr Winbridge and asked if there was any chance to bury their beloved dog within the park, in Victoria Lodge’s back garden, as that had Cherry’s favourite place been.

They got the permission and Cherry’s tombstone is still there with its inscription, ‘Poor Cherry. Died April 28. 1881’

The Prince’s Dog

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The next pet to be buried here was Duke of Cambridge’s beloved dog, a Yorkshire terrier, named Prince. Prince had met his end under the wheel of a carriage in an unfortunate accident.

Soon, Hyde Park became wealthy Londoners’ beloved companions’ final resting place.

More Than a Thousand Graves

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The Pet Cemetery closed in 1903 as it was getting too cramped.

By the time the cemetery closed, 300 little souls had been laid to rest in the tiny back garden. The Victorian cemetery was the first public pet cemetery in Britain, and over 1,000 pets buried there.

Dogs are the Most Common Animals

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Mostly dogs are buried in the Pet Cemetery – many of them had a fatal encounter with carriages – but there are plenty of cats and birds and even a monkey.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The headstones bear simple inscriptions addressed to faithful companions:

“In loving memory of my darling little Cirrie, Died March 14 1893”

“To the beloved memory of Orphie, Most faithful devoted friend who left us sorrowing, Died Aug 22 1897”

“In memory of my dearest little Susan”

There is even a victim of a murder, Balu.

“Balu, Son of Fritz, Poisoned by a cruel Swiss, 1899”

Photo: Urban Adventurer

How to Visit

The cemetery is not open to the public but at rare occasions The Royal Parks organise walking tours that include special viewing to the Pet Cemetery.

If you missed the special viewing, you can still contact with Hyde Park and arrange a one-hour private viewing.

Peek through the railings by Victoria Gate to catch a glimpse of the real Pet Cemetery.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Alternatively, peek through the park’s railings by Victoria Gate and you can catch a glimpse of the tiny tombstones. Map

Ready for your next adventure? Visit London’s weirdest museum: Museum of Curiosities.