Simon Denny to show at London’s famous Serpentine Gallery
New Zealand artist, Simon Denny, has been invited to mount a solo exhibition at London’s prestigious Serpentine Gallery,
following his highly successful Secret Power exhibition for the New Zealand pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale.
The invitation was officially announced last night by the Serpentine Gallery. Denny’s exhibition will open on 25
November 2015, just three days after Secret Power closes in Venice. It will be the first survey of Denny’s work in the United Kingdom.
Through two large-scale installations, dividing the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Denny will look at technological
organisational models in both hacker circles and commercial companies.
Hacker culture and tactics will be addressed in a work adapted from a previous collaboration with architect Alessandro
Bava. The structure is made of scaffolding and features a constructed path, inviting visitors to walk through and
encounter sculptures, models and vitrines developed by Denny with artist/researcher Matt Goerzen and artist/brand
consultant Emily Segal. Each vitrine will present a social narrative on the organisational history of hacking through
gathered archival material.
Opposite this, in the other half of the Gallery, Denny will use the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – one
of the three United Kingdom agencies that form the country’s security and intelligence system – and commercial tech
companies like Zappos and Apple as case studies encapsulated within a new series of sculptural models. These works will
investigate the ways organisations mirror their working models with their building’s architecture and use of physical
space. Throughout the exhibition, organisational tools emerge as common threads and connections between the disparate
yet similar ways groups of people gather around technology.
Heather Galbraith, Commissioner for the New Zealand pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale says the NZ at Venice project
team is thrilled Simon Denny will be undertaking such a major solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery.
She says, “This prestigious and highly respected organisation is renowned for supporting artists to generate significant
new installations, often in context with other relevant works.”
“That Simon is able to produce a new work furthering the investigations of Secret Power with a specifically British focus is an additional thrill. It demonstrates the relevance and international reach of the Secret Power project which has drawn and intrigued thousands of visitors in Venice this year.”
The Serpentine Galleries offer two shows per season, presenting world class exhibitions across all disciplines of
contemporary art, architecture and design.
They are among Britain's best loved galleries, attracting up to 1.2 million visitors a year. Some 100,000 people are
expected to visit the free Simon Denny exhibition which will run from 25 November 2015 until 14 February 2016.
Further information about Simon Denny, Secret Power and New Zealand’s participation in the Venice Biennale is available on the Secret Power website.
ENDS