The Serpentine Gallery is delighted to present Philippe Parreno’s first solo exhibition in a UK public institution. Born in 1964, Parreno rose to prominence in the 1990s, earning critical acclaim for his work, which employs a diversity of media including film, sculpture, performance and text.
Parreno’s exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery has been conceived as a scripted space in which a series of events unfolds. The visitor is guided through the galleries by the orchestration of sound and image, which heightens their sensory experience. Noise from Kensington Gardens and from the surrounding streets can be heard inside the Gallery, as though the outside is leaking in. The blinds come up to reveal a sudden change of weather. Taking the exhibition as a medium, Parreno has sought to redefine the exhibition experience by exploring its possibilities as a coherent ‘object’ rather than a collection of individual works.
The show features the UK premiere of Parreno’s latest film, Invisibleboy (2010), the story of an illegal Chinese immigrant boy who sees imaginary monsters that are scratched onto the film stock. In this filmic portrait, fantasy and social realism, fiction and documentary overlap. June 8, 1968 (2009) recalls the train voyage that transported the corpse of assassinated senator Robert Kennedy from New York to Washington D.C. Kennedy’s invisible body and the Invisibleboy are characters that float between several layers of reality. Set in Asia, The Boy from Mars (2003) follows dimming points of light and reflections of the sun, before lingering on buffalo tied to a purpose-built structure containing an electricity-generating machine that provides the power required to make the film.
Whether through the cinematic image or the exhibition itself, Parreno explores and manipulates contemporary signs in all of their hallucinatory reality.
The Serpentine exhibition follows a series of related but distinct retrospectives of the artist’s work presented at Kunsthalle Zürich; Centre Pompidou, Paris (both 2009); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2009–10); and the Centre for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York (2009–10).
ENJOYED PARRENO? SEE ALL OUR OTHER CURRENT, FUTURE AND TOURING EXHIBITIONS
Talks
Andrew Bonacina, 15 January 2011
A conference about Phillipe Parreno, Part 1: Construction of Character, Friday 21 January
A conference about Phillipe Parreno, Part 2, Thursday 10 February
Catalogue
This fully illustrated monograph focuses on Parreno’s extensive work in film from his emergence as a major artist in the 1990s to the present day, and features essays by Michael Fried, Nicolas Bourriaud and Dorothea von Hantelmann
Purchase Philippe Parreno: Films 1987-2010
Press coverage
Philippe Parreno: timing is everything, The Guardian, Monday 15 November 2010
Philippe Parreno's dreams haunted by elusive visions, London Evening Standard, Thursday 25 November 2010
Exhibition review: Phiiippe Parreno, New Statesman, Friday 26 November 2010
Philippe Parreno, Serpentine Gallery, London, The Independent, Sunday 28 November 2010
Philippe Parreno, Serpentine Gallery, review, The Telegraph, Tuesday 30 November 2010
Philippe Parreno at the Serpentine: The installation that won't sit still, The Guardian, Wednesday 1 December 2010
Philippe Parreno – review, The Observer, Sunday 5 December 2010
Philippe Parreno - review, Time Out, Friday 10 December 2010
Phillipe Parreno Limited Editions: Frederico & AC/DC Snakes
On the occasion of the first solo exhibition of Philippe Parreno in a public gallery in the UK, the Serpentine Gallery is delighted to present two limited edition works by the artist, each touching upon themes of furtive apparitions and ghostly presences.
Philippe Parreno
AC/DC Snakes, 1995-2010
Electrical plugs and adapters
View and purchase your Philippe Parreno Limited Edition here
Philippe Parreno
Invisibleboy 2010
Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London
© 2010 Gautier Deblond
Philippe Parreno
Invisibleboy 2010
Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London
© 2010 Gautier Deblonde
Philippe Parreno
June 8, 1968 2009
Film still
Courtesy of Pilar Corrias Ltd
© 2010 Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno
June 8, 1968 2009
Film still
Courtesy of Pilar Corrias Ltd
© 2010 Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno
June 8, 1968 2009
Film still
Courtesy of Pilar Corrias Ltd
© 2010 Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno
The Boy From Mars 2003
Film still
© 2010 Philippe Parreno
