Lauren Halsey Will Bring South Central LA's Backyard Culture to London

Back in May, Lauren Halsey relayed a major announcement that she will open a sculpture park in her hometown of South Central Los Angeles in California. It will be a temporary installation that mimics the aesthetics of her monumental rooftop presentation which she unveiled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City last year.

Halsey continues to maneuver the contemporary art sector with a new multifaceted presentation entitled emajendat to be held Serpentine in London — signaling the artist’s first institutional exhibition in the United Kingdom. Transforming the gallery’s space into an “immersive funk garden,” Halsey’s site-specific installation will reflect the institution’s surrounding Kensington Gardens with the artist injecting her distinctive visual vocabulary across works that champion Black communities and speak on pivotal issues such as gentrification.

“Halsey’s vibrant and energetic work merges past, present and future via her interests in the iconography of cultures in the African diaspora, ancient Egypt, Black and Queer icons, visionary architecture and the visual and sonic maximalism associated with funk,” explained the gallery in a statement. “At once radical and collaborative, Halsey’s practice extends to Summaeverythang, the community centre she founded in 2019 that is ‘dedicated to the empowerment and transcendence of Black and Brown folks socio-politically, economically, intellectually and artistically.’”

The installation’s appearance will be akin to South Central LA’s backyard culture with a blend of surrealist elements. Once inside the garden, visitors will encounter technicolored sand dunes and navigate a series of discarded CDs with mirror backings that emit prism-like effects alongside a swathe of life-sized figurations of LA community members which will be placed throughout the garden.

“It’s an honour to present Lauren Halsey’s first institutional exhibition in the UK. Her work epitomises Serpentine’s mission of building connections between artists and audiences and brings to fruition a yearlong artistic bridge between London and Los Angeles. Incorporating sand, plants, light and sound, this commission is one of the artist’s most ambitious installations to date.,” described Hans Ulrich Obrist, renowned curator and artistic director of Serpentine.

Lauren Halsey’s emajendat will be on view at Serpentine South from October 4, 2024 through March 2, 2025. Head to Serpentine’s website for more information.

Serpentine Gallery
London W2 3XA
United Kingdom