When Smiljan Radic's pavilion opened in Hyde Park last summer it drew immediate comparison with a Dolmen, an alien object from prehistory set amidst the manicured and methodical romanticism of London parkland. In November, after its London run, the Radic pavilion was carefully carved up, demounted and reinstalled in Hauser & Wirth's new Somerset outpost.
The pavilion sits amidst new landscaping by the Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, another Serpentine regular (he collaborated with Zumthor on his inside-out garden space in 2011). It's still early days for Oudolf's planting, but the designer's characteristically dense drawing shows the one and a half acre rise crammed with 26,000 perennials, with the distant pavilion set against fields and woods beyond. It is a bucolic scene, as are the views out of the great curved openings and oculi in the elevated structure. The pavilion doesn't have a lofty purpose, apart from being a fine vantage point and café, but Radic seems happy enough for it to be repurposed as a rural folly - 'to see the object in another space is a really, really strange thing.' The great quarry stones that contain the steel supports are scattered over slope, enhancing the pavilion's monolithic appearance.
Hauser & Wirth's rural ecosystem is thriving. Just eight months after opening Durslade Farm there have already been 90,000 visitors, against initial projections of 40,000 a year. The modest new additions by Argentinean architect Louis Laplace are weathering gently into the landscape, set alongside the restored walls and roofs of the original agricultural landscape. Alice Workman, the gallery's director, has initiated a new architecture programme, buoyed by the pavilion and it is soon to see more new building following an architectural competition for a new studio 'hut', which received some 300 entrants. There's also a new show, 'Land Marks', which makes explicit the connection between visionary architecture and landscape. Curated by Nicholas Olsberg and Markus Lähteenmäki, it contains over 100 striking exhibits - mostly drawn from a private collection - that cover practically every period of emerging architecture and before.
The Radic Pavilion has perhaps the happiest afterlife of any Serpentine structure. While the majority of the 15 pavilions created for the London gallery are in long-term storage, other structures will never transcend their glorious debut in Kensington Gardens. The structure's Somerset tenure is currently open-ended, but it's not hard to imagine this pebble-like folly intriguing and engaging visitors for decades to come.
Curved openings lend glimpses onto gardens designed by Piet Oudolf and wilder Somerset landscapes
'To see the object in another space is a really, really strange thing,' says Radic
The Radic Pavilion - the happiest afterlife of any Serpentine structure?
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth Somerset
Durslade Farm
Dropping Lane
Bruton
Somerset BA10 0NL
-
The best over-ear headphones, tested by expertsThis round up of the best over-ear headphones reveals how leading products from Apple, Bose, Focal, Sennheiser, and Sony matched up when we put them to the test
-
A house near São Paulo combines Brazilian design, convivial living and a strong sense of privacyKG Studio’s JF Residence synthesises the best of contemporary Brazilian design, inside and out, to create a sleek set of spaces for entertaining and relaxing
-
The Zaha Hadid Foundation announces a new programme to support emerging architectsThe Zaha Hadid Scholars Program will fully fund two architecture students per year for the duration of their studies at the American University of Beirut
-
Cindy Sherman in Menorca: ‘She's decades ahead of social media and the construction of identity for the camera’‘Cindy Sherman: The Women’, its title a nod to an image-conscious 1930s Broadway hit, takes the American artist's carefully constructed, highly performative works to Hauser & Wirth Menorca
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth MenorcaUS-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Inside the distorted world of artist George RouyFrequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
The lesser-known Los Angeles galleries contributing to a vibrant art sceneOutside of LACMA, MOCA and The Broad, these independent LA galleries are major players in the art world
-
Larry Bell explores the ethereal nature of glass in MonacoLarry Bell's retrospective at Hauser & Wirth, Monaco, unites old and new work
-
Los Angeles art exhibitions: the best shows to see in July 2025Read our pick of the best Los Angeles art exhibitions to see this month, from Viraj Khanna's first solo West Coast exhibition at Rajiv Menon Contemporary to ‘Roots of Cool’ celebrating female artists at Descanso Gardens
