London's Serpentine Galleries has appointed the Italian design studio Formafantasma to a newly created advisory role intended to embed 'environmental thinking across its programme, operations and organisational culture'.
Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, who work between Milan and Rotterdam, have taken up the title of 'Lead R&D Fellows, Ecology', in a three-year partnership that signals a shift in how the art institution approaches environmental responsibility. Rather than contributing a single exhibition or project, the duo will work across the organisation, examining everything from curatorial processes and exhibition-making to daily operations, resource use, labour and the gallery's civic role.
Serpentine Gallery and Formafantasma
The collaboration will begin with a research phase, during which the designers will map the Serpentine’s processes and systems and identify where they can best intervene. They plan to 'prioritise approaches that can begin locally and scale systematically'. A parallel public programme will communicate the findings and activities that emerge.
‘Cambio’, 2020, installation view
'We look forward to collaboratively reimagining the civic role of institutions, from curatorial processes to questions about space, resources, labour and ecology, and to creating new platforms for dialogue that acknowledge urgency while insisting on knowledge, complexity, and accountability,' said Trimarchi and Farresin, in a statement announcing the appointment.
In 2020, the duo presented ‘Cambio’ at Serpentine North, a research-led exhibition examining the ecological, political and economic dimensions of the global timber industry. While that project examined the environmental consequences of an entirely separate sector, this fellowship turns a critical lens on the institution itself – its day-to-day operations and long-term strategy.
‘Cambio’, 2020, installation view
'Our partnership with Formafantasma extends ecological thinking into our systems, our spaces, and our everyday practices, probing the complex, and often contradictory, role an institution like ours plays within the ecological crisis,' Serpentine's chief executive Bettina Korek said.
Artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist added: 'Formafantasma’s practice critically engages with the ecological responsibilities of design, examining materials across time, from their histories to questions of future survival within contemporary living conditions, and following “Cambio”, we can’t wait to start this new chapter together.'
Thinking beyond art and culture: an urgent shift
The appointment of a design studio by an art institution reflects a broader tendency among cultural organisations to draw on expertise from beyond their traditional disciplines. Earlier this year, Whitechapel Gallery appointed the economist Mariana Mazzucato as its economist-in-residence, while Fondation Beyeler in Basel created the role of botanical curator for Rahel Kesselring.
It also comes as museums and galleries face growing pressure to address their environmental impact. A 2024 survey by research body Indigo found that 72 per cent of UK cultural audiences believe cultural organisations have a responsibility to influence society on the climate emergency, while only 16 per cent think they currently place great importance on that role. A 2021 report by climate action charity Julie's Bicycle estimated that the global art world's carbon footprint – including institutional activity and visitor travel – amounts to around 70 million tonnes each year.
The sector has started to measure its own progress. The Gallery Climate Coalition, whose members include more than 2,000 commercial galleries, non-profit organisations, cultural institutions and artists' studios across more than 60 countries, set a target of halving members' carbon emissions by 2030. Its 2025 report indicates that 79 per cent of organisations that began monitoring emissions in 2019 are on track to meet that goal, but warned that the largest players account for a disproportionate share of emissions. According to the coalition, the biggest 22 per cent of organisations generate half of all emissions, while the top 0.04 per cent account for around 5 per cent – roughly 140 times their proportional weight. It claims that wider adoption of measures already implemented by its 'leading members' could save five million tonnes of carbon annually by 2030.
As arts organisations face mounting pressure from both public opinion and financial constraints – against a backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, tightening budgets and increased scrutiny of public spending – they are increasingly being challenged to demonstrate their wider civic relevance and responsiveness to societal concerns. The Serpentine’s decision is an example of such responsibilities being reflected in internal governance, not just public programming.