03 Nov 2015
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. Simon Denny's exhibition has been supported by a $50,000 grant to the Serpentine Gallery from Creative New Zealand's International Presentation Fund. The fund supports international presentation of high quality work that results from specific initiatives managed by Creative New Zealand's international team.
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.
Media enquiries to:
Sarah Pomeroy
Senior Communications Adviser
Creative New Zealand | Toi Aotearoa
Mob: +64 27 677 8070 | DDI: +64 4 498 0725 E: sarah.pomeroy@creativenz.govt.nz
Further information about Simon Denny, Secret Power and New Zealand’s participation in the Venice Biennale is available on the Secret Power website.
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