Lauren Halsey. emajendat
Serpentine South, Kensington Gardens, London
From October 11th, 2024 until March 2nd, 2025
Fresh from her recent major projects for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the 60th Venice Biennale this year, Californian artist Lauren Halsey makes her London debut this week, as she presents emajendat at the Serpentine. Here, she’s transformed the gallery into a fully immersive funk garden, complete with a site-specific installation that responds to its locale – the regal Kensington Gardens.
Open to the public from Friday, Halsey shares her characteristic visual vocabulary that she’s developed over the past decade, and it’s one that traverses time, cultures and references. Think an expression of material culture via maximalist installations and stand-alone objects that nod to the sign and symbols of her Los Angeles home.
Drawing inspiration from her wanderings through her South-Central neighbourhood, he artist takes notice of the ever-evolving streetcars, evidencing objects, poster,s tags, signs, and slogans that come together to express the lifestyle and the behaviours of her setting. These elements are incorporated and showcased in her floor-and wall-based assemblies, and miniature dioramas embedded in her “funkmound” sculptures.
“…it was a natural extension of my dreaming.”
Move through Halsey’s “garden” and viewers will see the technicoloured sand dunes before physically entering a life-size diorama. The walls and floors covered with the mirrored side of discarded CDs for a nod to the ‘90s and noughties in which she grew up. The result? A prism-like effect, while scaled-up recreations of figurines originally collected from swap meets and community members of South Central populate the space.
This is set against sculptural components, plants, a live water feature with cupped hands showcasing the heavily adorned nails like those commonly worn in the Black community, found objects, and bespoke wallpaper — an ode to South Central’s rich visual culture and its inhabitants.
Epitomising the Serpentine’s mission of building connections and platform voices, the exhibition is further celebrated as a special Lauren Halsey Limited Edition is now available with all proceeds directly supporting the Serpentine’s Exhibition, Architecture, Design, Education and Digital programmes. The work is also available at Allied Editions booth at Frieze London, at Serpentine, and online. Plus, the Serpentine and Rizzoli has released a publication on Halsey, designed by ALASKA ALASKA (the London-based design studio founded by Virgil Abloh) with contributions from poets Will Alexander and Douglas Kearney, art historian LeRonn Brooks, musician and founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, George Clinton, creative Harmony Holiday, and Serpentine CEO, Bettina Korek.
For further information serpentinegalleries.org.
“Incorporating sand, plants, light and sound, this commission is one of the artist’s most ambitious installations to date. By archiving and remixing the changing signs and symbols of her community, Halsey offers a celebratory and creative form of resistance to its growing gentrification.”
