Bird Nest authors open summer pavilion in London

Yesterday in London, at the Serpentine Gallery, the pavilion was opened, created by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron with the participation of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei. The event is timed to the opening of the Olympic Games 2012, scheduled for July 27.

© Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei

Every year, the best architects and artists create a similar design, which throughout the summer will serve as a venue for the exhibition of contemporary art. This year the pavilion is a low indoor gallery, with a roof in the shape of a huge saucer filled with water. For the authors of the pavilion, this work was not the first joint project. It was they who a few years ago created the main stadium of the Beijing Olympics “Bird’s Nest”. In past years, famous architects such as Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Oscar Niemeyer worked on the pavilions at Serpentine Gallery. The pavilion will be open to visitors from July 1 to October 14.

Ai Weiwei, whose political activity created many problems for him with the Chinese authorities, said he was very interested in working on this project, where art, design and architecture merged. Jacques Herzog was also very pleased with the result, despite the fact that the architects had to communicate with Weiwei via Skype. A Chinese artist, sculptor and photographer was arrested last year on charges of tax evasion and cannot leave his country.

Anna Sidorova