Serpentine Gallery

Another London summer beckons: clouds clearing, days lengthening, an imaginative structure being erected in Kensington Gardens. This year’s pavilion, ‘A Capsule in Time’ by Marina Tabassum Architects, is a modular wooden structure outfitted with translucent screens that will filter the sun’s light like the leaves of a tree, encouraging inhabitants to bask in its diffused glow. The highly adaptable space with kinetic elements is inspired by shamianas: South Asian tents used for weddings, feasts and other ceremonial occasions.

House of Music, the latest solo exhibition by Peter Doig, marks new territory for the artist who is increasingly known for being Europe’s most expensive painter, thanks to his works repeatedly selling for record-breaking, eye-watering sums on the secondary market. The show is Doig’s first foray into integrating sound into his work, through the inclusion of two sets of restored, cinema-standard analogue speakers which take centre stage in the Serpentine South Gallery, surrounded by a series of new and old paintings which relate to the artist’s love of music. The aim appears to be to transform the gallery into a listening space, something akin to the many hi-fi listening bars which have been popping up in spades around the UK in recent years, or Devon Turnbull’s excellent and hugely popular Hi-Fi Listening Room at Lisson Gallery the year before last. A smattering of plush recliners and chic tables and chairs are dotted around the various rooms, inviting art lovers to sit and enjoy the sounds of Doig’s personal vinyl collection as you take in the sights of his mesmerising, large scale paintings inspired by his time spent living in Trinidad, observing the country’s sound system culture which seemingly had a profound effect on the Scottish painter.  The only problem is, despite going to great lengths to acquire these mammoth speakers - they were ‘harvested from derelict cinemas’ by Doig’s collaborator Laurence Passera - you can’t actually hear the music very well. A private...

Featuring a series of brand new works inspired by the gallery’s leafy setting within Kensington Gardens, Cecily Brown’s Serpentine show marks her first solo exhibition in the UK since 2005, and represents something of a homecoming for the artist, who has been based in New York for the past three decades.