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Lauren Halsey to Unveil emajendat at Serpentine Gallery

In a significant development for contemporary art, Lauren Halsey has announced the opening of a sculpture park in her hometown of South Central Los Angeles, California, set to launch in May. This temporary installation will echo the aesthetics of her monumental rooftop presentation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City last year.

emajendat: Lauren Halsey’s Debut at Serpentine Gallery

Halsey is also set to debut a new multifaceted presentation titled emajendat at Serpentine Gallery in London. This marks the artist’s first institutional exhibition in the United Kingdom. Her site-specific installation will transform the gallery into an “immersive funk garden,” integrating elements of the surrounding Kensington Gardens with her distinctive visual language. The exhibition will explore themes pertinent to Black communities and address pivotal issues such as gentrification.

Contemporary Art: Fusion of Influences and Cultural Icons

The Serpentine Gallery described Halsey’s work as a vibrant fusion of past, present, and future influences, drawing on iconography from the African diaspora, ancient Egypt, and Black and Queer cultural figures. Her practice extends beyond the gallery to Summaeverythang, the community center she founded in 2019, which is dedicated to the socio-political, economic, intellectual, and artistic empowerment of Black and Brown communities.

Immersive Art: Experiencing South Central LA in London

Visitors to emajendat will experience a surrealist blend of South Central LA’s backyard culture, including technicolored sand dunes, mirrored CDs that produce prism-like effects, and life-sized figurations of LA community members scattered throughout the garden.

UK Exhibitions: Significance of Halsey’s Work at Serpentine

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine’s renowned curator and artistic director, emphasized the exhibition’s significance: “Halsey’s work aligns with Serpentine’s mission of connecting artists and audiences. This commission, incorporating sand, plants, light, and sound, represents one of her most ambitious installations to date.”