Welcome to the Scoop: a weekly email series in which I quiz fashion insiders on the stories of the week. This will be a way for the Vogue Business community to synthesize and reflect on the latest headlines and get a little inside scoop every Friday.
This week’s guest is Bettina Korek, CEO of London’s Serpentine Galleries. Having spent the noughties making the LA art scene a thing outside LA, Bettina moved to London for the Serpentine job in 2020. She has been working on a variation of the same theme ever since: namely, to “bring the best of the world to one place and also take what’s local and share it globally.”
The Serpentine Summer Party, which takes place on June 23, actually started as a gala in the 1990s — Diana, Princess of Wales, wore her famous revenge dress there in 1994. In 2000, Zaha Hadid designed the inaugural pavilion, which marked the beginning of the event’s current form: The Serpentine commissions a different architect each year to design its pavilion and then hosts a party for the arty and the fashionable, bang in the middle of Kensington Gardens in London.
But hosting an event of this caliber comes with layers of complexity and many different players. I called Bettina for a chat.
Hi, Bettina, what’s the scoop?
Isha Ambani is returning to chair our Serpentine Summer Party host committee for a second year, and we’re thrilled. Other members of this year’s host committee include Adwoa Aboah, Sou Fujimoto, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Lisa Love, Sumayya Vally, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
Isha Ambani is an Indian fashion magnate. The links between fashion and the art world are ever-growing, while India is fast emerging as a cultural power with significant spending abilities. Can you talk to me about that in the context of the Serpentine and the Summer Party?
Yes, art and fashion have always been in conversation; there’s that shared instinct for experimentation, identity, and self-expression. India is one of the most significant creative forces in the world. Isha has always supported Indian arts and culture by creating new opportunities for artists and taking part in projects that are based on meaningful cross-cultural exchange.
The Serpentine has always stood for the porousness between art and the other creative industries, and our summer party has long been a meeting point for representatives from those industries.
What does the host committee do?
The Serpentine party has been iconic since it started in 2000. It’s really a gathering for our community and our global patrons. We introduced the host committee two years ago to involve creative figures whose involvement expands our capabilities when it comes to raising funds as well as the Serpentine’s profile.
Last year, for example, Cate Blanchett was the co-host of the event, reflecting her work in Bangladesh and her interest in Marina Tabassum, the pavilion’s architect. This year, our pavilion is designed by Lanza, which is an architecture studio in Mexico City. Salma Hayek, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu are co-hosts.
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