AN ARTWORK THROUGH WHICH YOU ARE INVITED TO WALK

NEXT TO THE 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, a wonderful structure that makes creative use of brickwork, there is another creation, an artwork by Jesus Rafael Soto (born in Venezuela in 1923, and died in 2005). It consists of a rectangular frame filled with a grid of finely spaced rectangles and supported by three pairs of vertical pillars. 4000 identical, 10 metre long, thin, yellow PVC tubes hang down from the frame, almost reaching the ground beneath it. This work, first made in 1999 and then recreated in 2023, is called “Pénétrable BBL Jaune”.

The structure is an example of kinetic art. As the Serpentine’s website explained:
“From a distance, the closely spaced strands seem to shimmer and shift due to a moiré effect. Visitors are invited to walk through the work, allowing their movement to activate and transform the space around them.”
And many visitors, including me, were tempted to enter the sculpture and make one’s way through the forest of plastic fibres, which, although they look as light as feathers, offer some resistance to one’s passage.

Soto’s sculpture is is both intriguing to enter and to observe from outside it. The seemingly simple array of yellow tubes provides an interesting spectacle as it is disturbed both by breezes and people wandering through it. It will remain on view until 26 October 2026.