The Serpentine Pavillion
January 24, 2012
1:5 'I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.'
Last summer I visited the 2011 incarnation of the Serpentine Gallery's Pavilion.
This is an annual commission for an architect or artist to create a temporary structure for the summer.
This year it was designed by visionary Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
It is a kind of sanctuary with a cloister like structure opening into a central garden which is jewel like with seating built into the architecture.
The image of the black painted hessian on the surface of the structure made me think of the Tents of Kedar, as much for the texture as the colour.
The Tents of Kedar were the temporary homes of the nomadic Arabian tribe, the Kedar, made of skins from their herds of black goats.
Read more on the Tents of Kedar.
The gardens inside was a trigger for me to recall:
4:12 'A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse.'
by Struan Leslie
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