Hans Ulrich Obrist Unveils Miracle Weekend With Gilbert & George & Genesis P-Orridge

Artists, writers, scientists and philosophers will come together for a London-wide weekend of live discussion, events and broadcast exploring the themes of miracles, ritual, imagination and magical thinking at the Serpentine’s eleventh annual festival of ideas.

For the first time in its history, the marathon will become truly be a London-wide festival, with the first day taking place at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and the second day taking place Second Home (52 Insights’ home). For a worldwide audience, the entire Marathon will be broadcast live throughout the weekend on Serpentine Radio, an online platform dedicated to live streaming.

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director said: “In these troubled times, the Miracle Marathon aims to send a strong message of optimism about the power that art and imagination have in shaping change and long-term futures. As Mark Cousins, Andrew O’Hagan and Sophia Al-Maria, our 2016 Marathon advisors, have taught us, the structure of miracles reveals an intense condition of wishing – the wishing of mystics, visionaries and pioneers.” Some other artists and scientists appearing will be Carl Rovelli of the bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and artist James Bridle amongst many others.

The Miracle Marathon will be the eleventh in the Serpentine’s annual Marathon series, an ambitious event that brings together the fields of art, culture, science and technology. Conceived in 2006 by Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Marathons follow an incredible lineage of artists and pioneering individuals appearing: Interview Marathon, 2006 (with Rem Koolhaas); Experiment Marathon, 2007 (with Olafur Eliasson); Manifesto Marathon, 2008; Poetry Marathon, 2009; Map Marathon, 2010; Garden Marathon, 2011; Memory Marathon, 2012; 89plus Marathon, 2013; Extinction Marathon, 2014 (with Gustav Metzger) and Transformation Marathon, 2015.

For more info watch the trailer here:

The Miracle Marathon Weekend will take place on 8-9 October 2016. More info here.