Today We Reboot the Planet

John Hill

7. October 2013

Photo: © 2013 Jörg Baumann, courtesy of Serpentine Gallery

On September 28 the Serpentine Gallery in London's Kensington Gardens opened the Sackler Gallery, a new exhibition space and restaurant in a former gunpowder depot about a five-minute walk from the main gallery. Zaha Hadid designed a signature swooping appendage to the 1805 brick building, but the Sackler's inaugural exhibition by Argentinian sculptor Adrián Villar Rojas is just as striking, if conceptually richer.

Today We Reboot the Planet consists of clay sculptures sitting atop brick pavers that reference bricks traditionally made in Rosario, Argentina. But it's the elephant fighting the weight of a freestanding cornice that steals the show—both from the other works on display and Hadid's shiny white addition.