On the evening of June 23, a marquee cast of cultural and philanthropic figures will congregate in London’s Kensington Gardens for the Serpentine Summer Party 2026. The invitation-only annual event, a centerpiece of the summer social season, celebrates Serpentine’s annual architectural commission and raises funds for the institution’s exhibitions and programming, all free and open to the public. For this year’s pavilion, Mexico City–based LANZA atelier designed a snaking crinkle-crankle wall titled a serpentine. The studio (founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo) will also collaborate with conceptual culinary artist Laila Gohar on the summer party’s sensorial experience—from a bench commission to the gastronomic direction.
“For several years, we’ve worked to draw the Pavilion’s architect deeper into the Summer Party,” Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, shares, “and this year LANZA atelier and Laila Gohar have shaped the evening together—the bench, the food, the energy of the night. Both took their cue from the spiral at the heart of LANZA’s Pavilion, a form of creation and renewal that even echoes in Jesús Rafael SOTO’s sculpture nearby.”
Gohar, whose recent Salone del Mobile carousel installation was the talk of Milan, will invoke ingredients that, according to the artist, carry entire worlds inside of them. “Corn, chocolate, mole… Ordinary and monumental at the same time. They are ingredients that hold stories of cultivation, transformation, trade, ritual, and pleasure,” Gohar shares. “For the Summer Party, these ingredients move through LANZA’s spiral landscape like offerings.” Throughout, guests will indulge a sense of discovery that’s “somewhere between architecture, landscape, and banquet, the party becomes a living composition shaped by the people’s movement.”
Some of LANZA atelier’s benches, which will grow “organically through movement and conversation,” according to the studio, will hold Gohar’s corn creations: esquites and elotes. “Corn is Mexico’s most important seed, a crop that has nourished communities and imaginations for centuries—fitting alongside the reenactment of a British serpentine fruit wall,” LANZA shares. “The cycle is complete, or perhaps just beginning, and we’re ready to celebrate.”
The return of Isha Ambani as Chair of the Host Committee furthers the international discourse that empowers the exclusive occasion. “Culture is one of humanity’s most powerful connectors,” Ambani shares. “It helps us see the world through one another’s eyes, discover common ground, and celebrate our differences. I believe the future of the arts will be shaped by greater collaboration across cultures, and I am excited to celebrate that spirit of connection and creativity with Serpentine this year.”
