Purple Travel
[March 23 2015]
A visit to Hauser & Wirth, Somerset
Originally commissioned by London’s Serpentine Gallery last summer, Smiljan Radic’s semi-translucent pavilion now sits in the grounds of Hauser & Wirth Somerset, as if transplanted from outer space. Occupying the far end of the site – which is both an art centre and a working farm – landscaped by Piet Oudolf of New York’s High Line fame, the pavilion is part of a romantic tradition of so-called follies, designed to dissolve within, and enhance their surroundings. Coinciding with the opening of the Radic Pavilion are a series of sound installations by Susan Philipsz, and the Land Marks: Structures for a Poetic Universe exhibition of architectural models by the likes of Superstudio, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, to name just a few. Situated in Bruton, in England’s idyllic Cotswolds, visitors to Hauser & Wirth Somerset can drink and dine at the Roth Bar & Grill, and have the option to rent out the Dursdale Farmhouse and live amongst a number of works created by the gallery’s artists in residence, or to stay at the chic The Chapel hotel in the village nearby.
Text and photo Xerxes Cook
