Serpentine launches a new chapter in institutional sustainability in collaboration with Formafantasma

The Serpentine in London has appointed Formafantasma as its first Lead R&D Fellows in Ecology, marking the beginning of a multi-year collaboration in summer 2026. This initiative is a significant milestone in the gallery’s long-term environmental strategy, as it extends ecological thinking beyond exhibitions to encompass operations, research, and public programmes.

Led by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, Formafantasma will examine how environmental responsibility can inform curatorial practice, exhibition production, resource management, labour, and institutional decision-making, positioning design research as a tool for lasting organisational change.

Ecology and design as parts of the forefront of the future changing

The collaboration will begin with an in-depth assessment of the Serpentine’s structures and workflows to identify practical opportunities to strengthen its ecological practices. This research will inform immediate actions and a long-term framework for the institution’s future development.

A parallel public programme comprising talks, workshops and discussions will share the research process, encouraging broader conversations about the environmental responsibilities of cultural institutions. The resulting model will offer practical strategies that museums and galleries can adapt to their own contexts.

This appointment further builds on the gallery’s long-standing engagement with environmental discourse, from its collaborations with Gustav Metzger to the General Ecology programme launched in 2018. It also strengthens Formafantasma’s relationship with the gallery, following their acclaimed 2020 exhibition Cambio, which examined the environmental and political implications of the global timber industry.

In this new chapter, the focus is turned inward as Formafantasma’s research-driven methodology is applied to the Serpentine itself. By linking ecology with governance, programming and everyday operations, the collaboration presents sustainability as a matter of institutional culture, accountability and shared responsibility, rather than just materials.

Join our conversation with Formafantasma as Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin explore environmental responsibility, the many meanings of function, and the unseen narratives embedded in everyday objects.