PHOTO: Inside the Serpentine Summer Party 2026

Serpentine Summer Party 2026 - Arrivals — Emilie Livingston and Jeff Goldblum. Mike Marsland/WireImage

On Tuesday (June 23), as the setting sun bathed London’s Kensington Gardens in a honeyed glow, the Serpentine Summer Festival – annually one of the UK art scene’s most popular events – was back in characteristically flawless form. This year’s party was organized by the art patron and former mayor of New York Michael BloombergCEO of Serpentine Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obristco-hosted by the actress Salma Hayek Pinault and filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron AND Alejandro González Iñárritu. Art patron and entrepreneur I was Ambani (in a glance from Steve O Smith) returned for her second year as host committee chair.

As always, the newly unveiled Serpentine Pavilion, a snakewas the star around which the evening orbited. Designed by Mexico City-based atelier LANZA and constructed with rows of brick columns that alternately reveal and conceal, it situates the historic masonry of the South Serpentine in the long cultural exchange between Europe and America. “The English brick city and the Mexican brick wall speak different languages, but both turn earth, fire and craft into culture,” said González Iñárritu.

Actors stood out among the crowd Michael B. Jordan, Jeff Goldblum, Kyle Maclachlan, Rebel Wilson AND Isla Fisher; the artists Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Wolfgang Tillmans, Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry AND Yinka Shonibare; architect Lina Ghotmeh; social Nicky Hilton; and, as usual, an absolute cavalcade of designers, Aaron Ash, Charles Jeffrey, Chet Lo, Daisy Knatchbull, Daniel Lee, David Koma, Dilara Findikoglu, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem Moralıoğlu, Harris Reed, Priya Ahluwalia, Robert Wun, Roksanda Ilincic AND Wes Gordon between them. When they weren’t mixing and mingling, they went on an artist-led tour of Kensington Gardens that showcased the Serpentine’s summer program, which features major exhibitions of works by Cecily Brown (“Making pictures”) and David Hockney (“A Year in Normandy and Other Thoughts on Painting”), together Jesus Rafael Sotohis public installation Penetrable BBL Yellow (1999; 2023 Edition).

In what we understand is a brand new approach to Summer Party, the LANZA atelier in partnership with the Egyptian artist Laila Gohar to form the creative direction of the party. She created a spiraling sequence of culinary experiences that included tamales, hibiscus, mango and guava sorbets and a chocolate installation inspired by the bricks of the Pavilion, along with Air weighta series of fascinating fabric installations. “The spiral invites movement and the food follows its path, is passed between hands, shared in conversation, consumed and transformed,” she said. “Somewhere between architecture, landscape and banquet, the party becomes a living composition formed by the movement of people.”

A cleverly curated music program kept the energy high as dusk gave way to darkness. DJ Wolfram Amadeus opened, followed by DJ Carlitabefore Danny L Harle spun what was perhaps the most compelling set of the night. But the most joyous notes of the evening were played by Mariachi Las Adelitas, whose acoustic performance brought warmth, humor and an unexpectedly moving thread of celebration to a night that was already, by any measure, perfectly harmonious.