Serpentine has announced the launch of a new online & physical publication focusing on innovation in long-form writing. The yearly publication offers space for deep research, reflection, and creative exploration across various formats.
Committed to slow publishing, the Reader fosters dialogue between established and emerging voices. The publication will feature contributions from artists and writers passionate about crafting immersive narratives and exploring new literary expressions. A new project from Serpentine editorial team who previously produced Serpentine podcast, the Reader will explore editorial experiments and fosters conversations between disciplines.
The first issue of Serpentine Reader delves into circulation—the forces that propel us forward and the patterns that keep us trapped. From the movement of history to the endless recycling of ideas, circulation shapes how we engage with the world. This issue explores the myriad ways in which we navigate the currents of information, energy, culture, and meaning in our interconnected world. Whether circulation acts as a lifeline or a loop, a conduit for renewal or a mechanism of constraint, depends on how we choose to engage with it. As Serpentine Reader enters circulation, readers will be invited to consider the currents the world is caught in, the histories we repeat, and the possibilities for breaking the loop.
Hanna Girma, Serpentine Senior Editor, Creator of Editorial Projects said:
“Less manifesto, more murmuration – the issue is a loose constellation of voices swirling around big questions: how history moves, how meaning calcifies, and whether anything can truly change. Circulation, as a theme, is both the flow of life and the choke of repetition – a dance of eels and asteroids, rivers and rubber bands.”
Featured contributors will include Gary Zhexi Zhang, Hana Pera Aoake, Tosia Leniarska, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Aria Dean.
Hana Pera Aoake, “Rivers/Water” – For the M?ori, rivers carry mauri, a life force; in contrast, London’s polluted waterways now function as poisoned arteries of a broken system. Aoake weaves Indigenous knowledge with late-stage capitalism’s extractive logic, arguing that granting rivers legal personhood might be the last chance to restore their voice—and their power.
Aria Dean, The Line – In this novella, a man waits for coffee, but what he’s really waiting for is meaning. In a world where circulation is compulsory—of bodies, capital, and thought—he finds himself trapped in a smooth, frictionless reality where nothing feels real. Dean captures the uncanny texture of contemporary life, where every idea is a remix, and every remix forgets its source.
Okwui Okpokwasili, Why – Revisiting and annotating a song-epic, Okpokwasili explores the echoes of colonialism and slavery, tracing how history lodges itself in the body. Her writing interrogates the stories we inherit, the violence we carry, and the possibility of transforming that burden into something new. Pulsing with the insistence of oral tradition, Why urges us to listen to history’s whispers, and its demands.
Tosia Leniarska, The Compulsion – The eel’s contorted body becomes a metaphor for interconnectedness, stretching across geological time and biological necessity. Leniarska embarks on a wide-ranging journey through salt, bloodletting, and industrial extraction, revealing the material world as a web of persistence, one that resists human control.
Gary Zhexi Zhang, Who’s Afraid of a Multipolar World? – Power circulates, but does it ever truly shift? Zhang examines global power structures, tracing Cold War bipolarity, American hegemony, and the uncertain terrain of a multipolar future. He warns against the lure of nationalism and explores ‘negative cosmopolitanism’, a solidarity born not from shared dreams, but shared discontent.
Nolan Oswald Dennis, Throwers (space-rock notes pt.1) – Throwing is an act of disruption, whether it’s a man hurling a rock at a border wall or an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Dennis explores the unpredictability of chaotic systems, the power of naming, and the idea that ‘worldlessness’—a break from imposed structures, might be a kind of freedom.
Thursday 27th February 2025, Reference Point, 2 Arundel St, Temple, London WC2R 3DA
From 7.30PM with performances from 8PM
Places are limited, please register your interest: press@serpentinegalleries.org
The evening will feature a special musical response from artist Hinako Omori and cocktails crafted by chef Nil Mutluer. Limited-edition physical copies of The Reader, designed by Louise Camu, will be available for purchase. The night will conclude with a DJ set by Manuka Honey.
