Ryan McGinley, Tilda Swinton, Neville Wakefield at Pringle of Scotland / Serpentine Gallery dinner closing the 195 Collaborations project, at the Webster, Miami. Photo Credit: David X Prutting

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of the Serpentine Gallery in Pringle of Scotland

An unusual pairing during Art Basel Miami Beach was the jointly held event between Pringle of Scotland, the design house for Scottish woolies, and Serpentine Gallery, one of the most respected galleries in London.

The sponsorship of the arts is laudable when it’s of economic benefit to the artists, and here the alliance with art seems to be working also to the advantage of Pringle, increasing it’s corporate profile amongst art enthusiasts. Pringle’s sponsorship of artists in Scotland is ostensibly to promote Scottish craft and creativity, but its collaboration with the Serpentine is not only a strategic association that helps to legitimize a corporate brand but is also a smart economic venture for the Serpentine.

Ryan McGinley, Tilda Swinton at Pringle of Scotland / Serpentine Gallery at The Webster Photo Credit: David X Prutting

Pringle has worked with creatives such as photographer Ryan McGinley and Terry Jones (i-D). The 195 collaborations showcased in Miami at Webster’s showroom include designs by Turner Prize Winners Richard Wright and Douglas Gordon – and actress Tilda Swinton, Stephen Sutcliffe and jeweller Waris Ahluwalia – are some of the many other collaborators. The artists contributed on the classic Scottish designs and knits which are available in limited editions through the Gallery and Pringle.  For those old enough to remember her in earlier career, Tilda (aka Matilda) Swinton, originally performed at the Serpentine in 1995 in collaboration with artist Cornelia Parker when she slept for 7 days, 8 hours a day in a tomb-like glass cabinet for the curious public.

Even the most diffused artistic collaborations have an effect on our choices and can impact the chain of manufacturing events – one possible consequence of this partnership could be that we buy more art from the Serpentine Gallery for their association with chic artists who design winter woolies for Pringle, who’d sell more cardigans allowing sheep to grow wool and live one more season before ending up as haggis.

Artist Douglas Gordon

Julia Peyton-Jones the director of the Serpentine Gallery in Pringle of Scotland's designed knitwear

Tilda Swinton wearing Ryan McGinley designed cardigan with Susan Sarandon at Pringle/Serpentine event - Photo Credit: David X Prutting

Tilda Swinton - portrait in Pringle

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 Designed by Jean Nouvel© Ateliers Jean Nouvel Photo: Philippe Ruault

The Serpentine Gallery in London’s Hyde Park is having a slumber party right at the heels of their annual summer party, which took place around their 10^th and latest eye-catching Pavilion, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel.

Nouvel’s scarlet Pavilion set the scene for the darlings of the British art set attending. Ron Arad, Antony Gormley, Gavin Turk, Dinos Chapman,  Sir Peter Blake, Grace Jones, Tracey Emin and model Lily Cole were among the guests invited to play ping-pong and tennis with champion players and have their heartbeats recorded by French artist Christian Boltanski’s installation The Heart Archive. Also on view in the permanent galleries inside was the summer show of new inkjet prints by Wolfgang Tillmans.

July 8 2010 Summer Party at Serpentine Gallery, London, England. L to R: Dinos Chapman and Keith Tyson, Sir Peter Blake and Chrissie Blake, Tracey Emin. Photo: Nick Harvey

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 Designed by Jean Nouvel © Ateliers Jean Nouvel Photograph: Philippe Ruault

Julia Peyton-Jones, the director who had originally envisioned this fund-raising concept, hosted this 40^th anniversary party for the gallery with the new, much talked about co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist. This year’s Pavilion is built on impressive cantilevered structures painted in vivid red, set in dramatic contrast to the green of the Hyde Park lawns. Nouvel said in his opening speech, “I want more disorder in this place,” imagining a relaxed place for people to play. The Pavilion is canopied by large retractable awnings and a sloping freestanding wall that allows the park to inhabit the interiors.

Notable architects that had been invited in previous years to design the free-form Pavilion include Daniel Libeskind (2001), Frank Gehry (2008), and Rem Koolhaas/Cecil Balmond (2006). The architect Zaha Hadid who had designed the 2000 Pavilion also came along for the celebration.

Spending the night in the park may not be as sordid as it sounds, because as part of the summer program, the gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum are staging a sleepover event inside the Pavilion, beginning late at night with films, music, talks and a midnight banquet that will continue on until breakfast is served the next day at 8am. Artists, psychologists and scientists will host experiments throughout the night for the wired, sleepless guests to explore the psychedelic qualities of insomnia and alternative sleep-states.

Guests might be treated to some lullabies as well.

Sleepover at the Serpentine Pavilion: A night of creative thinking: 30-31 July 2010 from 10pm – 8am
Wolfgang Tillmans 26 June – 19 September 2010, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens   London W2