Serpentine CEO Bettina Korek loves a Supernova burger, strolls like a flâneur and says Peckham has the best bathroom.
First Flat in London
My first flat was a friend's right in the centre in Soho. My mother always said it took her 10 years to really understand LA — she had moved there from Chicago — and I am only six years into London, so I think of myself as still in the discovery phase. Being thrown straight into the middle of everything, in a city you can actually walk, made me fall for it.
First Job Here
Before Serpentine, I set up the Los Angeles edition of Frieze Art Fair — working London hours from LA, so in a way I was half here long before I arrived. I used to stay at the Hotel Café Royal on Frieze trips, which felt glamorous, and I loved the cheesecake.
First Date Recommendation
Somewhere you can walk, so it can keep going if you want it to. I love Farringdon — you can catch something at the Barbican and then wander off for a doughnut or a glass of wine at St John. And Peckham for the same reason: so many varied options, from something random happening at Copeland Park to the views and art at Bold Tendencies, or Frank's on the car park roof in summer. There are a zillion little places — Guacamoles in the market, Hausu (best bathroom in London), Cöödie cookies, and my soft spot, the Four Quarters arcade bar.
Best Meal
I met someone very special to me at the River Café and I am deeply into the pomodoro there. People visiting from LA almost always want to go. Ruthie Rogers is beyond a treasure, and she embodies the idea that sharing food is sharing love. But a couple of weeks later we were sitting on the curb in Soho eating Supernova burgers, and that was just as good. London is a more extreme version of high and low than LA — the highs are a lot more intimidating, too. I also love Agora in Borough Market, Dover Street Counter, and the chicken pot pie at The Park.
If You Were Mayor for the Day
I saw a brilliant presentation by Bompas & Parr about turning London's empty financial districts into late-night party zones with corporate lobbies as DJ booths, vacant offices as dancefloors, finance by day, rave by night. Cities have to keep reinventing what their spaces are for, and we think the same way about art institutions, which is exactly what we get to experiment with at Serpentine — supporting artists working on everything from exhibitions to projects that go beyond gallery.
Most Iconic Londoner
Virginia Woolf, for the way she saw the city as something you move through and think inside. In her 'street haunting' essay she invents an errand to buy a pencil just so she can walk London at dusk, and calls rambling the streets the greatest pleasure of town life in winter. The streets of London really are so beautiful — so different from LA.
Having Fun
I walk! It is still the thing I find most magical about being here, having grown up in a driving city. The Tube has also grown on me.
Exercise
Walking, always. One of the first projects I ever produced was Emi Fontana's Women in the City with Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, a project built around the idea of the flâneur, of moving through a city as a way of seeing it. That idea has stayed with me and I have worked with Barbara many times since, from billboards in LA to wrapping cabs in London. London is the first place I have lived where I can actually walk like that every day.
Let Your Hair Down
Most recently Lost on Shaftesbury Avenue. It is a unique vibe. I love that alongside the music they screen classic films, artist projects, vintage commercials… and it is good for me to be separated from my phone for once. Also had a really fun night at St Clement, looking forward to more.
Biggest Extravagance
Without a doubt, black clothes.
Work Updates
We have just unveiled the 25th Serpentine Pavilion by LANZA Atelier, alongside exhibitions by Cecily Brown and David Hockney, and we are heading into our Summer Party with co-hosts Salma Hayek Pinault, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, celebrating Mexican creativity on the global stage. The Pavilion this year is a bridge between English garden traditions and a contemporary Mexican studio, built in brick. After 25 years, every pavilion is still a miracle!
Professional Hero
Hans Ulrich Obrist, with whom I have the privilege of working. His curiosity, energy, enthusiasm and generosity are genuinely boundless. We have a lot of fun.
Favourite Work of Art in London
Right now it is in our gallery — A Year in Normandie by David Hockney. A master showing us he can work in any medium, even technology.
