Serpentine to stage major Amar Kanwar exhibition featuring new film installation

Serpentine will present a major solo exhibition of works by New Delhi-based artist and filmmaker Amar Kanwar this autumn, bringing together existing works with the world premiere of a new seven-screen film installation, The Charcoal Man. Running at Serpentine North from 23^rd September to 31^st January 2027, the exhibition will transform the gallery into an immersive environment of moving image and sound.

Widely regarded as one of the leading artists working with moving image today, Kanwar has spent more than two decades creating films that blur the boundaries between documentary, visual essay and fiction. His work draws on the history of the Indian subcontinent to explore themes including memory, displacement, justice, violence and political upheaval, while examining how personal stories intersect with wider historical events.

The exhibition brings together three key works: Such a Morning (2017), The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), shown in London for the first time, and the newly commissioned The Charcoal Man. Developed over three years, the latter continues Kanwar’s long-running engagement with the legacy of the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan, weaving together film and text to explore cycles of memory, conflict and reconciliation. Alongside the installations, visitors will encounter a series of handmade paper works that extend the narrative of Such a Morning beyond the screen.

Curated by Chris Bayley in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition continues Serpentine’s longstanding relationship with Kanwar, which began with the gallery’s landmark Indian Highway exhibition in 2008. A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the show.

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Photo: Amar Kanwar, Such a Morning, 2017 (film still). Digital video, 4K, colour, sound, 85 min. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery

Amar Kanwar is at Serpentine from 23^rd September until 31^st January 2027. For further information or to book, visit the exhibition’s website here.