Overview:

‘Give and Take’ was an unprecedented partnership between the Serpentine, the acclaimed public gallery for modern and contemporary art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. This innovative exhibition, presented concurrently at both institutions, provided a unique opportunity to experience unexpected connections between contemporary art and art of the past.

The Serpentine Gallery presented ‘Mixed Messages’, an installation work by the renowned conceptual artist Hans Haacke comprising objects he had selected from across the V&A's permanent collections. In exchange a group exhibition of fifteen contemporary artists is being shown in a number of the V&A's galleries and spaces. Conceptualised and selected by Lisa Corrin, Chief Curator of the Serpentine Gallery, this spirited and thought-provoking exhibition merges two institutional sensibilities and challenges assumptions about concepts within the visual arts, such as the definition of beauty or the distinction typically made between fine and decorative art.