Three of my favorite things will be rolled into one this weekend: contemporary art, public space, and marathons! OK, there probably isn’t an actual 26.2 mile course to run, but still, this sounds really cool.

Garden Marathon [lots of pics at the link, including a nice bird’s eye view of the High Line]
15-16 October 2011
Serpentine Gallery
London

The Serpentine Gallery Garden Marathon is the sixth in the Gallery’s acclaimed Marathon series. This two-day event is an exploration of the concept of the garden. A product of the creative encounter between the man-made and the natural, between order and disorder, the garden can offer productive metaphors for the interactions between human life and time, care, thought or space.

The event is directly inspired by the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011, designed by Peter Zumthor. The encounter of architecture and garden creates a contemplative space that is both set within – and meditatively separated from – the wider surroundings of Kensington Gardens.

Participations will range from the fields of horticulture, design and architecture to explore the creation of gardens and their spatial, urban and scientific importance, through to works by artists and readings by poets and writers exploring the significance of the garden in our experience of the world.

Participants include:
Etel Adnan, Brian Aldiss, Maria Thereza Alves, Rosie Atkins, Yto Barrada and Sean Gullette, Gianfranco Baruchello, Gerry Bibby, Stefano Boeri, Andrea Branzi, John Brockman, Pablo Bronstein, Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Hélène Cixous, Emer Coleman, Pascal Cribier, Adam Curtis, David Deutsch, Elizabeth Diller, Jimmie Durham, Marcus du Sautoy, Brian Eno, Patrick Eyres, Hans-Peter Feldmann, FIELDCLUB, Sophie Fiennes, Adriaan Geuze, Jef Geys, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Fritz Haeg with Denise Withers, Zarina Hashmi, Will Holder, Jennifer Jacquet, Charles Jencks, Koo Jeong-A, Alison Knowles and Meghan DellaCrosse, Pablo León de la Barra, Jonas Mekas and David Ellis, Catherine Mosbach, muf architecture/art, Christian Philipp Müller, Peter Murray-Rust, Silke Otto-Knapp, Mark Pagel, Philippe Parreno, Giuseppe Penone, Julia Peyton-Jones, Alice Rawsthorn, Carissa Rodriguez and Avena Gallagher, David Rowan, Peter Saville and Anna Blessmann, Rüdiger Schöttle, Richard Sennett, Bas Smets, Paul Smith, Something & Son, Susan Stenger, Corin Sworn, Wolfgang Tillmans, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Günther Vogt, Sophie von Cundale, Alex Waterman, Cerith Wyn Evans, Andrea Zanzotto and Qiu Zhijie.

As well as: The observer’s guide to the Serpentine Gallery Garden Marathon – compiled in one voice, in the field, by a pool: Paul Becker, Ian Evans, Will Holder, John D. Millar, Francesco Pedraglio, Heather Phillipson, Natasha Soobramienen, Cally Spooner, Nick Thurston and Luke Williams.