Steve McQueen

Screenings of Grenfell take place at set times. To book a free timed ticket in advance, please visit: bit.ly/3zimDHa

In December 2017, Steve McQueen made a work in response to the fire that took place on 14 June at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London. 72 people died in the tragedy. Filming the tower before it was covered with hoarding, McQueen sought to create a record. Grenfell is presented at Serpentine South this spring.

Following the fire, a Government Inquiry was launched that was conducted in two phases. Four years since the publication of the Phase One report, the recommendations are yet to be implemented, meaning a similar tragedy could happen again. The findings of the second and final phase of the Inquiry are due to be reported in late 2023. There is an ongoing criminal investigation.

Paul Gilroy, contributor to the exhibition guide has written: “To me, Steve McQueen’s work suggests that there is much to gain in confronting the meanings of the damaged structure and making the shock of our painful contact with it instructive. Opening ourselves humbly to that possibility can be accomplished without betraying the tower’s plural traumas or the political complexity of this moment in which closure is not an option. We cannot understand Grenfell unless we keep the reality of this building firmly in mind.”

Content note: Visitors are advised that the film contains close-up imagery of the tower six months after the fire. There will be a space to pause, rest and reflect in the galleries.

Steve McQueen was born in West London in 1969 and studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College where he first became interested in film. Over the last 30 years, McQueen has been influential in expanding the way in which artists work with film. He has made several feature films with many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Film for 12 Years a Slave (2013). In 2020, he made Small Axe, an anthology film series about London’s West Indian community. As an artist, McQueen won the Turner Prize in 1999 and represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2009. McQueen’s work is held and exhibited in public museums around the world. He lives and works in London and Amsterdam.