A giant sombrero lurks in the undergrowth of London's Kensington Gardens. Inside, a conical auditorium resonates with strange noises and good vibrations. The Serpentine Gallery's summer pavilion is gearing up for a 24-hour 'experiment-a-thon'.

Credit: L. HAYES

The pavilion is an annual tradition. Leading architects with no previous commissions in the United Kingdom take a turn at designing the temporary venue. Alumni include Zaha Hadid (2000), Daniel Libeskind (2001) and Oscar Niemeyer (2003).

This year's steel and plywood structure is the work of Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen and Danish–Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson, whose installation 'The Weather Project' filled the Turbine Hall of London's Tate Modern gallery in 2003. The duo's pavilion has a spiral ramp around the outside, leading to a peaked roof designed to amplify sound.

The Serpentine Gallery is renowned for filling its edgy summer structure with original events. This season, the emphasis has been on 'experiments' — in which scientists, artists and architects exchange ideas from their fields with the public in Friday night 'laboratories'. These have included the debut performance of a new type of electric violin, and the pavilion itself played as an instrument. They are warm-up acts for the forthcoming all-nighter.

This weekend, around 30 performers, including autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen and musician Brian Eno, will entertain and educate beneath the pavilion's strange geometries from midday on Saturday to midday on Sunday. Those planning to sit through the whole night can rest assured: the coffee is excellent. A similar event in Berlin follows next month.

Olaf Blanke of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne will demonstrate his recent headline-making video technology for simulating out-of-body experiences. Other experiments deal with phantom limbs, colour vision and Capgras syndrome — the belief that close acquaintances have been replaced by impostors. Perception is an underlying theme. “Each experiment explores how the brain simplifies stimuli into a stable impression,” explains participant Israel Rosenfield from the City University of New York.

“We're building on the success of last year's 24-hour interview marathon,” says Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director of exhibitions and programmes at the Serpentine Gallery. In Rem Koolhaas's 2006 pavilion, Obrist conducted a series of conversations with prominent Londoners. “A certain audience attends science events, another attends arts events; we hope to attract both.”