Artist to create new project for Tate Modern
SEOUL-BORN artist Anicka Yi (left), known for embracing science and the senses in her practice, has been selected to create the next Turbine Hall commission at Tate Modern in London.
The site-specific work, which will mark Yi’s most ambitious project to date, will take the hangar-like space from Oct 6, 2020 to Jan 10, 2021.
In a statement, Tate Modern director Frances Morris said: “Anicka Yi has developed a reputation for highly innovative work. Her installations are unforgettable, using the latest scientific ideas and experimental materials in unexpected ways. The results not only engage the senses, but also tackle some of the big questions we face today about humanity’s relationship to nature and technology.”
Details about Yi’s commission are still scarce, although the project will follow American artist Kara Walker’s monumental Fons Americanus.
This 13-metre tall working fountain is inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, offering a commentary on the interconnected histories of Africa, America and Europe. Much like Yi’s practice, her installation for Tate’s Turbine Hall will likely incorporate the sense of smell.
Last October, the South KoreanAmerican artist collaborated with French perfurmer Barnabe Fillion and retailer Dover Street Market to concoct a line of perfume that challenges preconceived notions of femininity and attraction.
Each perfume of Biography is titled after a radical female figure, including Japanese Red Army founder Fusako Shigenobu, longreigning pharaoh Hatshepsut, as well as an unnamed female artificial-intelligence entity.
“I was interested in these buried figures in history who were forgotten because they refused to conform to societal limitations about who they could be. Hatshepsut is one of the earliest figures who was recorded in public in drag. She had to constantly be dressed as a man because her constituents wouldn’t accept a female pharaoh. There was a campaign to erase her from history!” Yi told artnet News at the time.