The biggest room in London art is now a giant instrument. Tate Modern has opened Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold, and the sound artist and composer has turned the Turbine Hall into a living orchestra of horns, drums, bamboo, wind and electronics that plays itself, changes every day and wants you to lie down inside it. It runs through April 11, 2027, and it is free.
What is actually in the hall
According to Tate's announcement, a metal karnai, a ceremonial brass trumpet from Uzbekistan, hangs above the Turbine Hall ramp, joined by two 3D-printed horns that echo its long shape. Atoui made those horns with architecture firm Arthur Mamou-Mani from a composite of sugar resin and bamboo dust.
At the far end of the hall, drum skins, gongs, horns and long textiles hang among a network of bamboo and shengs, mouth organs from China and Southeast Asia. A computer-controlled motor channels wind through them, and Korean drums struck by mechanised mallets are spread across the space. The textiles come from Satoshi Kondo, designer of ISSEY MIYAKE's women's line. Atoui coated them in conductive paint that sends a low electric current to a synthesiser, so as they sway with the air and humidity of the hall, they generate shifting bass tones.
Then the room listens back. Microphones hidden in the installation sample the instruments and the noise of the crowd, and custom software Atoui developed reworks those sounds and plays them back into the space. Tate says no two visits are the same.
Listen with your whole body
This is the hook. Atoui's work is about hearing sound through your body, not just your ears. Stones placed along the floor invite you to sit or lie down and feel them vibrate, under warm lights, while the hall breathes around you. Tate says the idea grew from Atoui's memories of gathering places, from vine-covered canopies to sheltered courtyards across the Mediterranean. The official exhibition guide walks through each part of the installation.
The performances to plan around
Through the run, Atoui has invited musicians to plug into the installation as a sound system and compose, improvise and play. The first two live sessions land this Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, with Atoui, Emptyset, Mazen Kerbaj, Kenichi Iwasa and Aya Metwalli. Tate lists more to come:
- November 13: Bendik Giske and Valentina Magaletti.
- November 27: Nkisi and Mhmad Safa.
- December 11: a session with eight vocal and experimental performers, including Phil Minton, Elaine Mitchener and Maggie Nichols.
- January 15: Shakeeb Abu Hamdan, Li-Chin Li and Pike.
- February 19, March 19 and April 2: further sessions, lineups to be announced.
Who Tarek Atoui is
Atoui was born in Beirut in 1980 and is based in Paris. He studied sound art and electro-acoustic music at the French National Conservatory of Reims, and he has shown work at the 58th Venice Biennale and dOCUMENTA 13. Tate calls Hold the culmination of more than two decades of work with musicians, instrument makers, engineers and researchers across Asia and Europe. It is the 11th annual Hyundai Commission, the partnership with Hyundai that Tate says has drawn more than 21.6 million visitors since 2014.
Why it matters
Most sound art lives in small dark rooms. This one fills the most famous industrial space in contemporary art, and it is free to walk into. Tate Modern is open daily 10:00 to 18:00, and until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. If you love spaces built for listening, read our story on the Integratron, see how Es Devlin builds whole worlds, and build a soundtrack for the trip with our ambient starter guide.
