As Frieze Week kicks off in London, Tate Modern has unveiled a major new multisensory installation by artist and composer Tarek Atoui. Combining sculpture, performance, music, technology and social research, Atoui creates environments where sound is experienced not only through the ears, but through the whole body. Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold sees the artist transform the Turbine Hall into an immersive sonic landscape comprising custom-built wind instruments, percussion, electronics and sculptural objects, woven together to make an orchestra which connects the earth and sky. This living environment will constantly evolve throughout the run of the commission, with moments of live performance. Atoui’s installation marks the 11th annual Hyundai Commission, made possible by the significant partnership between Tate and Hyundai Motor.
Hanging above the Turbine Hall ramp, a metal karnai (a ceremonial brass trumpet from Uzbekistan) is joined by two 3D-printed horns that echo and amplify the instrument’s elongated form. At the far end of the hall, drum skins, gongs, horns, and 20m long textiles are suspended among a network of bamboo and shengs (mouth organs from China and Southeast Asia), through which wind is channelled by a computer-controlled motor. In making the work, Atoui has responded to the extraordinary height, airflows and acoustic character of the Turbine Hall. Lithophone-like stones and warm lights invite visitors to sit, lie, gaze up, and attune themselves to the relationship between sound, materials, architecture and bodies. Drawing on the artist’s memories of gathering places, from vine-covered canopies to sheltered courtyards, Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold situates the Turbine Hall as a site for encounter and exchange.
Atoui’s installation is the culmination of over two decades of experimentation, including collaborations with musicians, instrument-makers, engineers and researchers across Asia and Europe. Drawing on these projects, he reimagines shengs, Korean drums, Uzbek horns and custom-built electronic systems. Continuing his longstanding interest in fusing experimental technologies with ancient instruments, the artist worked with architecture firm Arthur Mamou-Mani to create the 3D-printed horns from a composite material made with sugar resin and bamboo dust. He also worked with Satoshi Kondo, designer of ISSEY MIYAKE’s women’s line, who provided signature textiles used in the installation. Atoui coated the suspended textiles with conductive paint that transmits a low electric current to a synthesiser, generating shifting bass tones as they oscillate with the wind currents and humidity levels in the space. Microphones embedded within the installation sample the sounds produced by the instruments and the bustling backdrop of the Turbine Hall, with custom software developed by the artist working and playing them back as layers of the composition. Foregrounding the importance of improvisation in Atoui’s practice, these elements contribute to an ever-changing soundscape.
Throughout the six-month duration of Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold, the Turbine Hall will regularly become a site for live sound-based performances, where a network of musicians will ‘plug into’ or play within Atoui’s installation. The programme will platform both local and international musicians from-instrumentalists to electronic artists, collectives and labels – highlighting the work of Atoui’s longstanding collaborators and fostering new connections.
The annual Hyundai Commission is made possible by the long-term partnership between Tate and Hyundai Motor, launched in 2014 as the longest initial commitment from a corporate partner in Tate’s history. Announced last year, the extension of the partnership until 2036 underscores a shared, long-term commitment to artistic innovation and public access to contemporary art. Attracting over 21.6 million visitors since it began, the Hyundai Commission gives artists the chance to interpret the vast industrial space of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, producing some of the most bold and memorable artworks of the past decade – from Kara Walker’s spectacular fountain to Anicka Yi’s floating artificial lifeforms.
Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold is at Tate Modern, Bankside from 13 October 2026 – 11 April 2027.
Admission free. Find more information here.
