Ghanaian artist El Anatsui to create next Turbine Hall installation at Tate

London’s Tate Modern, together with its sponsor Hyundai Motor, has announced that the great Ghanaian artist El Anatsui will be the creator of the next project the public can see in the London museum’s Turbine Hall . This is a highly prestigious commission: since Tate Modern opened in 2000, Turbine Hall has hosted some of the world’s most important and acclaimed contemporary artworks, reaching an audience of millions each year. The way artists have interpreted this vast industrial space has played a major role in the public perception of contemporary art in the 21st century. The annual Hyundai Commission, or the work that is exhibited at Turbine Hall, offers artists the opportunity to create new work for this unique context. The commissions are made possible by the long-term partnership between Tate and Hyundai Motor, confirmed through 2026 as part of the longest initial commitment by a corporate partner in Tate’s history.

Among the most distinctive artists on the contemporary scene, El Anatsui is best known for his metal sculptures constructed from thousands of recycled bottle caps articulated with copper wire. Reusing waste materials that compose dazzling works of abstract art, Anatsui’s work explores themes including the environment, consumption and commerce. His site-specific work for Turbine Hall will be open to the public from October 10, 2023 to April 14, 2024.

Anatsui was born in Anyako, Ghana, in 1944 and spent most of his career in Nigeria. Over a long and distinguished career as both an artist and educator (as a professor of sculpture and department head at the University of Nigeria Nsukka) Anatsui has developed a highly experimental approach to sculpture, embracing a wide range of forms and materials including wood, ceramics, and objet trouvé. He has experimented with liquor bottle caps since the late 1990s and continues to push the boundaries of the medium in new ways, creating radical and transformative sculptures that take on new forms with each installation. Interested in the changing histories of the objects he reuses in shimmering sculptures, Anatsui fuses specific local aesthetic traditions with the global history of abstraction. In 2015,

“El Anatsui has created some of the most unique and unforgettable sculptures of recent times, and we are delighted that he will tackle Turbine Hall this fall for the annual Hyundai Commission,” Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern, said. "Anatsui’s beloved 2012 Ink Splash II in the Tate’s collection enchants visitors wherever it is shown, and we look forward to seeing how this inventive artist will approach a space like Turbine Hall."

DooEun Choi, Art Director of Hyundai Motor Company, said, “El Anatsui’s works stand out for his dedication to exploring the transformative potential of art and his focus on stories. We look forward to seeing how El Anatsui transforms Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall for the eighth Hyundai Commission.”

Pictured is Tate’s Turbine Hall.

Ghanaian artist El Anatsui to create next Turbine Hall installation at Tate

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