Following on from Doris Salcedo's giant subterranean crack (which two art-lovers managed to fall into), Tate Modern has announced that the next Unilever Series commission to fill its Turbine Hall will be by French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster.
Well-known for art involving audience participation, Gonzalez-Foerster’s previous work includes Séance de Shadows, where a room was filled with a series of performing shadows, and in 2007 her Promenade exhibition featuring nothing but the sound of tropical rainfall.
Gonzalez-Foerster is the ninth artist to create an installation in the Turbine Gallery, after the popular success of Carsten Holler’s set of giant slides, Anish Kapoor’s sculpture of Greek satyr Marsyus and Olafur Elliason's beautiful, unforgettable Weather Project. She will also be the second French artist to exhibit there after Louise Bourgeois launched the Unilever Series in 2000. Tate Director Vicente Todoli stated that the immersive atmosphere of Gonzalez-Foerster’s work is the primary reason why they commissioned her. The Hall’s 500 x 115 ft capacity is an enormous space for Gonzalez-Foerster to immerse Tate’s visitors in, but at least let’s hope that they fill in that crack in the floor before she does.
Art fans will be able to judge for themselves when the exhibition is unveiled in October.
By Ben Fowler
Turbine Hall image courtesy of jon hanson's Flickrstream.
