The Tate Modern didn't give Cildo Meireles quite the same star treatment as Rothko across the hall, but for our money this show does a better job of filling an afternoon. It's a very Tate Modern sort of exhibition — engaging, participatory, big on concept — so if you have a fondness for Bankside in general and are already bored with TH.2058 after the first visit, you really ought to catch this one before it ends on Sunday.
Meireles is an old-guard conceptual artist, starting off in the 1960s with the legacy of the uniquely Brazilian Neo-concretist movement. Participation is key, so you should expect every one of his works to be either infiltrating the outside world or inviting visitors to step into its own. Unlike much conceptual art, he aims for the senses as much as the mind, giving him a chance to win over even the sort of people who balk at Turner Prize entries. Beyond the heavy political themes that drive much of the art — indigenous identity, globalisation, the missionary legacy in Brazil — the works presented here are just plain amazing to experience.
It's the moments of discovery that really make the show, so we don't want to give away too much, but you should expect: a fireman's bachelor pad; a walk on broken glass and through a foot of talcum powder; £300,000 in pennies; and a vastly meaningful wooden sculpture so overlooked it would make Slinkachu proud. You can find out the rest for yourself.
Cildo Meireles's works are on exhibition at the Tate Modern until Sunday 11 January. Tickets are £7.80/£5.90 concs. Photo courtesy of Yish under a Creative Commons license.
