Hyundai Motor and Tate Modern launch Tarek Atoui installation

Hyundai Motor Company and Tate Modern have launched the 11th Hyundai Commission, titled ‘Tarek Atoui: Hold’. The exhibition features a multisensory installation by artist and composer Tarek Atoui, transforming the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern into an immersive sonic landscape.

The installation integrates sculpture, performance, music, and technology to create an environment where sound is experienced physically through the whole body. The work utilizes custom-built wind instruments, percussion, electronics, and sculptural objects, including reinterpreted traditional instruments such as the Chinese ‘sheng’, the Korean traditional drum, and the Uzbek ‘karnai’. Conductive paint on textiles reacts to airflow and humidity to generate shifting low tones, while microphones collect ambient sounds to continuously evolve the sonic environment.

This commission marks the beginning of a renewed decade-long partnership between Hyundai Motor and Tate, which has been extended through 2036. The collaboration, which began in 2014, includes support for the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational to foster international art research and academic exchange.