Staff picks #2023highlights ✨
‘El Anatsui’s installation #BehindtheRedMoon was a definite highlight for me this year. The sheer magnitude of this artwork, spanning the entirety of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, was nothing short of extraordinary, as was the poetry emanating from the different sections.
This Hyundai Commission had been several years in the planning, running through a range of possibilities, materials and completely different ideas from the current installation. #ElAnatsui worked across his studios in Ghana and Nigeria with a large workforce to create this sublime end result. He even had a model of the Turbine Hall created in one of his studios to test out ideas.
Hundreds of people filled the massive hall during the opening celebration at #TateModern — set against the vast backdrop of red, yellow, black and multi-coloured metal hangings, the gathering felt almost extra-terrestrial.
During the opening week, an insightful conversation with El Anatsui and Tate Modern curator Osei Bonsu took place in the Starr Auditorium.
After several decades of working with El Anatsui and showing his current solo exhibition ‘TimeSpace’, it was truly magnificent seeing this monumental sculptural journey come to life in one of the world’s most iconic venues for contemporary art.’
— Elisabeth Lalouschek
Artistic Director, October Gallery
Images:
Hyundai Commission ‘El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon’ at Tate Modern, 2023. © Jonathan Greet.
El Anatsui in conversation with Osei Bonsu at Tate Modern. © Tate, Jordan Anderson, 2023.
Artistic Director Elisabeth Lalouschek in front of El Anatsui’s ‘Three Sightings’. © Jonathan Greet, 2022.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Lalouschek/October Gallery/October Gallery Facebook Wall
Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger!
