Hyundai Commission 11: Tarek Atoui Transforming Tate Modern

SEOUL, South Korea and LONDON, Oct. 12, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Hyundai Motor and Tate Modern have unveiled the 11th Hyundai Commission, a groundbreaking multisensory installation by artist and composer Tarek Atoui. Titled "Tarek Atoui: Hold," the artwork is set to transform Tate Modern's Turbine Hall into an immersive sonic landscape from October 13, 2026, to April 11, 2027.

Atoui’s installation combines sculpture, performance, music, technology, and social research to create environments where sound is experienced through the whole body. The artist has transformed the Turbine Hall with custom-built wind instruments, percussion, electronics, and sculptural objects. Among the highlights are a metal karnai, a ceremonial brass trumpet from Uzbekistan, and two 3D-printed horns that echo and amplify the instrument's elongated form. At the far end of the hall, drum skins, gongs, horns, stones, and 20-meter-long textiles are suspended among a network of bamboo and shengs, through which wind is channeled by a computer-controlled motor.

Atoui’s work draws on over two decades of experimentation, including collaborations with musicians, instrument-makers, engineers, and researchers across Asia and Europe. The installation invites visitors to sit, lie, gaze up, and attune themselves to the relationship between sound, materials, architecture, and bodies. Microphones embedded within the installation sample the sounds produced by the instruments and the bustling backdrop of the Turbine Hall, with custom software reworking and playing them back as layers of the composition. Foregrounding the importance of improvisation in his practice, these elements contribute to an ever-changing soundscape.

Throughout the six-month duration of the Hyundai Commission, the Turbine Hall will regularly become a site for live sound-based performances, where a network of musicians will "plug into" Atoui’s installation as a sound system. The program will platform both local and international musicians, from instrumentalists to electronic artists, collectives, and labels, highlighting the work of Atoui’s longstanding collaborators and fostering new connections.

The Hyundai Commission has attracted over 21.6 million visitors and established a platform for some of the most bold and memorable artworks of the past decade. From Kara Walker’s spectacular fountain to Anicka Yi’s floating artificial lifeforms, the commission has been a cornerstone of Tate Modern’s programming. By extending the partnership until 2036, Hyundai Motor and Tate reaffirm their shared, long-term commitment to artistic innovation and public access to contemporary art.