Tate Modern has unveiled a striking exhibition featuring the monumental artwork of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. The exhibition comprises three sculptures displayed in Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall, each created using old bottle tops that have been carefully pressed, cut, and woven together.
This display marks the eighth year of the Hyundai Commission for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. In collaboration with his studio, El Anatsui used over 2 million bottle tops and fragments to create these expansive, free-flowing sculptural forms. The exhibition is deeply rooted in El Anatsui’s interest in histories of migration, both of goods and people.
The three acts of this exhibition include:
1. “The Red Moon”: This sail-like form, crimson on one side and yellow on the other, evokes the ships that transported Africans and African resources across the Atlantic during the times of the slave trade.
2. “The World”: Delicate gold fragments resembling human figures are suspended, evoking the unsettled journey of migrants.
3. “The Wall”: This colossal sculpture signifies the end of a voyage, with undulating ripples at its base resembling a rocky coastline with waves crashing ashore.
El Anatsui described the Turbine Hall as a ship, and he explores the histories of migration and the movement of goods and people through the materials he works with, particularly aluminum bottle tops.
El Anatsui is a renowned artist with a career spanning over five decades. He has previously exhibited in prestigious institutions worldwide and represented Ghana at the Venice Biennale.
The Tate Modern has been working to diversify its collections and promote artists from various backgrounds, making this exhibition a significant step toward showcasing a globally recognized artist.
This exhibition not only reflects Tate Modern’s commitment to diversity but also celebrates El Anatsui as one of the world’s greatest living sculptors.
“Behind the Red Moon” is open from October 10, 2023, until April 14, 2024, at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Critics have praised these sculptures for their intricate nature and their powerful environmental message, highlighting how they repurpose bottle tops into meaningful and gigantic works of art, reminiscent of tapestries.
