Duveens Collection Display
Tate Britain

2023-24

This display brings together five large-scale sculptural artworks in diverse media, made between the 1980s and present day.

The works draw influence from Neo-Minimalism and use diverse materials to reveal and memorialise the temporary or intangible: journeys, lives lived, and the links between people and parts of the world.  

Vong Phaophanit’s Neon Rice Field comprises 10 tonnes of white rice, laid over lines of neon lights. For the artist rice is a symbol for Asia, although it is eaten worldwide. Neons were once associated with Western cities but are now visible across Asia. These materials blend to create a glowing illusion, representing the idea that cultural identity is imagined and unfixed.

For Untitled (Staircase), Rachel Whiteread cast the negative space around the staircase of a building in London's Bethnal Green. The building had been a Baptist church, a synagogue and a textile factory before laying empty for 20 years and becoming her studio. Evidence of these varied histories remained present when the artist arrived, and this work seeks to contain the memories of this space as solid form.  

Lydia Ourahmane’s The Third Choir is a sound installation comprising 20 empty oil barrels from Algerian oil company, Naftal. The work was inspired by a conversation between the artist and an Algerian migrant, as many Algerians blame the oil industry for the country’s economic problems, which cause migration out of the country. The barrels have taken the same route to Europe as that often taken by migrants travelling from Algeria. The Third Choir was the first artwork to legally leave Algeria since it became independent 1962 and laws were introduced to protect its cultural assets. The work is accompanied by an archive including 934 documents sent by the artist to gain permission to transport the work across the Mediterranean Sea.

Monument by Susan Hiller replicates and enlarges 41 memorial plaques from Postman’s Park, near St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The plaques commemorate ordinary people who died while saving the lives of others. Facing away from the wall is a park bench - Hiller was struck by how rarely members of the public noticed the plaques in Postman’s Park, often sitting on benches, eating their lunch. The work’s accompanying sound piece speaks about the nature of heroism.

Anya Gallaccio’s preserve ‘beauty’ sees 2,000 mass-produced gerbera flowers in bloom, wilt, die and decay – the cycle of life, contained between two panes of glass. The word ‘beauty’ in the title refers to a variety of cultivated gerbera, and to the concept of beauty, suggesting that life’s experiences of beauty are temporary, and that attempts at preservation are futile. The fact that the work is discarded after each installation, and then reinstalled with fresh flowers, reminds us that life is cyclical and nature renews itself.  

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This display was co-curated with Diego Chocano.

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