Tate and Unilever today announced that the Indian-born, British artist Anish Kapoor is to undertake the third in The Unilever Series of commissions for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The second commission was fulfilled by Juan Muñoz: playing on perspective, space and illusion, his Double Bind 2001, which closed on 10 March, captivated the imagination and was seen by over two million people since it opened in June 2001. The new work by Anish Kapoor will be on display from 9 October 2002 - 23 March 2003.
Anish Kapoor is renowned for his enigmatic sculptural forms that permeate physical and psychological space. Kapoor’s inventiveness and versatility have resulted in works ranging from powdered pigment sculptures and site-specific interventions on wall or floor, to gigantic installations both in and outdoors. Throughout, he has explored what he sees as deep-rooted metaphysical polarities: presence and absence, being and non-being, place and non-place and the solid and the intangible. Kapoor has stated that his aim is to make objects and installations that look as if imported ‘from another world’. His carved stones, protruding wall sections, concave mirrors, and fleshy PVC membranes hover somewhere between pure geometrical order and biomorphic sensuality. Expanding upon Minimalist concerns with the body, Kapoor’s work relies on the viewer’s individual associations to transform his spaces, enclosed and surrounding, and it is their experiences that ultimately bring the work to life.
For The Unilever Series, Kapoor is devising, specifically for the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, an installation that will engage its massive dimensions and discover the endless shifts in scale possible between the building and the audience. Unilever’s support, totalling £1.25 million, allows Tate Modern to commission a new large-scale work for the Turbine Hall each year until 2004.
Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate, commented on the announcement:
Tate is delighted that Anish Kapoor, whose work continues to develop in new directions, has agreed to undertake this commission in what is one of the most unique and challenging of public spaces.
Niall FitzGerald, Chairman of Unilever, said:
We are delighted that Anish Kapoor is taking up the challenge of our third commission in the Unilever Series. The commissions are all about bringing together the creativity of leading artists and the sheer excitement and scale of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The range and energy of Anish Kapoor’s previous work gives us a tantalising glimpse of the creative power he will undoubtedly bring to the task. We await the unveiling of his work in October with eager anticipation.
Born in 1954 in Bombay, India, Kapoor was educated at Chelsea School of Art and has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s. He is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation and won the Premio Duemila prize at the XLIV Venice Biennale in 1990. One year later, he was awarded the Turner Prize, and in 2001 received an Honorary Fellowship at the Royal Institute of British Architecture.
Kapoor’s work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Tate Collection, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Palacio de Velazquez, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. After his large one-man show at the Hayward Gallery in 1998 as well as that at CAPC Bordeaux, the South Bank Show presented the first full-length television profile of Kapoor in February 1999. In 1999, Kapoor’s gigantic Taratantara was commissioned by the Baltic, Gateshead, and was dramatically displayed in Naples in 2000.