TateNote: This film includes reference to racism and imagery of racist violence and the Ku Klux Klan.
Philip Guston thought hard about the artist's responsibility to bear witness to ‘the brutality of the world‘. Consistently changing and reinventing, he sought to make work that embodies life’s complexities, its beauty, absurdity, humour and suffering.
In this short film, curators Michael Wellen and Michael Raymond, conservator Anna Cooper and the artist's daughter, Musa Mayer, recount the story of Guston's life and career, as well as his restless urge to challenge himself creatively.
This film was created as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art Series: New Perspectives.
It includes extracts from the following documentaries: Philip Guston: A Life Lived, directed by Michael Blackwood (New York: Michael Blackwood Productions, 1981).
Conversations with Philip Guston, directed by Michael Blackwood (New York: Michael Blackwood Productions, 2003). michaelblackwoodproductions.com
Philip Guston: the restless artist painting everyday evil | TateTate2023-11-22 | Note: This film includes reference to racism and imagery of racist violence and the Ku Klux Klan.
Philip Guston thought hard about the artist's responsibility to bear witness to ‘the brutality of the world‘. Consistently changing and reinventing, he sought to make work that embodies life’s complexities, its beauty, absurdity, humour and suffering.
In this short film, curators Michael Wellen and Michael Raymond, conservator Anna Cooper and the artist's daughter, Musa Mayer, recount the story of Guston's life and career, as well as his restless urge to challenge himself creatively.
This film was created as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art Series: New Perspectives.
It includes extracts from the following documentaries: Philip Guston: A Life Lived, directed by Michael Blackwood (New York: Michael Blackwood Productions, 1981).
Conversations with Philip Guston, directed by Michael Blackwood (New York: Michael Blackwood Productions, 2003). michaelblackwoodproductions.com
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElStep inside the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden | TateTate2024-05-10 | Explore the work of Barbara Hepworth through her home, studio, and garden.
Barbara Hepworth first came to live in Cornwall with her husband and their young family at the outbreak of war in 1939, living and working in Trewyn studios – now the Barbara Hepworth Museum – from 1949 until her death.
Following her wish to establish her home and studio as a museum of her work, Trewyn Studio and much of the artist’s work remaining there was given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate Gallery in 1980.
'Finding Trewyn Studio was a sort of magic’, wrote Hepworth. ‘Here was a studio, a yard and garden where I could work in open air and space’.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElOuti Pieski – Art comes from the land, its made for the land | TateTate2024-04-30 | Drawing inspiration from her Sámi heritage, artist Outi Pieski creates large-scale textile installations which feature tassels based on traditional clothing. Her work references ‘duodji’, an Indigenous craft practice that was marginalised in the wake of Scandinavian colonialism.
In this short video, watch Pieski as she prepares new work for her exhibition at Tate St Ives.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElSargents Diva Portrait | TateTate2024-04-23 | After watching Ellen Terry play the role of Lady Macbeth in 1888, artist John Singer Sargent knew he had to paint her. But his dramatic portrait, with Terry holding the crown above her head, depicts a scene that didn't actually occur in Irving's production. Nevertheless, Sargent's painting established Terry as a true Victorian 'diva'.
This is an extract from Exhibition on Screen's film John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger. Filmed at both the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tate Britain, the documentary explores how Sargent used fashion as a powerful tool to express identity and personality.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElHow art can inspire solidarity across borders | TateTate2024-04-09 | How do artists create work within their communities, in a way that helps us see injustice and shows us the way towards change?
In this film we look at five artists who demonstrate the power of collaboration across borders: Outi Pieski, Carolina Caycedo, Anna Daučíková, Zanele Muholi and Rita Keegan.
Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElFirst Encounter: Tai-Shan Schierenberg on Portrait of a Young Woman | TateTate2024-03-26 | Portrait painter, Tai-Shan Schierenberg describes the first time he saw Meredith Frampton's painting, Portrait of a Young Woman and how the piece has impacted his own work.
Meredith Frampton painted Margaret Austin-Jones in a tall vertical format. This echoes the full-length portraits of women painted in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the precision with which Frampton paints, combined with the work’s feeling of extreme stillness, gives this work an uncanny, modern tone. Frampton said that he made this painting ‘to celebrate an assembly of objects... beautiful in their own right’. He noted that, as Austin-Jones was very musical, the cello was an ‘appropriate symbol’. Frampton also designed the white vase on the table.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElStories from the archive – Evelyn Dunbar | TateTate2024-03-14 | With over 1 million items, Tate's archive is an incredible place of discovery. We sat down with Tate's Library & Archive Coordinator, Federica Beretta to hear more about her role and the stories behind artist and illustrator, Evelyn Dunbar's archive pieces.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElExplore the history of The Tanks | TateTate2024-02-23 | Tate Modern's Director of Programme Catherine Wood explores the industrial history of Tate's underground art space, The Tanks.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElThank you for watching! Celebrating 1000 films | TateTate2024-02-07 | Here's to over 1000 films on our YouTube channel, celebrating art in all its forms!
Over fifteen years - and more than 50 million views - we've filmed with artists in their homes and studios, on the road and in the garden, on the beach and even on a canoe. There have been road trips, how-to tutorials, animations, music videos, live performances, staff stories, exhibition tours, journeys into the archive and sneak peeks behind-the-scenes at Tate.
Thank you to all the artists and visitors who have appeared in our films, to the thousands of crew members who make it all happen - and a big thank you to you all for watching.
What has been your favourite Tate film moment? And what would you like us to see from us in the next fifteen years??
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElCan art save the world from environmental catastrophe? | TateTate2024-01-18 | What role can art play in tackling the climate emergency?
In this film, we take a look at artworks by L.S. Lowry, Simryn Gill, Abbas Akhavan, Otobong Nkanga and Nicolás García Uriburu, to explore how these artists raise issues connected to the environment and inspire us to take action.
Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor
Note: This video explores ideas of death and contains images of burial that may be difficult for some viewers
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElJulianknxx – I listen with openness and find poetry | TateTate2024-01-01 | We sat down with artist, filmmaker and poet, Julianknxx to explore new ways of looking to the past through performing memories, gathering stories and re-creating family fictions.
See the work as part of our A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography exhibition at Tate Modern, 6 July 2023 – 14 January 2024
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElEl Anatsui – When you unite things, their power keeps growing | TateTate2023-12-11 | We travel to Ghana to meet El Anatsui and see the construction of his monumental installation for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.
Made of thousands of metal bottle tops and fragments, Behind the Red Moon builds on Anatsui’s interest in histories of encounter and the migration of goods and people during the transatlantic slave trade. Sourced in Nigeria, the liquor bottle tops used in this commission form part of a present-day industry built on colonial trade routes.
See Hyundai Commission: El Anatsui: Behind the Red Moon at Tate Modern until 14 April 2024.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElHow to create a photoshoot on a budget | Tate CollectiveTate2023-11-30 | Watch as we challenge young photographer Ejatu Shaw to create professionally shot images inspired by the Tate Modern exhibition ‘A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography’.
Will she be able to use her budget of £50 to gather everything from props and camera equipment to models and editing software and deliver this task in under 48 hours?
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElZohra Opoku – Time is the best friend for an artist | TateTate2023-11-02 | Artist Zohra Opoku trained as a fashion and textiles designer, and her works combine fabric with photography to interrogate identity. In pieces like Queens and Kings (2017), she explores the ways that tradition and globalisation intersect in modern day Ghana.
In this short film, Opoku invites us into her studio in Accra, Ghana, to witness her collaborative approach to art-making.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElA Brief Guide to the Casablanca Art School | TateTate2023-10-23 | In this film, Anne Barlow, Director, Tate St Ives, gives us a tour of The Casablanca Art School exhibition and introduces us to some of the school's key artists; Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chabâa and Mohamed Melehi.
See The Casablanca Art School exhibition at Tate St Ives 27 May 2023 – 14 January 2024
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElBarbara Walker – ‘It’s like life itself, like the air I breathe’ | TateTate2023-10-18 | In this film visual artist Barbara Walker MBE, RA shows us around her studio in Birmingham and talks about the themes present in her practice, including temporality, power and body politics.
We also see her creating a free-hand wall drawing in Towner Gallery as part of her series Burden of Proof, whereby she creates large-scale in-situ portraits of individuals affected by the Windrush Scandal
Barbara Walker is nominated for the 2023 Turner Prize, hosted by Towner Eastbourne. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElRory Pilgrim – ‘Activism can come from a space of joy’ | TateTate2023-10-11 | What keeps us afloat in uncertain times? In this film, artist and composer Rory Pilgrim meets with the eight members of Green Shoes Arts who collaborated on RAFTS, a film and later live performance created over three years during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Exploring the process of connection in different ways, from digital to embodied, verbal to musical, Rory's practice is underpinning by a concern as to how we might collectively contribute to social change.
Rory Pilgrim is nominated for the 2023 Turner Prize, hosted by Towner Eastbourne. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElGhislaine Leung – ‘We are always holding and being held’ | TateTate2023-10-04 | Artist Ghislaine Leung takes a critical look at the ways in which art is produced, presented and circulated. She has developed a process of art-making that is based on ‘scores’. These are text-based instructions or descriptions that are realised by institutions in close conversation with the artist.
In this film, narrated by Leung, we follow the installation of her work Violets 2 at Towner Eastbourne, and see how art technicians interpret the work’s score within the unique parameters of the gallery space.
Ghislaine Leung is nominated for the 2023 Turner Prize, hosted by Towner Eastbourne. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElJesse Darlings Site Visit – A Road Trip Movie | Turner Prize Winner | TateTate2023-09-29 | Where are we, Jesse? The answer is not clear.
In this video, artist Jesse Darling and a small film crew go on a road trip across the UK. Passing through seaside towns, container ports, service stations, retail parts and an abandoned airport, this is a journey that encounters at every turn the barriers and borders (both physical and invisible) of modern Britain.
It’s a journey without a final destination, but one that hints at just how complicated and connected, how wonderful and terrible everything is.
Jesse Darling is nominated for the 2023 Turner Prize, hosted by Towner Eastbourne. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElA Day in the Life of a Tate Security Officer | TateTate2023-09-14 | Security officer and budding artist Marcia Henderson takes us behind the scenes at Tate Britain and shares her artistic talents.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElThe Case of the Missing Painting | Arthur Devis | TateTate2023-09-05 | Our curatorial and conservation teams share the fascinating discovering they made whilst restoring Arthur Devis' painting, Portrait of a Man. What happened next tested their detective skills!
If you can help us solve this art world mystery, please email us at: hello@tate.org.uk
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElSammy Baloji – These images became like testimonies | TateTate2023-08-30 | Artist Sammy Baloji grew up in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area shaped by the exploitation of both human and natural resources, particularly through mining.
We visit his studio in Brussels, Belgium, to find out more about how he uses photographic archives to unpick this complex history, and document complex legacies of colonialism.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElGirlhood and Art | TateTate2023-08-22 | Experiences of girlhood are shaped by art and visual culture as much as they are shown in them. In this film, Claire Marie Healy explores this relationship, guiding us through the making and meaning of girlhood in Tate's collection of art. She traces the journey of 'the girl' in art, from a silent subject of portraiture, to an expressive creator of self-portraiture.
Claire Marie Healy is a writer and editor who explores the experiences of young women in her ongoing multi-media project, Girlhood Studies.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElHow to create an art-inspired garden | TateTate2023-08-15 | Want to bring a bit of Barbara Hepworth into your own green space? Jodi Dickinson, Head Gardener at the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden shares his top tips on texture, height, climate and sustainability.
Artist Barbara Hepworth moved to Cornwall at the outbreak of war in 1939. She lived and worked in Trewyn studios, now the Hepworth Museum, from 1949 until her death in 1975. 'Finding Trewyn Studio was a sort of magic', wrote Hepworth; 'here was a studio, a yard and garden where I could work in open air and space'.
Today, Jodi takes great care to maintain the garden as it was towards the end of Hepworth's life.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElIs it Real Gold? Framing Art | TateTate2023-08-08 | Take a look behind-the-scenes, as Lead Frame Conservator, Batoul Algasra chats to us about looking after the picture frames, what goes into her conservation work and her favourite thing about the role.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElMeet the Rossettis: love, relationships and struggles | TateTate2023-08-01 | Curator Carol Jacobi introduces the Rossetti family and their revolutionary approach to art, love and lifestyles in the largest exhibition of Rossetti artwork in two decades.
The exhibition is on at Tate Britain 6 April – 24 September 2023
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElWhy havent I heard of the artist Hilma af Klint? | TateTate2023-07-27 | In this film, Frances Morris (Director Emerita, Tate Modern) discusses the visionary work of Swedish painter, Hilma af Klint. Explore Klint's interest in scientific discovery, spirituality and philosophy, as well as her otherworldly paintings, which she believed were commissioned by higher powers.
The Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life exhibition is on at Tate Modern 20 April – 3 September 2023
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElDiscover the work of artist and fisherman, Alfred Wallis | TateTate2023-07-10 | Artist, Alfred Wallis was born in Devonport and later lived in St Ives, both towns in Cornwall, UK. Having no artistic training, he began painting at the age of 70. His pictures tell stories of living by the coast and his memories of working at sea.
In this film we explore the artist's work, his use of everyday materials and his final three sketchbooks, which have been acquired by Tate and Kettle's Yard.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElMeet the man who helped introduce modern British art to Europe | TateTate2023-06-27 | Art historian J.P. Hodin was friend and supporter to some of Europe's most important artists and thinkers, such as Franz Kafka, Barbara Hepworth and Oskar Kokoschka.
An émigré from Prague who spoke four languages fluently, and wrote in seven, he was responsible for introducing many European cultural figures to British audiences, and for opening up movements in the British art world, like the St Ives scene, to the continent.
In this film, his daughter Annabel Hodin, writer and curator Alexandra Lazar and artist Andrew Stahl recount the life of this fascinating figure.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElMotherhood & Art | TateTate2023-05-16 | This film delves into the subject of motherhood as seen through the eyes of artists, providing a fresh insight into maternity as an art-historical subject and revealing the ways in which it has been confronted and re-imagined over the past 400 years.
Whether we are mothers ourselves, or whether we bring or nurture life in a wider sense, we all have some understanding of motherhood. Giving birth to their creations, artists have represented this vital and complex subject in a variety of ways, providing insight into what motherhood might mean, its joys and challenges, and seeking to articulate its unspoken aspects.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnEl5 Locations that Inspired Barbara Hepworth | TateTate2023-04-26 | Artist, Barbara Hepworth moved to Cornwall at the outbreak of the war in 1939. She lived and worked there until her death in 1975. In this film, we discover five Cornish locations that inspired the artist and her work.
See the Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life exhibition at Tate St Ives 26 November 2022 – 1 May 2023
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElJadé Fadojutimis 5 Favourite Things | TateTate2023-04-13 | London-based artist, Jadé Fadojutimi lets us into her studio and shares the stories behind five of her favourite things.
This film was made in 2020.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElJankel Adlers Sketchbooks – His life was one long journey | TateTate2023-02-26 | A collection of sixteen sketchbooks in Tate's Archive shed some light on the fascinating life of Polish-Jewish artist Jankel Adler.
Forced to leave Germany in 1933, Adler spent the rest of the decade moving through various cities in Europe. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Polish Army in France. In 1940 he was evacuated to Scotland and spent the remainder of his life in the UK.
His sketchbooks cover the period of 1933-49 and help us trace the development of his artistic style throughout this tumultuous period. They allowed Adler to work when his itinerant existence kept him from easels and canvas, with many pages filled with studies and ideas which would be later worked into finished pieces.
In this short film, David Aukin and Glenn Sujo explore the sketchbooks in more detail.
The sketchbooks were catalogued and digitised as part of the Émigré Art Archives Project, generously funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElArt in Focus | Untitled by Etel Adnan | TateTate2023-02-11 | This is one of artist Etel Adnan's leporellos: delicate and intricate folded booklets covered in script, symbols and imagery. In this short film, Cina Aissa, Learning Assistant at Tate, takes a closer look at the work.
Speaking about her personal discovery of Adnan, Cina says:
"With her heritage spanning Greece, Lebanon and Syria, Adnan brings in other languages, cultures and points of view into her prolific works across literature, poetry and visual arts. I had never heard of her even though she is still alive and practising art well into her 90s.
Feminist artists such as the Guerrilla Girls are celebrated for their work in fighting for the equal representation of women in art galleries, but for me this conversation only scratches the surface. When it comes to the experience of women of colour, we are struggling for so much more than simply to be treated equally to men -- we are struggling for our humanity. Many women of colour have to endure poverty while undertaking unpaid care and service work, all against the backdrop of a racist society. When women of colour do create art and build prolific careers, like Adnan, it’s rare that they become household names. Why haven’t more people heard of Etel Adnan? I was so excited to discover Adnan but also sad and angry to see how little she has been spoken of.
This film has been created as part of the Terra Foundation For American Art Series: New Perspectives.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElSit down for tea with artist Yasmin Jahan Nupur | TateTate2023-02-06 | Get to know artist Yasmin Jahan Nupur over a cup of tea, and discover the drink's complex history in this unique performance work.
Nupur invites us into what appears to be a cosy domestic space. However, its colonial-era style evokes histories of violence in South Asia. The tablecloth is embroidered with an 1886 map of the British Empire. The napkins are stitched with opium flowers, a crop that farmers were forced to grow by the British East India Company, often for no profit. The artist herself wears a costume combining traditional Bangladeshi and British elements. On the walls are images of tea bushes, applied with a mixture of sugar and tea.
While emphasising the comforting role of tea- drinking in Britain and South Asia, the work also asks us to reflect on the impact of British imperialism and colonialism.
The performance Let Me Get You a Nice Cup of Tea took place at Tate Modern in October 2022.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElJimmie Durhams artwork at Tate Modern | TateTate2023-01-23 | This video takes you behind the scenes, installing a display of works by artist Jimmie Durham at Tate Modern.
This footage was filmed in December 2020.
Jimmie Durham was born in 1940 in the US.
Durham’s art incorporates a range of media and processes such as sculptural assemblage, painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, photography, video, performance and poetry.
Many of Durham's include whatever materials were near to hand, and accessible for the artist, including stone, wood and animal bones and hides, alongside car parts, plastic and metal pipe, glass and other detritus of the modern world.
In 1994 Durham returned to Europe and remained there for the rest of his life, living and working in several different cities including Dublin, Rome and Berlin. In Europe his work often focused on the deconstruction of national identities and an analysis of the narratives, architecture and monuments relating to them.
Durham died in Berlin on 17 November 2021, aged 81.The Story of Cezanne | TateTate2023-01-12 | In this film, we explore the life and work of a pivotal figure in modern art. From his early self-portraits, to his landscapes, Cezanne's artwork gave painting a new lease of life. The history of painting was never to be the same again.
We look at Cezanne in the context of his time, exploring his life and the creative circle that surrounded him, as well as his groups of works that focus on particular themes, including his radical still lifes and studies of bathers.
Cezanne's work has always strongly resonated with other artists, and this legacy continues into the present day.
See The EY Exhibition: Cezanne at Tate Modern, 5 October 2022 – 12 March 2023
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElStep inside Magdalena Abakanowiczs forest of woven sculptures | TateTate2023-01-06 | In the 1960s, Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz began making large-scale woven sculptures that defied all categorisation. They seemed like coats or cocoons that tempted you to crawl inside, or hairy living creatures suspended from the gallery ceiling. The critics did not know what to make of them and called them 'Abakans' - perhaps the only example of an art form named after their artist.
In this film, curator Ann Coxon leads us through a 'forest' of these towering Abakans, exploring how Abakanowicz pioneered a whole new form of installation art.
Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle of Thread and Rope is at Tate Modern until 21 May 2023.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElArt in Focus | Glenn Ligons Condition Report | TateTate2022-12-21 | Listen to John Hughes, Visitor Engagement Assistant at Tate Liverpool, share his personal response to the work ‘Condition Report’ by American conceptual artist Glenn Ligon.
About the artwork, John says:
"Lately, I’ve had some unexpected conversations. They start out as guided tours – where I do all the talking – but then something happens. People start to chat amongst themselves. That’s often the case with ‘Condition Report’ by Glenn Ligon. When talked about, this work provokes further reaction and discussion.
The work is based on signs carried by Black sanitation workers who were on strike in Memphis in 1968. Ligon shows twice the workers’ slogan ‘I AM A MAN’ along with some scribbly handwritten notes. Art and history, then, according to Ligon, are subject to changing conditions. Art and history are far from static or fixed. Art and history can be re-thought as time goes by.
Thanks to Ligon, I’m conducting my guided tours in a new way. His artwork is allowing me to start open discussions on a range of related issues and this work is teaching me to listen. It’s teaching me to be like the artwork itself, open to change and open to various, unexpected reactions."
This film has been created as part of the Terra Foundation For American Art Series: New Perspectives.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElAsk the Artist | Questions for Lynette Yiadom-Boakye | TateTate2022-12-16 | Artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye responds to questions from visitors to her 2022 exhibition at Tate Britain. How does she know when an artwork is finished? What music does she listen to while painting? And has her Ghanaian heritage influenced her work?
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. Both familiar and mysterious, they invite viewers to project their own interpretations, and raise important questions of identity and representation.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElA walk through Istanbul with artist Hera Büyüktaşcıyan – What this ground remembers | TateTate2022-12-09 | Artist Hera Büyüktaşçıyan takes us on a tour of Istanbul, the city where she lives and works. Ever since a child, walking has been a way for her to better understand this complex city, which she describes as a "living organism".
In this film, we join Büyüktaşçıyan on her daily commute from the island of Heybeliada. Arriving in the city, she explores the old district of Fatih, encountering and observing paper collectors and carpet sellers, Byzantine churches converted into Ottoman mosques.
In a visit to her studio, we see how the constant layering of histories, communities and acts of resistance in Istanbul – and in other cities like Toronto and Lahore – inspires her artwork, which ranges from forests of coiled carpets to stop-motion animation and drawing.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElCecilia Vicuña – Your Rage is Your Gold | TateTate2022-12-05 | Cecilia Vicuña is a Chilean poet and artist. Since the late 1960s she has created poems, paintings, sculpture, and film to explore and create alternative systems of knowledge that respect the Indigenous traditions that are a part of her heritage, while finding new ways to form connections with others.
In this film, she talks about her exploration of the quipu, an ancient South American recording and communication system made from knotted threads. As well as the collaboration within her work and our collective responsibility to change destructiveness, injustices and harm.
See Hyundai Commission: Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu at Tate Modern 11 October 2022 – 16 April 2023
Thumbnail image: Beach Ritual, 2017 performance, documenta 14, Athens, Greece. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and London. Photo: Mathias VölzkeArt in Focus | Everything Else Has Failed! Dont You Think Its Time For Love? Sharon Hayes | TateTate2022-11-04 | Watch an in-depth visual description of this work by multimedia artist Sharon Hayes.
Five loudspeakers stand facing five posters, reciting letters to unnamed lovers. The letters are highly emotional and intimate fraught with despair desire and longing. She speaks about her sense of helplessness during the unfolding invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the trauma and dislocation of living in a moment of war as a U.S. citizen and feeling dislocated from her daily life.
The letters do not specify the sexuality of the writer or their lover. For the performances, however, Hayes has said that she ‘butched myself up even more than usual because I didn’t want the love to be read as heteronormative.’
This audio description was written and recorded by Chris Timms, Retail Assistant at Tate.
This film has been created as part of the Terra Foundation For American Art Series: New Perspectives.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElVeronica Ryan – Im interested in contradiction and paradox | Turner Prize Winner 2022 | TateTate2022-10-18 | Seeds, fruit, vegetable trays, volcanic ash, teabags, dried flowers and cushions. These are just some of the objects that British artist Veronica Ryan uses in her colourful sculptural works, based on organic forms but which allude to complex historical networks of commercial exchange.
In this film, Veronica Ryan takes us inside the fabrication studio at Bristol's Spike Island where a lot of her artworks are made. She also takes us shopping down Ridley Road Market in East London, just round the corner from her public sculptures honouring the Windrush Generation.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElSin Wai Kin – I want people to exist in my world | Turner Prize Nominee 2022 | TateTate2022-10-14 | Explore the universe of artist Sin Wai Kin, populated by a cast of characters who challenge binary ways of thinking.
Sin’s practice pivots around the use of speculative fiction within performance, moving image, writing and print, to question the idealised image and the collective gaze. Identifying as mixed race and non-binary, their work creates fantasy narratives, to interrupt normative processes around issues of desire, identification, and objectification. Sin’s use of performance and particularly drag began as a means of deconstructing and challenging misogyny and racism in and outside of the queer community.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElEnter the labyrinth of artist Lee Mingwei | TateTate2022-09-23 | Two dancers wearing sarongs with bells on their ankles move slowly across Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. They are brushing grains of rice into patterns. They are creating a winding labyrinth-like path.
The dancers are performers in Lee Mingwei's Our Labyrinth, an artwork that brings a sense of ritual into the museum. It was inspired by Lee's experience of visiting ancient temples in Myanmar, where paths leading to temples are swept by volunteers.
In this film we meet the artist and introduce his beautiful, participatory works. Lee creates installations exploring issues such as trust, intimacy, and self-awareness. He often takes everyday interactions as his starting point, from eating and sleeping to walking and conversation.
Our Labyrinth was presented in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern 26 May – 15 June 2022. It was performed by Ben Ajose-Cutting, Iris Athanasiadi, Rosalie Bell, Yen-Ching Lin, Liu I-Ling, Jean-Gabriel Manolis, Thomas McKeon, Aya Sone, Olivia Thynne, and Wu Cheng-Lung.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElHow to Paint Flowers Like a Pre-Raphaelite | TateTate2022-09-02 | Join artist Glory Samjolly on a step-by-step guide to painting a flower in the style of a Pre-Raphaelite. This tutorial includes modern day tips and tricks to help you through!
You will need: - A canvas - A palette - Dammar varnish - A primer brush - Primer - A sponge - A selection of oil paints - A blending brush - A set of thin sable brushes - A pencil - Turpentine - Some flowers
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElThe Story of Paula Rego’s Painting ‘The Dance’ | TateTate2022-08-25 | Discover the story behind Paula Rego's painting 'The Dance'. We hear from Paintings Conservator, Camille Polkownik about Rego's process and the artist's son shares his experience of posing for the painting.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElIngrid Pollard – Its all a story or clues | Turner Prize Nominee 2022 | TateTate2022-08-19 | In this film, artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard talks to us about the ideas behind her landscape imagery, who we can see if her portraiture photography and her move into sculpture pieces.
Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnElAfterlives of Slavery in Contemporary Art – The Black Atlantic: Episode 4 | TateTate2022-08-12 | In the final part of our mini-series on the Black Atlantic, culture writer and curator Ekow Eshun looks at the afterlives of slavery in contemporary artistic practice through the work of Kara Walker, Alberta Whittle and Hew Locke.
In 1993, Paul Gilroy published a ground-breaking book, The Black Atlantic: Modernity & Double Consciousness, which has forever left its mark on historical and cultural studies. The idea that there exists a culture which is African, American, Caribbean, and British, all at once, has generated the rich and boundless space that is Black Atlantic thinking.
This series explores Tate's collection and the impact of the Atlantic slave trade through the lens of the Black Atlantic. It gives an accessible introduction to the Black Atlantic, how it can help us to understand British identity and how we can acknowledge and learn from history to look towards the future.