Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui has filled Tate Modern's Turbine Hall with suspended brass trumpets, glowing drums and translucent cones that generate an evolving soundscape combining bass notes, drumbeats and a woman's singing voice.
Visitors to the installation encounter water basins and rough-hewn rocks on the floor that they can sit, stand or climb on. The musical instruments hang from the former power station's roof girders, creating what the Guardian describes as an "ingenious, interconnected sonic beast" that produces both funny and melancholy effects.
The work combines sculpture with sound design. Bass notes emerge from the hanging trumpets. Drumbeats resonate through the space. A woman's voice sings notes described as having "infinite nostalgia and melancholy." The soundscape continuously evolves rather than repeating.
Atoui's use of found objects and sculptural forms that double as sound generators transforms Tate Modern's largest public gallery into an immersive audio-visual experience. The artist moves beyond static installation to create what amounts to an invisible, ever-changing layer of sound layered atop the visible physical objects.
The work is currently on view at Tate Modern in London.