BFF-54 Artist Bruguera tackles global migrant row at Tate Modern

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Artist Bruguera tackles global migrant row at Tate Modern

LONDON, Oct 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Cuban artist Tania Bruguera on Monday
unveiled an installation on the theme of migration in which viewers use their
body heat to make a portrait of a young Syrian refugee appear on the floor.

She is the latest international artist commissioned to exhibit in the Tate
Modern’s Turbine Hall in London, a vast space in the former industrial
building by the River Thames turned into a home for modern art since 2000.

This year, Bruguera has chosen to leave the hall — boasting 3,000 square
metres and 30-metre-high ceilings — largely empty, except for a large grey
rectangle painted on the ground framing an invisible portrait of a young
Syrian refugee.

He left the war-torn country in 2011 and after arriving in Britain received
support from local NGOs based in the community surrounding the Tate Modern.

But his image only appears if visitors cooperate by stretching out on the
black heat-sensitive floor together to activate the thermochromatic ink that
details the portrait.

“It’s a reflection on the times we live on, where it seems it’s necessary
that everybody works together even if they don’t believe in the same issues,
even if they have different political agendas, even if they are unknown to
each other,” Bruguera told AFP ahead of the work’s public opening on Tuesday.

Curator Catherine Wood added: “It’s kind of an antidote to selfies culture
and to the way we often consume news stories and tragedies alone.”

The exhibition also features accompanying low-frequency sounds composed by
Scottish sound artist Steve Goodman, known as Kode9, adding to the disturbing
undercurrent felt within the hall.

“It’s almost another presence because the whole piece is about
invisibility, like immigrants’ lives, they have to be invisible,” she said.

Similarly, nothing at the stealth installation — what to look for, how to
find it — is explained directly to visitors, who are left to work things out
for themselves.

“It’s ok if somebody comes and never discovers what’s happening because
that’s what happens in life, a lot of people pass by and they don’t see
what’s going on,” added the artist, laughing.

The work’s title is fluid too: an ever-increasing figure, representing the
number of people who migrated globally last year, added to the number of
migrant deaths recorded so far this year.

The changing total, intended to show the sheer scale of migration and risks
involved, is stamped with red ink on visitors’ hands on entering a small room
adjacent to the hall.

At the same time, they are hit by the release of an organic compound to
induce tears.

The artist has described the feature as provoking “forced empathy” while
Tate Modern director Frances Morris said “it’s a way of moving from
statistics to emotions”.

A self-described dissatisfied plastics artist, who currently lives and
works in Havana and New York, Bruguera has been arrested several times in
Cuba for her work but insists she does not seek out provocation.

“I look for avenues to open conversations and sometimes the bigger the
conversation you want to open, the more loud your argument has to be,”
Bruguera said.

The exhibition runs until February 24.

BSS/AFP/MRI/2234 hrs