The team said they were “thrilled” with the latest development
Tate Liverpool is currently closed for renovation work(Image: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
Tate Liverpool is one step closer to reopening as it announced a major commission. Asad Raza, from Buffalo, USA, will take over the Art Hall, a new space which will sit at the heart of the transformed gallery in 2027.
The artist is known for immersing audiences in multi-sensory, participatory experiences. His works often intervene in their surrounding environments, encouraging audiences to engage more deeply with the spaces around them and reflect on the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Incorporating elements from nature into site-specific installations, he prides himself on challenging the conventions of gallery settings by transforming them into active, experiential environments.
Tate Liverpool director Helen Legg said: “The Art Hall is set to become an iconic new space at Tate Liverpool. When we reopen, it will welcome our visitors and connect the building with its surrounding environment.
“Asad Raza is the perfect artist for us to work with to launch this new era at Tate Liverpool, and I’m thrilled that we will present his work as our inaugural commission.”
The new Art Hall on the ground floor of Tate Liverpool is central to the reimagining of the building. According to the Tate, it creates a dynamic space that will house international commissions and large-scale artworks from Tate’s collection.
The Art Hall commissions will greet visitors immediately as they enter from the dockside, creating a “memorable and instant encounter with art.”
In 201, Raza created Untitled (plot for dialogue), installing a tennis-like game in a deconsecrated sixteenth-century church in Milan and it will be presented in 2026 in Kunsthal Gent.
For Diversion in 2022, he rerouted a portion of the Main River through the Kunsthalle Portikus gallery in Frankfurt. Absorption, in which a group of cultivators create over 300 tons of “neosoil”, was shown as the 34th Kaldor Public Art Project in Sydney in 2019, and at the Gropius Bau, Berlin, in 2020.
The redevelopment of Tate Liverpool will transform the UK’s mostpopular modern and contemporary art gallery outside London.
A beacon for cultural regeneration in the north since it first opened in 1988, the gallery’s transformation has been described as Britain’s most important cultural project.
Tate Liverpool has already announced that the first major retrospective of artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman will form part of the reopening programme, which will be a celebration of the rich culture of the North.
Designed by 6A architects, Tate Liverpool’s renovation will see the iconic gallery reimagined for the 21st century, opening up spaces to display the incredible variety of Tate’s collection and host world-class exhibitions.
These galleries will sit alongside new public spaces for play, relaxation and learning with views across the Mersey, helping to connect the gallery with the city and communities that surround it.
Funding Funding for the project has come from the UK Government, including £10m from MHCLG, as part of a successful combined £20m bid with National Museums Liverpool, and £18.6m from the DCMS Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund.
