Hyundai Commission 2016

4 October 2016, <Anywhen> opened to the public at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Philippe Parreno, one of the most inventive figures, unveiled the work exploring the border between fiction and reality. Examining and reinterpreting the exhibition space and challenging our senses, Parreno brought into the Turbine Hall an experience that plays with time and space. The Turbine Hall, where monumental installations have been presented, stood at the center of attention once again, guiding the public through a constantly changing play of moving elements, different light configurations and sounds.

This was the second annual Hyundai Commission, a series of site-specific works created for the Turbine Hall by renowned international artists, part of the long-term partnership between Tate and Hyundai Motor, confirmed until 2025. It was also the first commission to respond to the challenge the Turbine Hall newly offers in the new position at the center of the museum, connecting the Boiler House with the new Blavatnik building.

Even within a shared space and time, we may each be traveling in our own versions of invisible time and space - like Philippe Parreno’s <Anywhen>, an exhibition that carries the idea of time and the essence of experiences. “We don’t to know what is actually happening here, but we believe that something is happening” implies the artist. What did Parreno want to tell with “Anywhen”? What made it difficult for people to leave his exhibition in the Turbine Hall? It may be because Parreno presented a constantly changing and developing “new future”.

This film reveals the various elements such as light, sound, film, and movements of <Anywhen>, all which have created unique moments. <HYUNDAI Meets Hyundai Commission: Philippe Parreno: Anywhen> is brought to you as part of the ‘HYUNDAI Meets’ project, which has been established to share diverse works of art, exhibitions and insight of leading figures in the art scene with audiences across the globe. Through this seventh episode of the ‘Hyundai Meets’ series, meet the artist, the curators and take a closer look at <Anywhen>.

When discussing the Hyundai Commission 2016, Parreno is often described as a ‘director’. Parreno gives an insight into his exploration in the different elements when outlining the multitude of different technologies used. For instance, a microphone is set up outside to pick up the sounds on the streets, weather units on the top of the roof monitor wind patterns and a machine records the changes of humidity and temperature. All data from these technologies is integrated within a system which then uses the data to affect the work. During the six months of the exhibition, the sequence of events continuously evolved into a pattern, informed by micro-organisms that reacted to and activated elements of the commission through a bio reactor. How the micro-organisms would react was however very unpredictable as variables such as wind, temperature and sound could easily bring change.

Philippe Parreno is an artist with an ability to transform space. Regardless of where the space may be, he creates an immersive experience and draws people into the changes. The same has been presented through <Anywhen>. All elements in this exhibition had the possibility to happen, or to not happen, and to occur. Parreno describes this himself as “the possibility for art to occur”.