I've been working for a very long time with the immaterial, the intangible and
trying to push the limit of art into feeling more than seeing
It only comes alive when you intentionally want it to come alive
My name is Tania Bruguera
I'm an artist and an activist and I try hopefully with my work to transform
audiences into active citizens
Hopefully when people arrive to the Turbine Hall
they will think that nothing has changed that the building had no intervention at all
I want them to understand that things only change and happen in society
when you intervene in them
A very important part of the Turbine Hall
Commission has been the work with Tate Neighbours which is a group of activists
artists, elders, young people who live in the SE1 ZIP code
In this case it's the
first project that has been conceived within the consultation and the creative
input of the community
The community in Elephant and Castle is probably the most
huge Latin American community in London Some shops for example like this one have
been open for more than 15 years
I've been participating in Tania's project
from the beginning.
One of the most important things is the relevance of
having a connection between an art institution and the community around this place
I think the whole project is not about getting something, it's about
giving something
I'm not very au fait, I don't know anything about modern
art really but I became aware of this... a project that was going to be undertaken
at the Tate, I went to most of the meetings and tried to put my penny worth
in as it were. Tate Neighbours put forward the idea that the Boiler House
building should be renamed and it should be put in the name of someone who has
lived and worked in this area, done good work and gone the extra mile
Natalie Bell is a wonderful, amazing activist, she has changed and empowered
the life of young people and we are thrilled to be able to bring to light
the work she has done
We asked her, can you give us an example of how really the
work you do has changed the life of somebody and then she came up with Yousef
Yousef is an amazing young man, he is from Syria, he fled because of the war
By the time he arrived here he had nothing
I don't do things for people, I just
open doors, it's up to people to go through or not and a lot of people have
opened doors for me so I just like to pass it on and I think Yousef is
a typical shining example of that, that he's now set up his own
organisation in Brighton to help other young people and young students and he
wants to be a doctor so that he can help other people
There is a big tradition of
portraiture, you know kings are being portrayed or famous people and I say
let's do a big portrait of Yousef
The portrait is covered by thermochromic ink so the only way people will see him
is if they all get together and with their heat will uncover the image
Normally in the news the biggest news are the sad news
Here we want to subvert
that so the big story, the big portrait is a good story and there is a small
space where you can cry together with other people
You start feeling water in
your eyes without understanding why and the whole point of the piece is can we
re-learn to feel for others again?
I've been collaborating with a wonderful artist, kode9
He has created this
sound landscape and it's going to be very subtle, it might be like a hum but
hopefully something you feel in your body
When you open the Wi-Fi a new page
will come in with the terms and conditions done by the Neighbours
What we're trying to do is make a call to action for people to engage with social
and local causes and we have a manifesto that I think is quite beautiful
We believe in a culture of connection where 'we' is used instead of 'us and them'
We advocate for the right for all to be different but equal, a prejudice-free zone
A prejudice-free zone, a sanctuary for all
In times when thoughts and words are not enough actions
must become our common language