London Art | October 2026 – April 2027
Two big openings make this a great time to visit Tate Modern: a free sound installation filling the Turbine Hall, and the first major exhibition of the global art photography movement. Here are five reasons to go.
1. A Turbine Hall you can hear
For the 11th Hyundai Commission, artist and composer Tarek Atoui has turned the Turbine Hall into Hold, an immersive soundscape of custom-built wind instruments, drums, gongs and 20-metre textiles. Computer-controlled wind flows through bamboo and Chinese shengs, and the sound evolves throughout the run. You’re invited to sit, lie down and listen with your whole body. It’s free and runs until 11 April 2027.
2. Free live performances
Musicians will regularly “plug into” the installation, with free performances from 7pm on 16 and 17 October, then monthly on Fridays. There’s also a free Tate Modern Late with DJs and workshops on 27 November.
3. The birth of art photography
Opening on 14 October, Light and Magic is the first major exhibition to explore Pictorialism as a global movement, when photographers from the 1880s onwards turned photography from a documentary tool into fine art. It brings together 200 rare vintage prints by more than 80 artists from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.
4. A working darkroom
The exhibition includes a functioning darkroom showing how prints were developed, and hands-on darkroom courses run through the winter. Look out for works by Edward Steichen, Paul Strand and Edward Weston alongside lesser-known photographers from China, India, Japan and Sri Lanka.
5. Late opening at weekends
Tate Modern is open daily from 10am to 6pm, and until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays, so you can make an evening of it. Light and Magic is £5 for 16 to 25-year-olds with Tate Collective, and free for Tate Members.
Visit
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold | 13 October 2026 – 11 April 2027 | Free
Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography | 14 October 2026 – 21 February 2027
Nearest stations: Blackfriars and Southwark