At a fundraising event last night, Tate Liverpool announced that Asad Raza will create the first major commission for the Art Hall.
This new space will sit at the heart of the transformed gallery when it reopens in 2027. The dramatic new Art Hall on the ground floor is central to the building’s reimagining, creating a dynamic space to house groundbreaking 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.
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.”
Multi-Sensory Experiences and Natural Interventions
Asad Raza 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.
By incorporating elements from nature into site-specific installations, he challenges the conventions of gallery settings by transforming them into active, experiential environments.
Raza’s work has been exhibited globally, including the Serpentine Galleries in London, Guggenheim Bilbao, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul.
In 2017, he created Untitled (plot for dialogue), which installed a tennis-like game in a deconsecrated sixteenth-century church in Milan.
For Diversion in 2022, he rerouted a portion of the Main River through a gallery in Frankfurt, while his piece Absorption involved the creation of over 300 tons of “neosoil” in Sydney and Berlin.
A Global Artist for a Reimagined Liverpool Landmark
The selection of Raza marks a significant milestone in the gallery’s redevelopment. His previous work, such as Root sequence.
Mother tongue, which combined twenty-six trees with caretakers and objects, exemplifies his ability to merge organic life with architectural spaces.
This approach aligns with the vision for the new Art Hall to connect the historic Liverpool building more closely with its surrounding environment.
As the gallery prepares for its 2027 reopening, the inaugural commission is expected to set the tone for a new chapter of contemporary art on the Liverpool waterfront.
Raza’s portfolio spans major biennials and museums from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, bringing a truly international perspective to this landmark Liverpool project.
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