Tate Modern’s cavernous Turbine Hall will be transformed by the work of Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara this fall. That Sara has received the Hyundai Commission marks another major spotlight on Indigenous artistic practice on the international stage.
Hailing from a reindeer-herding family in Guovdageaidnu, Norway, Sara is a fierce critic of Nordic colonialism and an advocate for Sámi cultural survival and her work is deeply rooted in her community’s struggles and traditions. She made international headlines in 2016 with Pile o’ Sápmi Supreme, a haunting installation of 400 bullet-pierced reindeer skulls displayed outside the Norwegian Parliament in defiance of government culling policies. A version of the work was later included in Documenta 14 in 2017. At the 2022 Venice Biennale, she pushed further, contributing a visceral sculpture of cured red reindeer calves to the first-ever Sámi-led takeover of the Nordic Pavilion.
For Tate Modern, Sara’s commission signals a broader institutional shift. Director Karin Hindsbo last year pledged a stronger focus on Indigenous art, aligning with a growing global movement to elevate voices historically sidelined by Western museums. The choice also coincides with a funding windfall: Tate and Hyundai Motor have extended their partnership through 2036, securing long-term backing for the Hyundai Turbine Hall commissions and the museum’s Transnational Research Centre. Previous artists to take up the Turbine Hall commission include Kara Walker, Cecilia Vicuña, Tania Bruguera, Olafur Eliasson, and Doris Salcedo.
Sara, however, remains focused on something more urgent than institutional trends. “There’s a different way of thinking and being between an Indigenous perspective and a typical Western orientation,” she told the Guardian. “Humans, nature, and animals are interdependent and equal.” With her Turbine Hall takeover, which will open October 14, she’s set to bring that worldview into one of the world’s most visible contemporary art spaces.
