Wolfgang Tillmans has just celebrated the opening of his major exhibition at the Tate Modern, but the prolific photographer is known for his interest in music nearly as much as his own work, so it doesn’t come as much surprise that his exhibition will be accompanied by a program of experimental musical events.
From March 3 to 12, the museum’s South Tank, a cavernous concrete space, will be taken over for a series of performances by Tillmans, his collaborators, and contemporary musical acts.
The first event, on Friday, March 3, will be a performance by FRAGILE, Tillmans’s own musical project in collaboration with Tim Knapp, Jay Pluck, and Juan Pablo Echeverri. The group released an EP earlier this year.
That Sunday, March 5, is an event titled, “The 30 tracks that make ‘It’s a Sin’ by Pet Shop Boys,” referring to the gloriously cheesy and triumphant song from the 1987 album Actually. The song will be expanded into a version that lasts three and a half hours.
The following week, Tillmans will create live visuals to the electro-acoustic soundscapes of artists Lori E. Allen and Thomas Brinkmann, followed by a live improvisational set by Brinkmann.
And on March 10, composer, DJ, musician, and producer Othon, who works with classical sounds as well as techno and “shamanic electronica,” will “perform a continuous set of dream-like semi-improvisations” with interventions by Tillmans.
Finally, on Saturday, March 11, the London-based DJ, NTS radio presenter, and producer of shiny, futuristic pop music Throwing Shade (AKA Nabihah Iqbal, who has also worked as a human rights lawyer in South Africa) will perform live, followed by a deconstructed, experimental audiovisual set by LA-based experimental rock and noise duo Wreck & Reference.
All the events are free to the public.
“Wolfgang Tillmans” is on view at the Tate Modern until June 11, 2017.