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Tate Modern Performance

Voice and Breath: Olivia Douglass

This event is BSL interpreted

9 March 2024 at 19.30–21.00

Ordinary Dreams, Kunsthall Stavanger. Design by Bryant Wells

Explore dreaming and desire through poetry, music and performance in the Turbine Hall

Ordinary Dreams is a new project by writer, poet and artist Olivia Douglass, an ongoing experiment in merging poetic practice with sound, performance and installation. Originally manifesting as a short film and song, the project will debut as a live performance at Tate Modern. Rooted in Black and queer experiences, Ordinary Dreams explores the tension between day-to-day and radical visions of life and desire. It looks to dreaming as a way to create knowledge and shape reality.

This iteration of Ordinary Dreams takes shape through collaboration between UK-based poets and artists, with guest poets Remi Graves, Otamere Guobadia and Munesu Mukombe, together with contributions by Douglass and a newly composed live score by FAUZIA.

Douglass poses the question of what ‘ordinary’ means to Black and queer people, while navigating a world in which living without being vigilant is still a dream. Situated on Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall Bridge and held by El Anatsui’s Hyundai Commission: Behind the Red Moon, Ordinary Dreams continues Douglass’s ongoing commitment to articulating alternative visions of liberated Black queer experiences beyond colonial frameworks.

Ordinary Dreams is the second part of a two-night programme titled Voice and Breath, which presents contemporary artistic practices working at the intersection of performance, poetry and music.

The first part of the programme is a performance by artist, poet and composer JJJJJerome Ellis on 7 March.

This event is organised by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational. 

Olivia Douglass is a British-Nigerian writer and poet. They are the winner of The Guardian and 4th Estate 4thWrite Prize 2022 with their short story Ink. They are the author of two poetry pamphlets, Slow Tongue (2018), and another forthcoming with Bad Betty Press in June 2024. Olivia was shortlisted for the Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize 2020. A Barbican Young Poets alumni, their writing has appeared in publications including Guardian, Montez Press, National Poetry Library, Bath Magg, and Nothing Personal. Olivia has exhibited work internationally at galleries and institutions including Galleria Duarte Sequeira (Portugal), Passa Porta Festival (Brussels), NoguerasBlanchard Gallery (Madrid) and Kunsthall Stavanger (Norway). In 2022, they were the curator of Strange Echoes at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, a six-day interdisciplinary convening celebrating M. NourbeSe Philip and showcasing Black-British experimental poetry. Olivia recently completed an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford, and is developing new work.

FAUZIA is a multidisciplinary artist working across contemporary electronic music through live, recorded music and audio-visual installations. Her work focuses on challenging the division of genres through an extensive range of musical expressions, as a composer, DJ, producer, and vocalist. As a DJ on NTS Radio, her show was inspired by fast-paced music on both sides of the Atlantic. Six years later, the show guides listeners through the multiplicity of her influences, ranging from frenetic club productions to classical compositions, hosting guests including Mica Levi, Kode9, Space Afrika and more. Through the pandemic, FAUZIA self-released a series of projects – fragments 2020, are you hoping for a miracle? 2020 and flashes in time 2021 – reviewed by Resident Advisor, Crack Magazine, Pitchfork, The Wire and others. Her discography extends to production work for other artists, including Kelela, Duval Timothy and Tirzah. She is signed to Mexican Summer and is working on a debut album, with upcoming shows and residencies in London, Paris and New York.

Remi Graves is a London-based poet and drummer. A former Barbican Young Poet, their work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, at St Paul's Cathedral and in various anthologies. Past commissions include 'draft and sew' for the National Poetry Library and ‘On Breathing’ for Barbican. Their sound poem 'coal' was commissioned by Rosa Kwir Gallery (Malta) in October 2022 for Tender & Masculine, a group show. They have led courses at The Poetry School and facilitate in schools and community spaces around London. Remi's debut pamphlet with your chest was published in 2022 by fourteen poems. As a drummer Remi has toured the UK, US and Europe playing for various artists and performed improvisational sets at Somerset House, Southbank Centre’s Africa Utopia and more.

Otamere Guobadia is a multidisciplinary writer, poet, and columnist whose work focuses on desire, art, adornment, queerness, and agency, within culture high, low, and popular. His work has appeared in British Vogue, i-D, Dazed, GQ, The Guardian, Vogue Italia, Wonderland, The BBC, The Independent, and AnOther Magazine, among other publications. His first book, Unutterable Visions, Perishable Breath, was released on January 4, 2024.

Munesu Mukombe is a London-based multidisciplinary artist who works within writing, performance, and moving image. She writes autobiographical pieces that act as a framework to create intimate and vulnerable spaces for herself and the audience: contextualising abstract feelings around grief, racial oppression, interpersonal relationships, and self-actualisation. She is deeply inspired by the subversion of musical theatre, pop culture, and music but wanting to push this format further by reimagining the aesthetics of performances that incorporate RnB vocal arrangements, commercial choreography and experimental electronic music. Munesu completed a BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University. Her work has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, The David Roberts Art Foundation, The Young Vic, and Somerset House.

The performance duration will be 90 minutes without interval.

This event is BSL interpreted.

There will be low-level lighting and ear defenders for those who would like them.

Spaces will be reserved for wheelchair users and companions. Please let us know if you would like a space reserved for you.

You will be seated for the performance. Seats are hard, some of which have arms for additional support. Some soft-floor seating will also be set up. You are also welcome to move around the space during the performance.

The performance takes place in the Turbine Hall, on the Level 1 Bridge that connects the Blavatnik Building and the Natalie Bell Building at Tate Modern. Entrance is via the Turbine Hall entrance on Holland Street. All Tate Modern entrances are step-free.

Fully accessible toilets will be available to use on Level 1 of the Natalie Bell Building.

To help plan your visit to Tate Modern, have a look at our visual story. It includes photographs and information about what you can expect from a visit to the gallery.

Download Tate Modern map PDF

For more information before your visit:

  • Email hello@tate.org.uk
  • Call +44 (0)20 7887 8888 (daily 10.00–17.00)

Check all Tate Modern accessibility information

Tate Modern

Turbine Hall, Level 1 Bridge

Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Plan your visit

Date & Time

9 March 2024 at 19.30–21.00

Pricing

Free with ticket

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