Ways of Working
This section gives you suggestions of gallery-based activities to do at Tate Modern. The methods and tools encourage you to look at, discuss and share ideas about artworks. All activities have been tried and tested with a wide range of adult groups involved in community education.
Note: Works of art featured in this section may not always be on display in the galleries. If you are planning a visit to the galleries and wish to see a specific work of art, please check the collection pages to see whether the work is currently on display.
- Joseph Beuys: a materials and handling objects activity
- Tacita Dean: a looking and discussing activity
- Everyday Life: a looking, discussing and drawing activity
- Susan Hiller: a materials and handling objects activity
- Mark Rothko: a word and atmosphere activity
- Women Surrealists: a creative writing/language activity
- Christian Boltanski: an objects and picture handling activity
- Cold Dark Matter: a discussion-based activity
- Trace of Time: a materials and handling objects activity
- Seydou Keita: a handling objects and discussion activity
- Cornelia Parker: a handling objects and discussion activity
At any one time there may be 500 works of art on display at Tate Modern. Each one suggests a different idea, issue or point of view. For these art works to have any relevance, however, they need to be looked at, their value determined by a viewer. It is for this reason that most of our activities take place in front of the artworks, drawing on the unique experience of engaging with original works. Our approach encourages visitors to have ‘conversations’ with and about the various displays and to learn about as well as through modern art.
Here you will find suggestions of how handling objects can be used in the gallery to develop new and interesting ways of thinking about artworks. There are also suggestions for continuing the ideas you have had in the gallery with practical projects back at your workplace. Use the links above to explore gallery based activities for specific Tate Modern displays.