Asad Raza, Untitled (plot for dialogue), 2017. Exhibition view: CONVERSO, Milan, 2017. © Asad Raza, Photo Credit: Andrea Rossetti
At a fundraising event last night, Tate Liverpool announced that Asad Raza will create the first major commission for the Art Hall, a new space which will sit at the heart of the transformed gallery when it reopens in 2027.
Asad Raza (b.1974 in Buffalo, USA) 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. Incorporating elements from nature into site-specific installations, he challenges the conventions of gallery settings by transforming them into active, experiential environments.
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."
The dramatic new Art Hall on the ground floor of Tate Liverpool is central to the reimagining of the building. It creates a dynamic space that will house ground-breaking 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.
In 2017 Raza created Untitled (plot for dialogue), installing a tennis-like game in a deconsecrated sixteenth-century church in Milan and it will be presented in 2026 in Kunsthal Gent. For Diversion in 2022, he rerouted a portion of the Main River through the Kunsthalle Portikus gallery in Frankfurt. Absorption, in which a group of cultivators create over 300 tons of "neosoil," was shown as the 34th Kaldor Public Art Project in Sydney in 2019, and at the Gropius Bau, Berlin in 2020. Root sequence. Mother tongue first exhibited at the 2017 Whitney Biennial combines twenty-six trees, caretakers and objects.
Raza’s work has recently been seen in Arts of the Earth at Guggenheim Bilbao and Sak-da: The Poetics of Decomposition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul. He has exhibited globally, including Azotea, Buenos Aires; Manifesta 15, Barcelona; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Serpentine Galleries, London; Ruhrtriennale, Essen; the Lahore Biennale; Museion, Bolzano; and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.
Asad Raza is supported by Liverpool’s Accommodation BID
Press enquiries
For press requests, contact Dominic Beaumont, Communications Manager, Tate Liverpool dominic.beaumont@tate.org.uk / 07969 592950
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About Tate Liverpool
The redevelopment of Tate Liverpool will transform the UK’s most-popular modern and contemporary art gallery outside London. A beacon for cultural regeneration in the north since it first opened in 1988, the gallery’s transformation has been described as Britain’s most important cultural project.
Tate Liverpool has already announced that the first major retrospective of artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman will form part of the reopening programme, which will be a celebration of the rich culture of the North.
Designed by 6a architects, Tate Liverpool’s renovation will see the iconic gallery reimagined for the 21st century, opening up spaces to display the incredible variety of Tate’s collection and host world-class exhibitions. These galleries will sit alongside new public spaces for play, relaxation and learning with views across the Mersey, helping to connect the gallery with the city and communities that surround it. https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/projects/transforming-tate-liverpool
Funding
Funding for the project has come from the UK Government, including £10m from MHCLG, as part of a successful combined £20m bid with National Museums Liverpool, and £18.6m from the DCMS Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund. The project has benefitted from further funding from foundations, including £3m from the Garfield Weston Foundation, £1.25m from the Wolfson Foundation, as well as gifts from trusts and individuals including The Ross Warburton Charitable Trust. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority also awarded funding for the developmental phase of the project via its Strategic Investment Fund.
Liverpool’s Accommodation BID
Liverpool’s Accommodation BID is managed by Liverpool Business Improvement District but operated by the city’s hotels and accommodation providers. It was established in 2023 to improve weekday occupancy and overnight stays in the city. After an alternation ballot, a £2 overnight was introduced in June 2025, which is invested in events and partnerships to help achieve that goal.