Installation Photography of UNIQLO Tate Play: Monster Chetwynd: Thunder, Crackle and Magic, at Tate Modern 2025 © Tate Photography (Lucy Dawkins)
From 19 July to 25 August 2025, Tate Modern’s popular UNIQLO Tate Play series will welcome Monster Chetwynd to the Turbine Hall with an immersive new theatrical installation titled Thunder, Crackle and Magic. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1975 film The Magic Flute. Based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1791 opera of the same name, the film follows a group of characters on an adventure as they overcome monsters, villains and other perils. Chetwynd’s new work invites visitors of all ages to take part in collective storytelling to reimagine scenes from this opera. This playful experience takes place across three fantastical sets, each presenting a living spectacle of performers, creatures, costumes and handcrafted props. Visitors are encouraged to move back-and-forth between centre-stage and behind-the-scenes to consider all the elements which come together to make a performance.
Upon entering the Turbine Hall installation, visitors encounter an excerpt from the opening scene of Bergman’s The Magic Flute before stepping through a curtain to take the stage and play a role in the story themselves. Costumed performers animate the scenes across three vibrant stages or ‘sets’. On the first, Dragon Island, visitors are tasked with charming a dragon. In Wild Animal Forest, participants are invited to bring handmade puppets to life and create movements and sounds deep in the forest. On the final stage, Tested by The Elements, visitors face the forces of nature as they journey through fire and water. Wicker dens are positioned throughout the installation, filled with cushions where you can lounge and watch clips from Bergman’s film.
Chetwynd, who began as a painter, is best known for creating joyful and mischievous performances, which prompt collaboration, spontaneity and humour. Thunder, Crackle and Magic builds upon the artist’s practice of creating interactive performances, film, collage and painting, weaving in references to folk and popular culture, and making use of readily available materials to create handmade costumes, props and sets. Visitors wanting to experience more of Chetwynd’s fantastical worlds can also view A Tax Haven Run By Women 2010–1, an installation of sculptures and costumes imagining an anarchic game-show style competition between two teams, in Tate Modern’s free collection displays.
Karin Hindsbo, Director of Tate Modern, said: “Monster Chetwynd’s playful and humorous commission offers a wild experience for all visitors including families visiting the gallery this summer, foregrounding participation, performance and play. With support from UNIQLO, every year UNIQLO Tate Play allows us to work with a range of fantastic artists to enable our visitors to co-create works of art. These activities are free and open to all-ages, encouraging creative encounters for everyone.“
All year round, UNIQLO Tate Play offers free activities to families visiting Tate Modern and encourages people of all ages to play together and get creative. The programme is always made available to all, inspired by the belief that art and play are for everyone. Since it launched in 2021, it has commissioned large-scale projects by renowned artists including Rasheed Araeen, Ei Arakawa, Yayoi Kusama and Oscar Murillo, and it has seen over 652,000 people take part in the gallery alone. Building on this incredible success, last year UNIQLO extended their support of the programme until 2029.
UNIQLO Tate Play: Monster Chetwynd: Thunder, Crackle and Magic is curated by Juliet Bingham, Curator, International Art, Molly Molloy, Senior Learning Curator (Early Years and Families), Gina Tsang, Curator (Early Years and Families), Beatriz Garcia-Velasco, Assistant Curator, International Art, and produced by Simon Lenkiewicz (Programme Manager, UNIQLO Families Programme).
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Listings information
UNIQLO Tate Play: Monster Chetwynd: Thunder, Crackle and Magic
19 July – 25 August 2025
Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG
Open daily 10.30–18.00, Last entry 45 minutes before closing
Admission free
More information at tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/uniqlo-tate-play
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About Monster Chetwynd
Monster Chetwynd (b.1973, London) has performed and exhibited internationally and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2012. Chetwynd’s multifarious practice – spanning interactive performances, film, collage, painting and installation – interweaves elements of folk spectacle, popular culture and surrealistic cinema. Chetwynd is known for her anarchistic performance pieces, featuring handmade costumes, props and sets. Describing her work as ‘impatiently made’, she often re-uses materials that are easy to process to create ambitious costumes and scenery, while incorporating eclectic cultural references – from Mae West to Vionnet. At the core of Chetwynd’s practice is an emphasis on the work’s collective development. She has exhibited internationally with recent solo projects including The Trompe l'oeil Cleavage, Kunsthaus Zürich (2025); A Feather in your Hat!, Copenhagen Contemporary (2025) and Moths, Bats and Velvet Worms! Moths, Bats and Heretics!, Belvedere Museum, Vienna (2024). Chetwynd was the recipient of the Tate Britain Winter Commission in 2018.
About UNIQLO
UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing group, a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo. With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom, and changing the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. UNIQLO’s support of Tate has enabled Tate Modern to offer captivating and culturally empowering participatory events that welcome new and younger audiences to the gallery. UNIQLO is committed to its ongoing partnership with Tate, and the power it has to make art accessible to all. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visit uniqlo.com and fastretailing.com.
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