Trade Winds is the first live performance in London by the US-based artist, poet and composer JJJJJerome Ellis, devised for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Using spoken word and live music that combines saxophone, piano, hammer dulcimer and electronics, Ellis creates captivating improvisational sonic landscapes known as ‘clearings.’
‘Clearings’, spaces Ellis forms through stuttering or ‘dysfluency’, challenge relationships between Blackness, speech, music and time. According to Ellis, opening up time points toward possibilities of refusal and dissent.
Ellis’s performance takes shape in two halves. The first presents portions from Ellis’s ongoing bodies of work The Clearing 2021 and Aster of Ceremonies 2023. The second presents a newly created musical work titled A Response, In Admiration, to El Anatsui’s Behind the Red Moon 2024. This work is inspired by Ellis’s time spent with El Anatsui’s Hyundai Commission.
Located on the Turbine Hall Bridge and surrounded by Anatsui’s work, Ellis's performance will connect with the stories of power, oppression and resilience explored within the commission.
Trade Winds is the first part of a two-night programme titled Voice and Breath, which presents contemporary artistic practices working at the intersection of performance, poetry and music.
This performance is relaxed.
The second night of the programme is a performance by writer, poet and artist Olivia Douglass on 9 March.
This event is organised by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational.
JJJJJerome Ellis is a disabled artist and a person who stutters. Through music, text, performance, and video he researches relationships among Blackness, disabled speech, divinity, nature, sound, and time. Born in 1989 to Jamaican and Grenadian immigrants, he lives in Tidewater, Virginia with his wife, ecologist-poet Luísa Black Ellis. They love walking in the woods, reading, and drinking tea together.
The performance duration will be 120 minutes with a 15-minute interval.
This event is BSL interpreted.
There will be fluctuations in lighting and sound levels. Ear defenders will be available 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.
Masks are recommended and will be available.
You are encouraged to arrive scent-free.
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.
For more information before your visit:
- Email hello@tate.org.uk
- Call +44 (0)20 7887 8888 (daily 10.00–17.00)
