Superflex swings into action, transforming the Turbine Hall into an artistic playground

Two heads are better than one – and six legs are better than two, or at least, that’s what art collective Superflex think.
The Danish trio have filled the Turbine Hall in the Tate Modern – and beyond – with rows of three-seater swings, the latest Hyundai Commission unveiled at the London gallery this week. The interactive, giant playground, which also features a monumental pendulum, will have more than 3 million visitors swinging at the Tate Modern until April.
The ambitious interactive work engages not only with the industrial past of the Turbine Hall, but with the current socio-political crisis. ‘Given the enormous challenges of our times it’s difficult to see how we can make an impact as individuals,’ says Superflex co-founder Bjørnstjerne Christiansen on the concept for the commission.
About 5,000 sq m of an innovative cork composite has been applied by Amorim to the floor of the Turbine Hall
‘When you swing alone, you feel gravity, you feel freedom — but when you swing in three, you have to balance, you have to collaborate to make it work, to get the motion, and then you experience a force that is much greater than with one person,’ Christiansen adds. ‘It’s the core of the whole installation, three people as a collaborative, collective power.’
Superflex join some of the world’s leading artists who have transformed the 85ft high space since 2000, including Louise Bourgeois, Anish Kapoor, Carsten Höller and Olafur Eliasson. The collective’s work—titled One, Two, Three, Swing!—will extend out of the public space and into the urban landscape, and eventually, it’s hoped, even out of London.
A large pendulum is suspended by a 20m-long cable from the ceiling, swinging above a carpet in a colour scheme inspired by British currency
The artists hope to send a positive message about the power of working together, physically and psychically. ‘We have spent 25 years working as three people, passing that on as an entity, it’s what we believe in. Doing things with other people from the start, to challenge our own identity, who we are and what we can achieve, in different constellations, is key to being a citizen,’ Christiansen told us.
The enormous, mirrored pendulum, gently swinging from the ceiling, also allows visitors some downtime for quiet, horizontal thought (you’re invited to lie down on colourful carpets below), something the artists see an essential, and part of the process to change. ‘In the UK you have a kind of identity crisis, with Brexit and the consequences of that, and surely that creates an apathy around what we can do. But we need apathy and contemplation to be able to activate, to be part of movement and of a movement,’ Christiansen explains.
From there, a factory production line will assemble the swing seats on the spot. ‘We want to motivate people to think about what’s going on,’ he says. ‘We’re optimistic about collective power — every system is a construction, historic facts based on human actions, so that means we can challenge them on every level.’
INFORMATION
‘One Two Three Swing!’ is on view until 2 April 2018. For more information, visit the Tate website
ADDRESS
Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Extreme Cashmere reimagines retail with its new Amsterdam store: ‘You want to take your shoes off and stay’
Wallpaper* takes a tour of Extreme Cashmere’s new Amsterdam store, a space which reflects the label’s famed hospitality and unconventional approach to knitwear
By Jack Moss
-
Titanium watches are strong, light and enduring: here are some of the best
Brands including Bremont, Christopher Ward and Grand Seiko are exploring the possibilities of titanium watches
By Chris Hall
-
Warp Records announces its first event in over a decade at the Barbican
‘A Warp Happening,' landing 14 June, is guaranteed to be an epic day out
By Tianna Williams
-
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at Tate Modern
The 42-panel quilt, which commemorates those affected by HIV and AIDS, will be displayed in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in June 2025
By Anna Solomon
-
Meet the Turner Prize 2025 shortlisted artists
Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa are in the running for the Turner Prize 2025 – here they are with their work
By Hannah Silver
-
‘Humour is foundational’: artist Ella Kruglyanskaya on painting as a ‘highly questionable’ pursuit
Ella Kruglyanskaya’s exhibition, ‘Shadows’ at Thomas Dane Gallery, is the first in a series of three this year, with openings in Basel and New York to follow
By Hannah Silver
-
The art of the textile label: how British mill-made cloth sold itself to Indian buyers
An exhibition of Indo-British textile labels at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is a journey through colonial desire and the design of mass persuasion
By Aastha D
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experience
In ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
By Hannah Silver
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate Britain
In his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
By Emily Steer
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desire
In a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
By Sam Moore
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next year
Tate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
By Anna Solomon