Nora Chipaumire's 'gadzi' at Tate Modern Tanks as Infinities Commission 2026

Nora Chipaumire presents 'gadzi', an immersive organism blending live performance, sculpture, sound, and moving images at Tate Modern's Tanks as the Infinities Commission 2026, curated by Valentine Umansky and Francis Hardy. The work, named after gadziguru—the most powerful feminine presence in Shona cosmology—draws on Zimbabwe's balancing rocks, legends, and soil. Visitors move through wood, wire, and cardboard sculptures, sit on embedded speakers, and experience sound physically via a monumental dub sound system. Chipaumire, now 61, emphasizes the feminine as a way of understanding the world, rooted in ancestral knowledge and lived experience, rejecting Eurocentric frameworks. Sound is described as vibration and breath, with Chimurenga, dub, and punk sounds expressing collective resistance. The installation includes makeshift lights from petrol bottles and moving images of the artist navigating balancing rocks. Live activations occur on 26 June (Tate Modern Lates) and 27–28 June, with a speaker installation in the Turbine Hall designed with Ari Marcopoulos and Kara Walker. On view until 23 August 2026, 'gadzi' refuses to be defined by loss, focusing on unextractable aspects of identity and power.