Tomorrow Thursday 12th October world-renowned art collective Guerrilla Girls present a new takeover of the Tate Edit shop at Tate Modern. Featuring a range of products curated and designed in partnership with the US-based group, it marks the third year of artist takeovers for Tate Edit – a space dedicated to experimental shopping experiences – following collaborations with Chila Kumari Singh Burman in 2021 and Bob & Roberta Smith in 2022.
Bringing together art and activism, Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of women artists formed in New York in 1985 to fight discrimination and corruption in the art world, using facts, humour, and outrageous visuals. They have produced hundreds of posters, billboards, books, stickers, animations, and actions – not just about art, but also covering politics, film, war, and more. The collective has a long history with Tate, with the gallery having collected and shown their work for over 20 years.
The specially designed range for Tate Edit includes a series of the artist’s provocative archival posters dating back to the 1980s, branded merchandise, stationery, bottles from sustainable water bottle brand Chilly’s, and bags by LOQI. Alongside fashion products featuring slogans taken from their works, there will be a Feminist Masked Avenger range for children, a large-scale neon gorilla light for art collectors, a selection of giclée reproduction prints and a collection of feminist books curated by the collective.
The shop’s striking window and entrance have been designed in collaboration with the Guerrilla Girls, depicting their iconic gorilla mask tearing through the vinyl in a comic book style. Providing shoppers with an immersive experience, every inch of the space is painted, graffitied, or decorated in the signature style of the collective. The shop is divided into two sections: one for contemplation, the other focusing on action. The rousing visual centrepiece is a wrap-around fly-poster wall created in the spirit of how the Guerrilla Girls display their work, which aims to inspire and represent multiple voices. Content highlights include a chalk blackboard inviting visitors to write their own slogans in response to the artist’s participatory work, Complaints Department, and a Guerrilla Girls-themed photobooth complete with giant sunglasses, inflatable bananas and masks for visitors to interact with. Video content from the collective’s archive, some of which has never been viewed publicly before, will be streamed on screens throughout the space.
Visitors to Tate Modern can also see several works by the Guerrilla Girls as part of a free display on Level 4 in the Natalie Bell Building entitled Media Networks. The group’s most iconic poster works, including Dearest Art Collector, 1986, The Advantages of Being A Woman Artist, 1988 and Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum, 2012 are on show.
The Tate Edit shop is open from 10.00 – 18.00 daily, until Spring 2024. There will be late-night openings during the Tate Modern Lates on 27th October and 24th November 2023. More events will follow in January, including a special guest appearance, to be announced later this year. Guerrilla Girls have works on show in Tate Modern’s free collection displays in the Level 4 Joiner Galleries.
Guerrilla Girls takeover Discover the full shop collection at Tate Edit, Level 1 at Tate Modern or shop.tate.org.uk/guerrilla-girls-x-tate-edit
