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Tai Shani: The Spell or The Dream at Somerset House
Exhibition
Tai Shani: The Spell or The Dream
7 Aug 2025 – 14 Sep 2025
Regular hours
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 20:00
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Monday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 20:00
Free admission
Address
- Strand
- WC2R 1LA
- London
- WC2R 1LA
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 77a, 91 and 176, while the River Bus Service can be taken to Embankment and Savoy Piers.
- Temple, Covent Garden, Charing Cross and Embankment.
- Charing Cross, Waterloo and Blackfriars.
Turner Prize-winning, Somerset House Studios artist Tai Shani presents: The Spell or The Dream, a major free commission celebrating Somerset House’s 25th birthday.
About
Uniquely bringing together sculpture, radio, live gatherings and a host of guest contributors, The Spell or The Dream is a multi-faceted work inviting audiences to collectively dream of new horizons.
At its heart is The Spell, a magnificent new sculpture in the Edmond J Safra Fountain Court, featuring a newly commissioned soundscape by composer, producer and double bassist Maxwell Sterling. Resting atop a stepped plinth, where visitors can sit, gather or peer inside, the luminous blue figure gently breathes, caught in a suspended state, the spell. The dreamer sleeps through the warnings of present and imminent catastrophes, political and social disaster and environmental collapse – but it also dreams of resistance and renewal.
Inviting you to wonder, imagine and dream is The Dream radio, running alongside the sculpture. It convenes artists, thinkers and academics including Yanis Varoufakis, Brian Eno, Hannah Black and The Palestinian Sound Archive, to collectively reimagine a hopeful future. Co-curated by Shani and broadcast globally via Channel, the 24/7 radio also features three new commissions from Cécile B Evans, Moor Mother and Cecilia Vicuña, alongside archival work, and invites you to submit your dreams for interpretation. The Dream radio is a continuous broadcast; works will not be available on demand – tune in live or let it slip into the ether.
