One of artist Alvaro Barrington’s earliest memories is of taking shelter in the “little shack in the countryside” where he lived with his grandmother in Grenada, with rain pounding the tin roof and music playing. Now that simple protective roof has inspired a huge minimalist sculpture – suspended sheets of corrugated metal – that stretches the length of Tate Britain’s lofty south Duveen gallery.
We meet beneath it, midway through the installation of Grace, Barrington’s huge new three-part work for the prestigious annual Tate Britain Commission. Soon, he says, there will be a soundscape of rainfall and original music created by pioneering experimental artists including Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes and Femi Adeyemi, founder of maverick London radio station NTS.
