Take shelter at the Tate ... but beware of the massive spider

LONDON is under attack and Tate Modern is the place to turn for safety.

At least that is the vision of French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, 43, who has installed 200 bunk beds where visitors can take shelter in her vision of the capital fifty years into the future.

The nightmare scenario, set against the sound of pouring rain and a haunting corrupted bossa nova melody from a solitary radio, is the latest in the series of commissions sponsored by Unilever in the Turbine Hall.

Visitors to past installations have whizzed down Carsten Höller's slides or lain down to gaze at Olafur Eliasson's golden glowing sun or jump over Doris Salcedo's crack in the floor.

This year they will be able to watch snatches of science fiction movies such as The Man Who Fell To Earth, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Planet Of The Apes on a large LED screen.

Or they could choose to read from one of 20 classic science fiction titles such as Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and HG Wells's War Of The Worlds scattered on the beds.

Everything takes place under piercing lights suggesting unseen surveillance in a kind of epic film set installation of modern sculptures grown wild.

The artist has made her own version of Louise Bourgeois's spider - the first Turbine Hall commission when the gallery opened in 2000 - and works by artists such as Henry Moore, Alexander Calder and Claes Oldenburg.

All are 25 per cent bigger than the originals. The installation, called TH.2058, is an exploration of some of the artistic ideas that have preoccupied Gonzalez-Foerster over the last 20 years.

A Tate spokesman said: "The notion of the shelter, for instance, is partly inspired by her ideas of both real and fictional situations when London has been under attack, whether by flooding, bombing or invasion." Alongside blockbuster films and novels of the past, the installation includes more art-house evocations of apocalyptic disaster such as Alain Resnais's Toute La Mémoire Du Monde and Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point.

Gavin Neath, senior vice-president of global communications for the sponsors, said: "The Unilever series has an unrivalled track record of creating challenging, innovative and inspirational modern art installations since its inception eight years ago.

"Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's work carries on this tradition with yet another thought-provoking commission which is sure to spark widespread discussion and debate."

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster was born in Strasbourg, France, but now splits her time between Paris and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She is known for creating "environments" in which the viewer is invited to participate.

This is her first public commission in Britain and is one of the most high-profile to be chosen for. About five million people a year visit Tate Modern.

●TH.2058 opens to the public tomorrow and runs until 13 April, 2009. Admission is free.