Anya Gallaccio: Beat

by Simon Schama, Heidi Reitmaier, Mary Horlock

"Beat" is Anya Gallaccio's site-specific installation for the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain. It responds specifically to both the dramatic space and scale of the Duveen Galleries and the tradition of British landscape painting represented in the Tate Collection. The installation includes seven whole oak tree trunks, with their bark intact but their branches removed. Alongside this another natural substance, British-grown sugar beet, has been transformed by heating and pouring, and cast into a solid, shimmering block.

48 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2002

About the author

Sir Simon Michael Schama is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University.

Schama first came to public attention with his history of the French Revolution titled Citizens, published in 1989. He is also known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC television documentary series A History of Britain (2000—2002), as well as other documentary series such as The American Future: A History (2008) and The Story of the Jews (2013).

Schama was knighted in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List.