How It Is at Tate Modern

Tate Modern has just installed its 10th Unilever commission, this one by Miroslaw Balka and titled "How It Is." The 30-meter-long shipping container-esque box is painted on the inside with blacker than black paint, creating an experience of total darkness and, according to some news story, cacophony due to younger visitors squealing and running around. The Guardian has a nice story and video on the work, the latter of which supplied the above image (to give some idea of scale) and presents the experience as eerie, frightening and beautiful. How often are we made conscious of being dwarfed by structures? And how often do we encounter such complete darkness? It seems to have elements equally from corn mazes (on our mind at this time of year) and gazing into the abyss, which is certainly an interesting combination.