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Unilever withdraw Tate Modern sponsorship

Unilever have pulled out of a 12 year long sponsorship of the Tate Modern’s ‘Turbine Hall’ commissions.

The Anglo-Dutch company will withdraw their sponsorship of the art gallery after artist Tino Sehgal’s live work ‘These Associations’ which will end in October this year.

Unilever’s support since 2000 has allowed for 13 large-scale, high-profile projects, including works such as Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s carpet of sunflower seeds, and Doris Salcedo’s ‘Shibboleth’, which was the first piece to intervene in the actual structure of the gallery building by creating a chasm in the Tate floor.

The gallery will temporarily close in 2013 to make way for extensions to be made to the galley, designed by swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.

Unilever has given £4.4 million in sponsorship in their 12 year relationship with Tate, giving their name to a series of artworks.

Tate Modern will now begin looking for a new sponsor, after Unilever join past companies including BP and media firm Bloomberg.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .