Polish artist Miroslaw Balka's latest installation, "How It Is" at the Tate Modern is an imposing elevated steel container with a ramp that leads visitors into it and plunging them into darkness. It's a hit with visitors.

The experience is sombre, discombobulating and perhaps a bit sinister. But it is beautiful too — and not least when, as your eyes slowly adjust, you begin to discern the infinite subtle shades of grey or turn back to face the entrance and see other visitors vacillating nervously on the brink before, stepping into the engulfing shadows, they are transformed into stalking silhouettes.

Comment