Cynical old hack that I am, I always get a sinking feeling when I hear about large public institutions attempting to “engage with young urban audiences”. So it was with a resigned air that I opened an email headed “Fallon creates cutting edge music partnerships to bring urban youth to Tate Modern”.

Fallon’s “strategic communications” division, Happen, has recruited musicians including The Chemical Brothers, Estelle, and Klaxons to record a piece of music inspired by a work of their choice at Tate Modern. Every month visitors to the gallery will get a chance to hear a new unreleased track at listening posts situated in the gallery next to the work of art that inspired it. The track will also be made available at a website for a further month.

First up are The Chemical Brothers, who were inspired by Jacob Epstein’s sculpture, Torso in Metal from The Rock Drill. Their track can be listened to now at the gallery – as the not-so-young-and-definitely-not-very-urban couple above are so ably demonstrating in this publicity shot.
To come are (inspirational artworks listed underneath):

Graham Coxon
Franz Kline – Meryon 1960-1

Estelle
Martin Parr - Common Sense 1995-9

Klaxons
Donald Judd – Untitled 1980

Long Blondes
To be confirmed

Roll Deep
Anish Kapoor – Ishi’s Light 2003

Union of Knives
Cy Twombly - Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts) 1993-4

Willy Mason
To be confirmed

Quite whether the campaign will persuade its Asbo-dodging targets out of their modded-up Vauxhall Novas and into the Tate remains to be seen, but it makes a welcome change from the misguided attempts at being down with the youth that so often characterise this kind of thing.