Tacita Dean will be the next artist to install work in Tate Modern's vast Turbine Hall, following Ai Weiwei's popular, if problem-plagued, "Sunflower Seeds" artwork. A multimedia artist known for her films and graceful black-and-white drawings, Dean will be the first artist to take on the prominent museum commission from the perspective of the camera lens.

A 45-year-old Canterbury-born artist who now lives in Berlin, Dean was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1998 (the award went to Chris Ofili), was the recipient of the 2006 Hugo Boss Prize, and was featured in the 2003 and 2005 editions of the Venice Biennale. Represented by Frith Street Gallery in London and Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, she has been celebrated for such 16mm films as "Disappearance at Sea" — inspired by the life of British sailor Donald Crowhurst, who vanished while attempting to circumnavigate the globe — and, most recently, an elegiac portrait of late choreographer Merce Cunningham. In addition to her films and drawings, Dean also works in photography, sound installation, and textual "asides" that complement her visual work.

Set to be unveiled next October, her new installation will be funded by Unilever, which pays for the Turbine Hall commissions and will continue to do so through 2012. By then the company will have doled out a total of $3.43 million over its five years as sponsor, according to Bloomberg.

"Tacita Dean has created some of the most fascinating and elegiac works of recent years," Tate Modern chief curator Sheena Wagstaff said in a statement announcing the commission. "Her interest in light, space and history, as well as her keen sense of the cinematic and the sublime, make her a perfect choice."