The opening this June of the long-awaited expansion to London’s Tate Modern opens up a new world of opportunities to artists as well as visitors, according to Tate Modern senior curator Mark Godfrey.
Back in 2000, a derelict power station by the River Thames was transformed, by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, into the Tate Modern. The same architects are behind the newly opened extension building, which has been constructed on the site of the power station’s former Switch House. The 10-storey “twisted pyramid” adds 60 per cent more space.
Cylindrical underground tanks, which were formerly used to hold the power station’s oil, form the physical foundation of the 65-metre (213-foot) tall, 21,500sqm (230,400sq ft) building and provide space dedicated to live art, installation and film. The new floors above are connected by both lifts and a sweeping concrete staircase, while two bridges connect the Switch House with the Boiler House and the museum’s original facilities.
“Throughout the galleries we have more flexible spaces. In the basement are the tanks, huge circular areas, where there’s no daylight, but it’s rigged for performances and different types of live art,” says Godfrey. “It’s the kind of space I think that artists will come to and be inspired – respond to the possibilities, the shapes, the materiality, the concrete, the circularity of those spaces.”
The Switch House has cost a reported £260m ($345m, €310m) – almost £50m ($66m, €60m) more than expected. The Tate Modern currently receives 5 million annual visitors – a figure which is expected to rise in the years ahead.
“The second floor offers vast areas without pillars, creating very long sightlines. It can be partitioned, but we don’t need to regiment the space with walls,” Godfrey says. “The space offers a lot of flexibility in terms of how you might structure an exhibition or create conversations between artworks over quite a lot of space. There are also higher ceilings and natural light. Natural light is really important in several of the artworks we have in the collection – it really brings the work alive.”
“The third floor is a smaller space with possibilities for blackouts and film projections. On the fourth floor you’ve got two wonderfully proportioned galleries with high ceilings – and again it’s exciting to see how artists won’t just have their works placed here, but will respond to the space to create installations. There are so many ways in which an artist would look at the shapes, angles, textures, lighting, brickwork, and would be motivated by those factors,” he says.
The Switch House’s debut exhibit draws on work from across the Tate collection, with a focus on newly acquired works and an intention to show a more diverse array of international artists – from Lebanon, Nigeria, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Brazil, Japan and China – and more female artists.
