Tate Modern
Tate Modern is Britain's new national museum of modern art in London and, along with the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives, a part of the Tate Gallery.
It is housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which was originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for Battersea Power Station, and built in two stages between 1947 and 1963. The power station closed in 1981. The building was converted by architects Herzog & de Meuron and stands at 99m tall. Since its opening on May 12, 2000, it has become a very popular destination for Londoners and tourists.
The gallery is currently, as of 2005, building an extension on its south side which will increase display space by 60%, and which is scheduled to open in 2012. This expansion was also designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
Galleries are located on the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building. Thematically-arranged exhibitions from the gallery's permanent collection are located on the third and fifth floors, while temporary exhibitions are located on the fourth floor. The main hall of the building, which originally housed the power station's turbine, is also used for temporary exhibitions.
The turbine hall is used to display specially-commissioned work by contemporary artists, between October and March each year, in a series sponsored by Unilever. This series was originally planned to last the gallery's first five years, but the popularity of the series has led to its extension until 2008.
The artists that have exhibited specially commissioned work in the turbine hall are:
- 2000 - Louise Bourgeois - Maman, I Do, I Undo, I Redo
- 2001 - Juan Muñoz - Double Bind
- 2002 - Anish Kapoor - Marsyas
- 2003 - Ólafur Elíasson - The Weather Project
- 2004 - Bruce Nauman - Raw Materials
- 2005 - (will be) Rachel Whiteread
The gallery can be accessed by crossing the London Millennium Bridge which links it with St Paul's Cathedral, which lies to the north. The closest tube station is Southwark, although Blackfriars tube station and a short walk over Blackfriars Bridge is often more convenient.
There is also a riverboat pier just outside the gallery called Bankside Pier, with connections to the Docklands and Greenwich via regular passenger boat services (commuter service) and the Tate to Tate service, which connectes Tate Modern with Tate Britain via the London Eye
