Nearly 25 years after its opening, Tate Modern, London’s museum of modern and contemporary art on the Southbank, continues to captivate audiences worldwide. Renowned as one of the most popular, engaging, and accessible institutions of its kind, Tate Modern has redefined what an art museum can be in the 21st century. Each year, millions of tourists and locals alike freely explore its galleries, discovering some of the world’s most influential artworks alongside a broad range of new, contemporary, and thought-provoking exhibitions. Needless to say, the quarter-century celebrations for this beloved institution will be spectacularly lively.
Installation photography, Mark Rothko's Seagram Murals at Tate Modern, 2009
From 9-12 May 2025, Tate Modern will mark its anniversary with a weekend full of activities. Day and night, visitors can enjoy live music and performances, pop-up talks and tours, a drop-in making studio part of Uniqlo Tate Play, and special food and drink offerings - all inspired by Tate Modern’s free collection. New acquisitions, as well as returning works that have traveled the globe, will be showcased throughout the museum.
Louise Bourgeois, Maman, Tate Modern, 2000
Maman, the 10m-tall bronze spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois that welcomed the museum’s first visitors in the Turbine Hall in May 2000, will return in all its monumental glory – this time guiding guests along a path of 25 significant and symbolic artworks installed around the institution. Reflecting Tate Modern’s boundary-pushing spirit, this capsule collection spans painting, film, live performance, and more. Highlights include Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals, Dorothea Tanning’s ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,’ an immersive multi-screen film installation by Nalini Malani, and a series of live tarot readings staged as part of Meschac Gaba’s installation.
Ayoung Kim Delivery Dancer's Sphere 2022 and Evening Peak Time is Back 2022
Nalini Malani, In Search of Vanished Blood 2012-20. Installation photo, Nalini Malani, The rebellion of the Dead, Castello di Rivoli-Museo d'Arte.
Installation view, Meschac Gaba, Art and Religion Room From Museum of Contemporary African Art 2013.
In addition, two new free exhibitions will open in time for the museum’s birthday, reaffirming Tate Modern’s forward-looking commitment to critically examining some of the world’s most pressing challenges. ‘A Year in Art: 2050’ explores how artists have envisioned possible futures – from early 20th-century Italian Futurist sculptures to contemporary computer-generated animations – while ‘Gathering Ground’ delves into the profound connections between contemporary art, land, and community at a time when ecological crises and social justice remain urgent global concerns.
Mark your calendars and join in celebrating this important milestone in London’s art world.
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experienceIn ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
-
Milan Design Week: Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s monastic marvel of a chair returns to lifeMolteni & C’s reissue of the ‘Monk’ chair has us worshipping at the altar of its designers, Afra and Tobia Scarpa
-
This arresting new photography book is a visual mediation on daily life in IndonesiaWith his lens, photographer Farid Renais Ghimas explores home, memory and the spaces in between
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experienceIn ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate BritainIn his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desireIn a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
-
A portrait of the artist: Sotheby’s puts Grayson Perry in the spotlightFor more than a decade, photographer Richard Ansett has made Grayson Perry his muse. Now Sotheby’s is staging a selling exhibition of their work
-
Celia Paul's colony of ghostly apparitions haunts Victoria MiroEerie and elegiac new London exhibition ‘Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts’ is on show at Victoria Miro until 17 April
-
Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work
-
Sylvie Fleury's work in dialogue with Matisse makes for a provocative exploration of the female form'Drawing on Matisse, An Exhibition by Sylvie Fleury’ is on show until 2 May at Luxembourg + Co
