Tate Modern turns 10
Our favourite art gallery has turned ten. Not only is the Tate Modern getting its much needed extension by Swiss duo Herzog and de Meuron -- works are already underway on site, right behind the main building -- but it has also been gearing up towards its tenth anniversary bash today. So, it's good news all around for the established London art space.
It seems like yesterday that a star-studded shortlist of architects - including Tadao Ando, David Chipperfield, Rafael Moneo, Renzo Piano and OMA - produced winners Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, a then relatively small and unknown firm, to mastermind the high profile old power station renovation in the mid-1990s.
Ten years later, over 45 million visitors have passed through the gallery's doors, turning it into one of the most visited art galleries in the world. It has since hosted 52 exhibitions, over 135 performances, around 400 film screenings, ten Unilever Commissions and one million school visits. Its celebrated 'Unilever Series' became a platform for much-discussed commissions by leading contemporary artists, such as Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson and Louise Bourgeois.
Celebratory events include a special morning procession from Borough Market to the gallery of 150 local children; a band; cakes inspired by the building; and a free arts festival - an event in which 70 independent art spaces from around the world were invited to participate.
No proper birthday comes without a party, so be sure not to miss the late night openings on the 14th and 15th May, offering performances by, among others, DJ Spooky, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Temperatures, Jeffrey Lewis and Martin Creed and his band.
And for those of you who want to be part of the Tate legacy, the gallery is asking for your memories for a film about the Tate's story through the eyes of the public. To offer your input, visit the Tate's online blog, the Tate Modern Flickr Group, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
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