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Autumn 2015 has barely got underway but we already know what the big art story of 2016 is.
This morning, Tate director Nicholas Serota announced that a new Tate Modern will be unveiled on June 17, when its extension, known as The Switch House (that’s the big, twisty building that’s been rising up behind the Bankside building for the past couple of years) opens to the public.
© Hayes Davidson and Herzog & de Meuron
‘I’ve had plenty of sleepless nights,’ admitted Sir Nick about the £260 million, ten-storey new building, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss architects behind the original transformation of Bankside power station 15 years ago. But, providing 60 percent more exhibition space, the extension will allow for a ‘progressive rehang’ of Tate Modern’s permanent collection across both the Switch House and current Tate Modern building, with the Turbine Hall becoming what the Tate is calling ‘the street’ that connects both buildings.
The new building features a viewing level on the top floor, a restaurant, members' room and three new floors of galleries, billed as ‘new spaces for new kinds of art’, which will be used to show works acquired since Tate Modern opened in 2000, including an installation of giant burlap sacks by Magdalena Abakanowicz and a multi-screen film by Cannes prizewinner Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
© Hayes Davidson and Herzog & de Meuron
‘It’s not just about the here and now, it’s about the future,’ Serota said and, true to his word, the first people through the doors will be 5,000 school kids from around the country on a special young people’s preview on June 16. The rest of will have to wait until the following day, when they’ve had a chance to wipe the sticky handprints off the windows.
Find out more at tate.org.uk. Check out the teaser video now:
Can't wait until next year? Here's what's on at Tate Modern right now.