Tate Modern will open brand new wing with three weeks of performance art

Date
14 April 2016

Tate Modern today announced the programme for the opening of the Switch House, the £650m extension to the former power station that opened as a gallery in 2000. The public opening for the new building will be on 17 June and the institution will be showing work by over 300 artists, with 75% of the works displayed having been acquired since 2000. There will be a complete reinstallation of the collection with an emphasis on how art and the world has changed since Tate Modern first opened.

The new, larger Tate Modern will open with a free, three-week programme of live art including works by Tania Bruguera, Tino Sehgal and Amlia Pica. Tate will remain open until 22:00 each evening on the opening weekend and the centrepiece of the celebrations will see a new work by Peter Liversedge performed in the Turbine Hall involving more than 500 community gospel singers.

A £30m shortfall in funding still exists, but director Nicholas Serota is confident they will hit the target as the building nears completion. “This exciting new building will add a new dimension to UK cultural life,” he said. “It will give everyone an opportunity to see how the nation’s collection of modern and contemporary art has been transformed, and to experience what a powerful role art can play in all our lives.”

Frances Morris, the director of Tate Modern added: “Having enjoyed building Tate’s collection of international art, I can’t wait to see so many works going on show at Tate Modern in completely new displays. The dramatic and beautiful new spaces we have available – from the raw industrial tanks to the refined galleries in the Switch House above – give us an opportunity to tell the story of modern art in fresh and exciting ways.”

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Owen Pritchard

Owen joined It’s Nice That as Editor in November of 2015 leading and overseeing all editorial content across online, print and the events programme, before leaving in early 2018.

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