Changing the Game: A New Tate Modern for a New Age
This weekend marked the highly anticipated opening of the new Tate Modern, encompassing the unveiling of the Switch House and a radical reconfiguration of Tate’s permanent collections, in a grand effort to make art accessible to all.
But what does this mean: an art accessible to all? Intercultural communication is, quite rightly, at the forefront of museological practice today, with art institutions working fervently to promote inclusive environments where all can contribute towards critical dialogues. The question is, how will the new Tate Modern avoid becoming more than a tourist attraction, and carve its own history as a pioneer in the promotion of a relevant local and global discussion about modern and contemporary art?
Assailing this task, Tate draws upon inspiration from its own history of radicalisation: love or loathe Nicolas Serota’s 2006 thematic re-hang of Tate Modern’s permanent collection, the controversial curatorial change certainly got people talking. Employing a strategy which at once subverts conventional art historical narratives and maps new approaches to engaging with art, Tate Modern will reconfigure its permanent collection across both old spaces and new, with the familiar addition of dedicated temporary exhibition spaces, whilst advocating interpretative forms for the digital age with the new Tate App.
Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, talks of plans to be more international, diverse, and engaging: ‘We are broadening the international remit both in contemporary and modern art; collecting and plotting the history of live art, film and new media, and, very importantly, buying and showing more work by women artists’.
With the addition of Herzog and de Meuron’s £260m extension to the Bankside Power Station, in the form of the towering Switch House, the new Tate Modern now has 60% more space for visitors to engage with. The vast Turbine Hall is now the centre of the museum, flanked by the Boiler House and Switch House. Ai Weiwei’s 22ft tall Tree (2010) is rooted to the lower bridge connecting the old building to the new; it’s composition of numerous elements to form a whole references Tate Modern’s goal to re-imagine previous art historical conventions.
Cutting though the Southbank skyline, the warped pyramidal structure of the Switch House can be viewed as both a contradiction and testament to the art inside. An exterior of forbidding brutalist chain mail gives little indication towards the flurry of activity and inclusivity the Switch House encapsulates, and, whilst imposing, does not present as showy in the slightest. This is a building whose function, to encourage interaction with art, is paramount. Ascending ten stories from the subterranean circular concrete Tanks, past an array of new exhibition and learning spaces, to the viewing gallery, which offers a breathtaking panoramic view across London’s skyline, every element of the Switch House’s interior is designed to accommodate the visitor. Organically curved seating which mimics the concrete spiral staircase carving its path through the first two floors and vast galleries which branch into smaller spaces, facilitating intimate encounters between viewer and artwork, the Switch House presents a personal and phenomenological approach to experiencing art.
Whilst it may seem underwhelming that only seven of the new Tate Modern’s eighteen floors are dedicated gallery spaces, utilised for display of the permanent collection and changing exhibitions, the curation excels in exploring subjective experiences of making and interacting with artwork and places art within a global context. Working to convey the pioneering history of Tate’s international acquisitions, 75% of the works on display have been acquired since 2000; the Boiler House focuses on four approaches to modern art exploring the linkages between artistic concerns, meanwhile the Switch House offers displays exploring ‘how art became active’ with a focus on the changing roles of audience, artist and artwork. These displays feature a 800 works by over 300 artists originating from over fifty countries, including 1950s collage by Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ink Splash (2012) by El Anatsui.
The newly dedicated ARTIST ROOMS gallery, located in the Switch House, opens with a showcase of Louise Bourgeois’ late works, communities of limp bodies eerily strung around the room above a menacing metal spider, a poignant reminder of the Turbine Hall’s first instillation commission, Maman (1999). With rooms dedicated to Rebecca Horn and Marina Abramovic, the new Tate Modern is certainly working to place women into the forefront of contemporary art.
Through invigorating installations which nurture audience interaction alongside live art and performance, the new Tate Modern is adapting to change, and demonstrating the role of performance art in today’s museums. Create your own museum with building blocks in Meschac Gaba’s Museum of Contemporary African Art (1996-2013) or walk across the engraved rubber expanse of Marwan Rechmaoui’s politically charged Beirut Caoutchouc (2004-6); through interaction we are each invited to engage with the collections on a critical and creative level. This focus on interaction is further fostered within the Tanks, the world’s first museum dedicated to live art, film and instillation, and an exciting three week programme of live art across the whole of Tate modern beginning 17th June.
Looking towards new ways of creating dialogues between the visitor and artwork for the 21st Century , the new Tate Modern have put in place initiatives centred around digital interpretation of their collection. The Tate App, which runs the risk of detracting from a personalised sensory response, aims to assist the viewer in their visit via content from Tate’s digital archives. Alongside the interactive Digital Drawing Bar and Timeline of Modern Art, the visitor is now welcomed into the immersive Explore spaces, located in the Switch House. Utilising Tate’s digital resources to convey information about the collection, one space is transformed into artist’s studios from around the world using projections, whilst another space uses sensors to detect visitors and display information about the history of live art.
At every corner, and sweeping curve, of the new Tate Modern, the focus is on the art. The exhibition spaces are given new life in their restructuring; a thematic scheme which focuses less on an overbearing curatorial narrative and more so on constructing an organic and broad art historical chronicle, where art is the protagonist. Even in the spaces not dedicated to display, new ways of engaging with contemporary artworks are being imagined: Tate Exchange will see over 50 partner organisations take part in an open experiment to help programme and run the space. Familiar museum spaces such as restaurants, bars and gift shops, run no risk of upstaging the art.
Atop the Switch House, the viewing gallery’s exhibition of London’s sweeping skyline hammers home the ethos of local and global inclusivity being pioneered within the building. Instigating an impressive strategy which reinterprets conventional art histories, is flexible to the developments of contemporary art practice and embraces new forms of interpretation, Tate Modern is pioneering approaches in understanding modern art and facilitating the future of contemporary art.
Image courtesy of Tate Modern
