Abstract
Tate Modern opened in grubby Southwark in 2001. I was there, a cub deputy editor at the BJGP . To general astonishment, Nick Serota (now Sir but still insistently Nick), director of the Tate Gallery, had chosen a grand but derelict power station, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1950s, as a home for the Tate’s collection of modern art, mainly European and North American. Tate Modern has been a triumph. Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron created spacious galleries overlooking the Thames and St Paul’s. Ingeniously they retained the vast cathedral-like space of the Turbine Hall, to house installations, notably Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider ( Maman 1999), and The Weather Project (2003), Olafur Eliasson’s beautiful, unique offering. Tate Modern expected 2 million visitors a year. By 2002, there were 5 million, effortlessly overtaking the MOMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris to become the most visited gallery …
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
