Page 187 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

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Works are sometimes also
displayed in the restaurants
and have even featured on
the north­facing exterior of
the gallery.

The Turbine Hall
Once a year, Tate Modern
challenges an artist to create a
work capable of occupying the
Dynamic Suprematism (1915 or 1916) by vast five­storey Turbine Hall.
Kazimir Malevich This has resulted in a spec­
tacular display of innovative
and the ever­evolving world sculptures and interactive Untitled (1964) by Larry Bell
of technology, and explores works of art.
themes such as gender politics Louise Bourgeois was the Switch House
and the cult of celebrity. The first artist to exhibit here, with
collection includes works by works that included her The three previously hidden tanks
Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso, sculpture Maman (1999), a have been opened up as part
among others. monumental steel spider. of a vast extension. With a raw,
Artist Rooms celebrates Others have included Olafur industrial feel, they are used for
individual artists with single Eliasson’s The Weather Project performance works and install­
rooms or tours devoted to (2003), which lit the Turbine ations. Rising 64.5 m (211.6 ft)
their works. One such room is Hall with a giant glowing sun. above the tanks are another ten
dedicated to Louise Bourgeois In 2010, Chinese artist and storeys, also designed by Herzog
(1911–2010). Bourgeois’s career activist Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower and de Meuron. The shape of the
spanned some 70 years and Seeds filled the hall with 100 building is akin to a twisted
this exhibition highlights million hand­crafted porcelain trapezoid and the exterior is clad
her later work, including her seeds, and in 2012, Tate Modern in a perforated brick lattice. The
final vitrine, Untitled 2010, and staged its first live commission extension is connected to the
several of her small sculptures. using non­actors – These main building at levels 0 and 4,
Other artists featured by Artist associations created by Tino and topped with a roof terrace.
Rooms include Damien Hirst Sehgal. More performance The Switch House focuses on
and Jeff Koons. pieces will feature in the Tanks, how art has become active
just off the Turbine Hall. from 1960 to present day, and
When there is no exhibition the changing roles of artist,
running, the space is audience and art during this
occasionally used for smaller period of time. Level 0 offers a
Special Exhibitions exhibitions and events, and space for live art and film,
To complement its permanent even concerts. including new commissions.
collection, Tate Modern presents
a programme of exhibitions
includ ing five large shows a
year (retrospec tives of modern
masters or surveys of important
move ments). The whole of the
main building’s level 3 is dedi­
cated to temporary exhibitions.
Previous exhibitions have
included retrospectives dedi cated
to Gilbert & George, Alexander
Calder and Damien Hirst. An
exploration of Henri Matisse’s
“cut­outs”, which ran for nearly
five months in 2015, brought
together a huge number of the
artist’s works for the first time,
and was the Tate Modern’s most
successful exhibition, attracting
over half a million visitors.
Smaller­scale projects are
dotted around the gallery. Ai Weiwei holds painted ceramic “seeds” from his Sunflower Seeds installation (2010)

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