The New Tate Modern

The new Tate Modern

The Tate Modern opened their doors to the press this morning to introduce their new, massive extension.

The New Tate Modern

‘Switch House’, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is a 10 storey 200 foot structure located at the back of the Tate Modern.

With an almost dogtooth-like pattern brick work. Dogtooth meets waffles.

The New Tate Modern

And a milky concrete interior.

 The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

More than half of the art shown in Switch House is by female artists, with a focus on lesser known artists.

The New Tate Modern

That said, paradoxically, I visited the Louise Bourgeois rooms first.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

Followed by the ‘Living Cities’ room, which housed a map of Beirut Caoutchouc by Marwan Rechmaoui made from rubber…

The New Tate Modern

And a sculpture made of couscous!

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

I lost count of the number of picture windows interspersed-between-lattice I saw…

The New Tate Modern

(Not eyesore!)

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

This is the new Tate Exchange space on Level 5: launching in September, with the aim of encouraging up and coming artists and addressing the wider issues in the world around us and the value of art to society, it will be an always changing, experimental space, evolving to current needs.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The new Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

Back into the exhibition realms. The new space is set to embrace performance art with an informal and interactive feeling:

The New Tate Modern

Since the 1960s artists around the world have focused in a new way about making objects, and the relationship between art and architecture (very fitting for this new extension at the Tate Modern) so a room dedicated to this way of thinking has opened.

This mirrored cube sculpture called ‘The Passing Winter’ by artist Yayoi Kusama invites you to peer into a circle in the box and see mirrors…

The Surrey Edit

An explosion of mirrors and reflections!

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

I was particularly drawn to the new bar area and restaurant.

The New Tate Modern

(The picture window theme continues. Perfect for generation Instagram.)

The new Tate Modern Bar

The New Tate Modern

With finishing touches still in progress…

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

Although the best is yet to come:

The New Tate Modern

The view from the 10th floor – the new roof terrace!

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

When you go, make sure the panoramic setting on your camera is ready.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate ModernAnd go on a breezy day for wind-swept chic so that your hair competes well with the volume of London.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

Take in the sea of glass.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

At some point we need to have a conversation about this building:

The New Tate Modern

About the pointed sitting rooms; how the scale of them from this perspective makes it look like a giant doll house filled with miniature furniture; about the different bar stools in each kitchen, and the perfect spacing between these bar stools; who lives here; who cleans them; the apogee of window cleaning; pseudo-Centre Pompidou, elongated; and how seeing this makes me think of the film ‘Rear Window’.

Views from the New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

I felt very lucky to have the roof terrace practically to myself. Soon it will be full of footsteps and blue skies.

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

Back down on the ground, another new Tate Modern Bar:

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

The New Tate Modern

While I was there, a press conference was held by Lord Browne and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Press Conference Tate modern

The New Tate Modern

‘Switch House’ opens to the public this Friday 17th June and this weekend it will stay open until 10pm each evening for a series of special events.

It’s such an incredible space, I thoroughly enjoyed my morning of exploring!

The Surrey Edit

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