0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains some strong language
0:00:07 > 0:00:09In the year 2000,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12a building reopened on the south bank of the Thames which
0:00:12 > 0:00:14created a kind of buzz around
0:00:14 > 0:00:17the world, and may have changed
0:00:17 > 0:00:19the way that we in Britain think
0:00:19 > 0:00:21about the art of our own times.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25It certainly became one of the most visited places in Britain,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28and some people think it turned dirty, commercial,
0:00:28 > 0:00:33old London into the most vibrant cultural city on the planet.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38It was of course the old Bankside Power Station,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40better known today as Tate Modern.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49And now, Herzog and de Meuron, the architects behind this powerhouse
0:00:49 > 0:00:52of modern and contemporary art have added a new extension,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56the Switch House, which promises to electrify our understanding
0:00:56 > 0:00:59of culture and our place in it all over again.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06The ten-storey twisted ziggurat contains three huge new floors
0:01:06 > 0:01:10of gallery space and a viewing platform at the top,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13with spectacular 360 degree views of London.
0:01:14 > 0:01:20I'm arriving from the old Riverside entrance, through which 5 million
0:01:20 > 0:01:24people a year come to see major shows by the greats of 20th-century
0:01:24 > 0:01:29art and celebrated figures who are making art in our own times.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33And I'm coming in through the new Switch House entrance
0:01:33 > 0:01:37at the back, which promises to boost numbers even further
0:01:37 > 0:01:40with the allure of new displays which will challenge some of us
0:01:40 > 0:01:42to question what we today view as art.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48And here we are meeting on the bridge
0:01:48 > 0:01:51of the gigantinormous Turbine Hall...
0:01:51 > 0:01:56..that joins the old boiler house to the new Switch House and tanks.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Welcome to the new, improved Tate Modern.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10The most important event in Britain's cultural calendar
0:02:10 > 0:02:13is being marked tonight with a big opening party.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Guests have already started to arrive below us,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19and by tonight, this vast hall will be packed with some of the
0:02:19 > 0:02:23most influential movers and shakers from the international art world.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I always go round my neighbours' house
0:02:25 > 0:02:27when they've built a new extension,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31because, you know, this is the opening of the biggest patio in Britain this week.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36I'm looking forward to seeing their water feature!
0:02:36 > 0:02:39It's so huge. I can't believe how big it is,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41it's like, what, ten floors or something. It's giant.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45I've only made it up to the fourth floor so far, so I've got six to go.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49I think it's gorgeous. It's like brick pornography.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51It's just beautiful.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55What I love about the building and the vibe is it just feels
0:02:55 > 0:02:59really inclusive, it does genuinely feel like it's for everyone.
0:02:59 > 0:03:00Since Tate Modern opened,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05they've really changed the landscape for visual arts in this country.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10But this celebration doesn't just mark the opening of a new building.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14It's also about a radically different approach to hanging
0:03:14 > 0:03:17the existing collection right across Tate Modern.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19Later this evening,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22we'll hear from some of those who were lucky enough to get a sneak
0:03:22 > 0:03:26preview of the new building and the new displays as they came together,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29without having to fight their way through the heaving crowds.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33In 2000, I always said it was, like, the most romantic place to be,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36in London. "I'll meet you underneath the spider."
0:03:36 > 0:03:38- And here we are.- And here we are!
0:03:38 > 0:03:42And we will perhaps get a rather less reverential take from this duo.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46It's just screen prints, innit? It's just endless screen prints.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Done factory-like along there, and then he runs out of ink.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I'll also get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Tate Modern's first female director, Frances Morris.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59This is my favourite sleepover position.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02You're going to have queues for this bit.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07The transformation of this secular cathedral to modern
0:04:07 > 0:04:12and contemporary art, at a cost of £260 million,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17of which £58 million is taxpayers' money, has not been
0:04:17 > 0:04:23without controversy, and has in fact divided the art congregation itself.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25I'll be talking to one fervent believer,
0:04:25 > 0:04:30who thinks this is £260 million very well spent.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And to a dissident member of the flock,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36who takes a slightly different view.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38£260 million at a time
0:04:38 > 0:04:40when Britain's just come out of a recession.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Art is a brilliant revenue maker.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46You know, this is the most visited contemporary art museum in the world.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50But first, I spoke to the driving force behind this
0:04:50 > 0:04:54transformation of Tate Modern, Sir Nicholas Serota.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Nick Serota, we're sitting on the viewing platform at the top of this remarkable
0:04:58 > 0:05:01new building, we can hear building work going on all around us.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03It's a very, very big moment for you.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Well, it's a very exciting moment for London, and for
0:05:06 > 0:05:08the United Kingdom, and for the art world as a whole.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Some people will say the original Tate Modern was such a vast
0:05:12 > 0:05:15space, that huge Turbine Hall, all those galleries,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18why on earth do you need to make it even bigger?
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Well, the original Tate Modern was London's first museum of modern art,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24we were one of the few capital cities in the world
0:05:24 > 0:05:27that didn't have a museum of modern art, and when we opened it,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29we expected two million people to come in a year,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32we got five million and it's stayed at that level ever since.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35So, we need more space for the people, we need more space for
0:05:35 > 0:05:38the art that we've bought since 2000,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and London is a great international city, and it can certainly take
0:05:42 > 0:05:44a museum the size we've made.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46You've raised a huge amount of money to do this,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51and some people will say, "Hold on a second, here we are, times are still tough out there,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53"lots of people are struggling to put bread on the table
0:05:53 > 0:05:56"and so on, it's just not worth it, there they go again, the elites."
0:05:56 > 0:06:01Well, we have about £50 million of public money in the building
0:06:01 > 0:06:05itself. We've raised over £200 million from the private sector,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08but at a moment like this, it is a difficult moment,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13but I think that people also need art in their lives, and artists are
0:06:13 > 0:06:16making commentary about some of the big issues of the day.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19They're talking about immigration, they're talking about migration,
0:06:19 > 0:06:20they're talking about climate change,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24so I make no apologies for creating a museum, during a recession,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26that will now be here for 50 or 100 years.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29What's going to be the difference between the art in the new
0:06:29 > 0:06:32buildings and the art in the older building?
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Well, we're treating the whole building as one,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37it's not a new and an old,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39and we're going to re-hang the whole collection.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41The big change that people will see is that we have
0:06:41 > 0:06:43a much more international view of the world.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Since 2000, we've been buying work from across Asia, North Africa,
0:06:47 > 0:06:48the Middle East.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I think we've recognised that some of the
0:06:51 > 0:06:53great art made in the world in the
0:06:53 > 0:06:56last 50 years has been made beyond north-west Europe
0:06:56 > 0:06:58and beyond North America.
0:06:58 > 0:06:59We're bringing it to London.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03London has this dialogue with many other cities in the world.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08One of the key new exhibits being installed as part
0:07:08 > 0:07:11of Tate Modern's multinational display is this large-scale
0:07:11 > 0:07:15installation, Behold, by Indian artist Sheela Gowda.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25- Just in the air so it doesn't fall off if somebody moves the rope.- OK.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Made of smooth steel car bumpers suspended on the wall by four
0:07:31 > 0:07:33kilometres of human hair, it's
0:07:33 > 0:07:36sure to challenge not only the public's perception of what
0:07:36 > 0:07:41constitutes art, but also the skills of the Tate's conservation team.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47One of the great things about working in an institution like the
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Tate Modern is that we are actually able to work with artists that are
0:07:52 > 0:07:57using really innovative materials, materials that are not standard.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Hair was something that obviously, you know,
0:08:01 > 0:08:02is quite challenging, because it's
0:08:02 > 0:08:07got to be treated, you've got to make sure no bugs get into it.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08So, this should be on the top...
0:08:08 > 0:08:11And we're really proud to have this very important
0:08:11 > 0:08:14work, by an artist that we think is one of the leading Indian
0:08:14 > 0:08:17female artists of her generation,
0:08:17 > 0:08:22to be in the building when the new Tate Modern opens.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26- I think that's all our questions for the moment.- Goodbye.- OK, bye.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35I am Sheela Gowda.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40I live in Bangalore in South India.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48When I worked towards Behold,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52I had with me already the raw material for it,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55at least one part of it, which is the hair rope.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01I had been seeing this hair rope wound around car bumpers
0:09:01 > 0:09:03for a long time.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05I think it's used on the vehicle as a talisman,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08as a warding off against accidents, I guess.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14The next aspect of the work was to bring in the bumpers.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Just to have steel as a hard
0:09:17 > 0:09:22industrial metallic substance versus the organic hair, and I thought
0:09:22 > 0:09:27having the steel heavy elements being held up by the ropes was
0:09:27 > 0:09:30already a certain statement,
0:09:30 > 0:09:36because each rope has probably hundreds of individuals'
0:09:36 > 0:09:42hair within it, of all genders, ages, communities,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45so it was really a coming together of people,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49and that was a starting point of that work.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53This is one of my favourite rooms,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57and it just says so much about my ambition for Tate Modern.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00So many great women in the 20th century have been overlooked,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04and of course there are many really important women working today,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08in a very experimental way, so this work with human hair and car
0:10:08 > 0:10:12bumpers, it's an installation that defies all the categories.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15How'd you think the public are going to respond to this work?
0:10:15 > 0:10:18It reminds me of being in the black hairdressers with all those extensions.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20There will be young people, people that won't quite get it.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24- Do you think it's important to bring work in that's...? - What have they got to get?
0:10:24 > 0:10:27What you've just said is fantastic. It reminds me of my grandmother's knitting.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Those responses are perfect.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34She's female, she's Indian. Is it part of your global ambition as well to bring more global artists in?
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Yeah, because we live in one of the most cosmopolitan
0:10:36 > 0:10:40cities in the world, our audiences are incredibly diverse,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44and we want to celebrate that diversity of contemporary and 20th-century practice.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47It is great to see Sheela here.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50I know in 2010 the percentage of female artists at the Tate was 17%.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52What is it now?
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Well, in relation to the solo presentations and the pairings, 50%.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And that's really, I think, a great achievement.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04I think Tate has been very focused on trying
0:11:04 > 0:11:06to engage a broader public
0:11:06 > 0:11:08with some of the really extraordinary achievements
0:11:08 > 0:11:12of cultural figures in the course of the 20th and 21st-century.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16So, that is not about bringing women in just for the sake of it,
0:11:16 > 0:11:17these are ordinary works of art.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29I'm excited to show you this thing.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32This is one of our new spaces in the Switch House.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I can see why you are excited. It's an amazing space.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45So, we've got a range of sculpture from the 1960s to now,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49made by British and international artists, that really show
0:11:49 > 0:11:52that moment in the 1960s when artists started using
0:11:52 > 0:11:54new, surprising materials,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59industrial materials like steel or mirror, aluminium.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03So, very experimental, very dynamic, and these works need
0:12:03 > 0:12:07lots of space and lots of light, and you need to walk around them,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11see yourself reflected, and we can look in the Kusama if you like.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Oh, my God, that's incredible in here.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17So, you know, it's kind of an infinity mirror cube.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18Hello!
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Marisa Merz, Italian artist.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27This was actually hanging in her living space, a kind of...
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I don't know, organic jungly thing. A forest of aluminium.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33So, this step change in looking at the world in a more
0:12:33 > 0:12:36international way, where does the role of the British artists now
0:12:36 > 0:12:37stand in the new Tate?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Well, they're here. There's Mary Martin.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43There's Rachel Whiteread.
0:12:43 > 0:12:44There's Tony Cragg there,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47but also David Medalla from the Philippines.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49So, what you're seeing in this room is both a number of really major
0:12:49 > 0:12:54British artists, but artists from other places who came and made their
0:12:54 > 0:12:58lives in Britain and made the scene the kind of rich scene
0:12:58 > 0:12:59that it is today.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01These are new, exciting spaces that will obviously attract
0:13:01 > 0:13:04a younger generation already coming to the gallery.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Do you think they make a distinction between British artists
0:13:07 > 0:13:08and international artists?
0:13:08 > 0:13:10I don't think they give it a moment's thought,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and what's fantastic about bringing young children, young people
0:13:13 > 0:13:16into the gallery, is that they don't have those prejudices,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and it's absolutely crucial that we excite them,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22because if they get attracted and interested
0:13:22 > 0:13:26in what we're doing now, they will become curious, intelligent,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30creative individuals, and in a way, that's what the Tate is about,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34it's about enhancing people's lives through their encounter with art.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37- THEY SHOUT:- Art School!
0:13:40 > 0:13:43The first members of the gallery-going public to be given
0:13:43 > 0:13:47access-all-areas to the fully completed new Tate Modern
0:13:47 > 0:13:50were 3,000 children from 100 schools across the country.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53They were invited to give their often frank
0:13:53 > 0:13:55opinions of the new displays.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58I didn't know that, like, this was art.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02- Is that art for you?- No. That's weird.- It's just weird?
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Well, it is art, because everything's art.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09- Art is something...anyone can do it.- Something creative.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Yeah, you do what you want to do.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16It doesn't have to be perfect, you can make art like this.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Michael Craig-Martin,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22you were part of the bringing forward of the great movement of
0:14:22 > 0:14:25young British artists, all those people like Damien Hirst
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and Tracey Emin and so forth that we remember so well.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Do you think art education has deteriorated in this country
0:14:31 > 0:14:33since the 1980s and the 1990s?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36To be honest, I think we went through a golden age
0:14:36 > 0:14:39of art education in Britain from the '60s
0:14:39 > 0:14:42up until sometime into the '90s.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Since then, almost everything that has happened has involved
0:14:46 > 0:14:49a dramatic decline in education.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And so, if that nurturing has vanished, more or less,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55then it's a very, very bleak outlook for art in this country.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57However, you could argue that
0:14:57 > 0:15:00a place like this, a project like the extension of Tate Modern,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02allows people to come,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05at least to learn and look and start again.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I think one of the most essential things for young people
0:15:08 > 0:15:12is to see the best of what's being done in their own time,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16and what Tate Modern does is it brings...
0:15:16 > 0:15:19We have in this room things that are now historically important
0:15:19 > 0:15:21up to things that are very current.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26The impact of seeing the best on a young person is immensely important.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30It's quite disturbing in some ways.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33I mean, it's...just lots of reflections,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37almost looks like someone's trapped.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40We live in an age now which is relentlessly described as digital,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44and there is a lot of digital art and there is interactive art.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47How important is that going to be here and in bringing in
0:15:47 > 0:15:49the next generation of tomorrow's artists?
0:15:49 > 0:15:52It's very, very obvious that there's a change in sensibility.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Young people who were brought up with computers and screens
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and all this stuff, they've never
0:15:58 > 0:16:02known a world without them, they're involved in social media.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Now, even if the work that they do is not itself digital,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10it cannot possibly not be affected by this dramatic change
0:16:10 > 0:16:13in the forms of social engagement.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Someone who is fascinated by the digitally savvy generation,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21and the way they interact with each other and the art of their time,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23is the psychotherapist Philippa Perry.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27So, she set out, selfie-stick in hand, to find out what makes them tick,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29or rather, click.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Squeeze your head in!
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Oh, I like that! Ready?
0:16:35 > 0:16:36Welcome to Generation Selfie,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39a generation born into a digital world
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and reared on Instagram and Snapchat.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45In the time it's taken for me to say this,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49#me has already topped 351 million.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52What distinguishes this lot from other generations is that they
0:16:52 > 0:16:56document their lives with images, not words.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58But it's narcissism gone mad.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Preening self-importance, vacuous vanity.
0:17:03 > 0:17:04Isn't it?
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Our culture is full of cautionary tales about the dangers
0:17:08 > 0:17:10of falling in love with ourselves.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13In Greek mythology, Narcissus died from gazing into a pool
0:17:13 > 0:17:18reflecting his own beautiful image. And in Disney's famous cartoon,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22children were left in no doubt as to what kind of person embraces vanity.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
0:17:30 > 0:17:34That's the negative cultural baggage we all carry around with us,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38except for this whole generation appear to have shrugged that off.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39You look so good...
0:17:39 > 0:17:42So, here's the question for the Selfie Age -
0:17:42 > 0:17:45are we all self-regarding narcissists,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49or is there something more interesting going on?
0:17:49 > 0:17:53The ever-expanding iPalette of art is out there for all of us
0:17:53 > 0:17:55to use, but some have taken it further than most.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01The last room of Tate Modern's recent "Performing For The Camera"
0:18:01 > 0:18:05exhibition features the photos of Amalia Ulman, a young
0:18:05 > 0:18:12selfie star hooked on fashion, fake boobs and celebrity.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Or at least that's what we all thought she was when she exploded
0:18:15 > 0:18:21onto the scene in 2015, with over 88,000 Instagram followers.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Because, you see, Amalia is in fact an artist who,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26over a period of several months,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28created a whole fictional world on Instagram
0:18:28 > 0:18:33as an LA It-girl, and this artwork is the result.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38To help me work out how and why she constructed this selfie alter ego,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41I met up with two members of Tate Collective,
0:18:41 > 0:18:42a forum for young creatives.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45So, Amalia, what's going on here?
0:18:45 > 0:18:48It comes across as quite provocative,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52she's almost asking you to buy into what she's selling.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54And what is she selling?
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Well, she's selling the dream of being a star.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00We're a strange generation, the artist included.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04When I grew up and got told that, like, I'd meet a nice guy,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06we'd hold hands and go on walks through parks,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10and now dating happens on Tinder. People just swipe left, swipe right.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14You've got to show the best side of you straight away. We make judgments instantly.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18And I think Amalia has actually brought us round back to that,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23because by saying, "Ha-ha, I know I'm fake, and this is all fake",
0:19:23 > 0:19:26she's exposing the whole charade
0:19:26 > 0:19:29of the way we present ourselves online.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Shall we do a selfie now, actually? There we go. In, in, in, in...
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Oh, I love that.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Now that digital art is the new kid on the block and can just as easily
0:19:45 > 0:19:48be accessed on everyone's phones and laptops at home,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51the Tate curators are going to have to rise to the challenge
0:19:51 > 0:19:54and present it in the most dynamic way possible.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Digital art is still an area they're exploring, but all set to
0:20:00 > 0:20:02animate the Switch galleries are new
0:20:02 > 0:20:04photographic and video artworks,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07collected by Tate Modern since it opened in 2000.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14In fact, 75% of all works on display across the entire site have been
0:20:14 > 0:20:16acquired over the last 16 years,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19so visitors can expect to see some firm favourites
0:20:19 > 0:20:22like Carl Andre's bricks, "Equivalent VIII",
0:20:22 > 0:20:24as well as lots of new surprises.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And many of these will be coming from the Tate's secret stores,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35tucked away here in the deepest English countryside.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39But I can't tell you where it is, because it's a top-secret site.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41And I'd have to kill you if I did!
0:20:42 > 0:20:44With million-pound works at stake,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47high security is the name of the game,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51and nobody has been allowed to film at this facility, until now.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58All art museums have more works than they can show at any one time,
0:20:58 > 0:21:03and these hidden vaults are where Tate store much of their vast collection.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Whoa!
0:21:06 > 0:21:08It's like being in a James Bond movie!
0:21:12 > 0:21:13It's just so eerie,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17and I just don't know what's going to be around the corner.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27It's a bit dark. Can someone turn the light on?
0:21:31 > 0:21:33It's massive.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50I knew it would be big, but I wasn't expecting this at all.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54It's like one massive aircraft hangar. It's enormous.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Full of yellow goodies. I feel like a kid in a toy shop!
0:21:59 > 0:22:03For security reasons, I can't tell you anything about the sheer scale
0:22:03 > 0:22:07of the stores or even how many works are being held here.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10But this massive vault with state-of-the-art temperature
0:22:10 > 0:22:14and climate controls is just one of several housing large-scale
0:22:14 > 0:22:17sculptures by artists from all over the world.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Jeff Koons. I wouldn't mind a bit of Koons if I had room in my house.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Barbara Hepworth.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Chapman, Chapman, Chapman.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I wonder what this is.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30The greats are definitely here, aren't they?
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Emin. Aah.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36You don't see enough women artists because they're all in storage.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Thankfully, they're not always permanently locked away in their bright yellow cases.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Far from it, in fact.
0:22:44 > 0:22:45Last year alone,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49just over 1,000 works were sent from here all over the UK,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54and 623 were shipped to international exhibitions.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57But now, instead of being loaned to other museums and galleries,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00a decent proportion of these works will take pride of place
0:23:00 > 0:23:03in Tate Modern's new displays.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06And one of them is by Antony Gormley.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10The Tate owns eight works by the celebrated British sculptor,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12who's best-known for the giant Angel Of The North
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and the haunting installation Another Place.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19But this piece being moved today will be the first Gormley to
0:23:19 > 0:23:22go on permanent display at Tate Modern.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32And, as a much-loved work that hasn't been on display here
0:23:32 > 0:23:37since 2002, its arrival is hotly anticipated.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40- It feels like bringing a figure back from the dead.- Yeah.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44There's its coffin coming out, lifting it up.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46It will live quite soon.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50It's actually really nice to see it in a white gallery.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55It's so stark and sort of singular now.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56It's a Wonder Woman pose.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59That's great, I think Antony would like that.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08- So, here it is.- Antony. You're back at last. How does it feel?
0:24:08 > 0:24:12It's great, this is the first time that I've seen it actually
0:24:12 > 0:24:14in the middle of a space.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19I think the presence of the door gives it an extra...
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Well, I don't know, it's a bit like one of those blind doors
0:24:22 > 0:24:24in an Egyptian tomb, you know.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28This work was here, I think, in 2002 last, is that right?
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Yeah, I think it was in the Turbine Hall,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34with a load of sort of classical sculpture.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37I'm much happier about this.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Frances told me that she'd put me with Agnes Martin.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45It's a very austere kind of work there, I guess, isn't it?
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Well, I think that's about space and about light and about distance
0:24:48 > 0:24:50and about being.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54It's a kind of strange, weird dating system that Tate organises.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Blind dates all around.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59- You're happy with your blind date? - I really am.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02I've never been happy about associating the work with
0:25:02 > 0:25:06other figurative sculpture, because I don't think of this as being...
0:25:06 > 0:25:10You know, if you think of a statue, this is simply a case
0:25:10 > 0:25:15made around a body, in order to make
0:25:15 > 0:25:22visible the fact that it is empty and that it contains darkness,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and that this darkness is identified by these five eye-holes
0:25:26 > 0:25:28that, yes, relate to...
0:25:28 > 0:25:30I've called it Untitled For Francis,
0:25:30 > 0:25:36because it's my tribute to Francis of Assisi who had the stigmata,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39but it could equally be for Frances Morris,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41who is the first senior director
0:25:41 > 0:25:46of Tate Modern to be drawn from the community of this institution.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Your work is often placed well outside galleries,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53on the top of buildings, on beaches, in landscape.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Is this your attempt to bring people to art?
0:25:55 > 0:26:00I don't agree with this distinction between something called public art
0:26:00 > 0:26:04and something called private art. All art is made to be shared.
0:26:04 > 0:26:11I love seeing how the work can work in nature or on the street.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16- Or in a gallery.- Or in a gallery.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21I think it's fantastic that now the Tate is welcoming more visitors
0:26:21 > 0:26:24than, well, any other contemporary...
0:26:24 > 0:26:26- Anything else.- Anything else, yeah.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30I'm sure that's true, and I'm also sure there are people watching this programme who
0:26:30 > 0:26:33will say, "To be honest, that stuff is never going to be for me.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37"I have some relation. I understand Antony Gormley sculptures, I enjoy them,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40"but there's lots and lots of scary stuff here, stuff I find alienating
0:26:40 > 0:26:42"and difficult. I won't come."
0:26:42 > 0:26:44What would you say to those people?
0:26:44 > 0:26:48I would say, "Don't let your prejudices win.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52"Expose yourself to art and see what happens."
0:26:59 > 0:27:03So, this is a work in progress, this is our Start Gallery.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Ah, Matisse, how beautiful. A familiar favourite.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08- I love it. - Yeah, it is gorgeous.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10I think, for many people and myself included,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13this is the first work that we really came to grips
0:27:13 > 0:27:15with at Tate, and it's just...
0:27:15 > 0:27:18I can't think of a visitor who doesn't enjoy it.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20But this space is really...
0:27:20 > 0:27:22It's for everybody, because it's got great iconic works -
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Kandinsky, Matisse, Richter -
0:27:24 > 0:27:27but it's also for people who might be
0:27:27 > 0:27:28unfamiliar with art galleries,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30museums, maybe it's their first
0:27:30 > 0:27:33time here, who just want to get their... A little
0:27:33 > 0:27:36bit of confidence or an introduction to what Tate Modern is all about.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40You've put this very seductive and familiar piece next to
0:27:40 > 0:27:42a collection which, in style,
0:27:42 > 0:27:44looks familiar, but, again, a new artist.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Old friends, new friends. The whole point is to expand horizons.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52So, beautiful collages by Indian artist Benode Mukherjee,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56but there's a big stretch in here. You know, iconic works like Matisse,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01but also we've got a work of art in the form of a till receipt in the next gallery.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08- There will be questions. - You tell me about it!
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I've never looked at my Sainsbury's till receipt as a work of art, admittedly.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15The whole thing about this gallery is we've got playful conceptual work
0:28:15 > 0:28:17and then we've got just drop dead gorgeous,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19wonderful moments from history.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26To find out whether these unorthodox pairings will appeal to
0:28:26 > 0:28:31visitors, we invited two amateur artists, Jim Moir and Matthew Hill,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34perhaps more familiar to most as comedians Vic Reeves and Harry Hill,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36to give their verdict.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40- What about Andy Warhol?- Yes.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43- Have you ever seen him without his wig on and his specs?- No.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45You wouldn't know him at all.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48When I was at art school, this, I thought, was really cool,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52but now I look at it and it seems a bit tarnished and old-fashioned.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56I think it still looks very fresh.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00It looks like it could have been done ten years ago.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03It's just screen prints, innit? It's just endless screen prints.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Done, factory-like, and along there.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08And then he runs out of ink.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09Well, it's a good opener.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Yeah. Let's see what's through here.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15- The Guerrilla Girls, do you know them?- I think I'm right in thinking
0:29:15 > 0:29:18that the Guerrilla Girls fashioned
0:29:18 > 0:29:21themselves as the conscience of the art world.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Do women have to be naked to get into the Met?
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Yeah.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32Do you have any favourite women artists?
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Um. Yes, I do. Um...
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Come on, they should be on the tip of your tongue!
0:29:39 > 0:29:41No, I am trying to think of her first name. Louise Bourgeois.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45- I love her stuff.- Those big spiders. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:29:45 > 0:29:51- So, we've got the Guerrilla Girls on one side...- Yeah.
0:29:51 > 0:29:59..and there's Warhol with Marilyn on that side.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01I think what Sir Nicholas is thinking, and it's
0:30:01 > 0:30:04quite heavy-handed...
0:30:04 > 0:30:07He's got the ultimate sex symbol versus the feminists.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10Which would win? There's only one way to find out!
0:30:10 > 0:30:13- I don't say that any more! - Yeah. Let's move on.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21Behold, the Tower of Babel.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I think it might look better if it had smoke or steam
0:30:25 > 0:30:27- coming out the top of it.- Yeah.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30- Or Steve Wright. - There's a bit of that.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Yeah. There's a bit of the Post Office tower about it.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42How about Roy Lichtenstein? Do you like him?
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Well, I'm a fan of pop art.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49- This is the Korean War, isn't it? - Is it?
0:30:49 > 0:30:50I think that's a Mig.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55- He's just been blown up by an American.- Oh, is it?
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Whaam!
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Once you've seen one, you've seen them all,
0:31:00 > 0:31:01and if you're going to see one,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03that's probably the best one to see, isn't it?
0:31:03 > 0:31:07So, what else have we got in here then? Why is it in here?
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Do you like that one?
0:31:09 > 0:31:12I don't know this artist, but I really like these.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Because I am a fan of folk art, outsider art,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18and this feels very much like that to me.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21- He's from Iran, apparently.- Iran? - Yeah.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25I suppose it's... You've got Western pop art, and you've got...
0:31:25 > 0:31:28- Eastern pop art? - Middle Eastern pop art.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38- Look at all this stuff. - BEEPING
0:31:38 > 0:31:40Did I just do that?
0:31:43 > 0:31:46- BEEPING - Oh, I've done it again!
0:31:46 > 0:31:50- Ah.- Now, this is my kind of a thing.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54- I passed something very similar this morning. - LAUGHTER
0:31:54 > 0:31:58This is about as near as I could get to beauty.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00- Really?- It is.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05I'm not kidding, either. I think this is really...
0:32:05 > 0:32:09I could look at this all day. I could live in this, live amongst it,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11because this is my kind of beanbag.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18I admire the industry, but...
0:32:19 > 0:32:21It's not quite enough for me.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24I think what's really interesting about the Tate Modern
0:32:24 > 0:32:28is that it has all this kind of stuff, contemporary art that
0:32:28 > 0:32:33people might consider was difficult to engage with,
0:32:33 > 0:32:39but it's one of the most popular tourist attractions in London.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43- Is it?- I think it is. - For me it would be.- Yeah.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46It's the best art gallery, I think, in the world.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Yeah. It's always surprising, isn't it?
0:32:54 > 0:32:58WORLDESS CHANT
0:32:58 > 0:33:01The Tate curators are hoping to heighten that element of surprise
0:33:01 > 0:33:05even further with their eclectic programme of new performance art
0:33:05 > 0:33:09that, today, is being previewed by critics from around the world.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13And this is where much of it will be staged,
0:33:13 > 0:33:17in the old oil tanks that once powered the Turbine Hall engines.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20This will be the arena for works that challenge the idea
0:33:20 > 0:33:25of an artwork as a 2D object, works that are not easily displayed.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28In short, works that do not play out to the art market.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Their conversion into new spaces dedicated to film, installation
0:33:34 > 0:33:37and live performance art is the work of the internationally
0:33:37 > 0:33:42renowned Swiss architects behind the original transformation of Tate Modern
0:33:42 > 0:33:45and the new Switch building - Herzog and de Meuron.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51The tanks are actually a huge gift.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55We decided to take them literally as the foundations,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57so to speak, for the new building.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00So, new structure and old structure come together.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Once you are inside, you should, as a visitor, get
0:34:05 > 0:34:08the feeling that this is one thing, not two things.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11It's like one organism.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Of course the tanks are naturally made for, let's say,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17other art forms than just the traditional ones,
0:34:17 > 0:34:22so dance, performance, videos, films work very well,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26but you can even have a Michelangelo or Leonardo.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31Why shouldn't there be once a kind of a juxtaposition of these
0:34:31 > 0:34:33different art forms in the tanks,
0:34:33 > 0:34:38and then in the more traditional daylight-filled gallery?
0:34:38 > 0:34:43The Tate now has the greatest diversity of different spaces,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and the great thing is that such an important museum
0:34:46 > 0:34:48now has this choice.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54Way below us here, we have the great tanks space,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and that's going to be used for performance art.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00I wonder, is there a point here about the commercialisation
0:35:00 > 0:35:03of contemporary art? Because a lot of the things that you
0:35:03 > 0:35:06have on display here, or will have on display, are not things that
0:35:06 > 0:35:09a rich person can hang on the wall. By definition, you can't have a
0:35:09 > 0:35:12performance artist capering around your front room forever.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Well, we have a responsibility to show all kinds of art.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Sometimes we're accused of pandering to the market,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21and other times we're criticised for showing work that will
0:35:21 > 0:35:23never go anywhere near the market.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26We have to show the full range. And many artists do not make work
0:35:26 > 0:35:28that is intended to be sold.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33We have a responsibility to show it, to collect it, to present it to the public.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Performance art emerged, really, in the 1960s,
0:35:36 > 0:35:38and it was very much something of the street
0:35:38 > 0:35:42and a certain kind of protest, it had the tang of the times about it.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46Can you re-capture any of that by bringing it inside a big art gallery?
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Much of the performance art from the '60s was shown
0:35:49 > 0:35:53first in warehouses and in raw spaces of exactly
0:35:53 > 0:35:55the kind that we have here with the tanks.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58The tanks themselves were one of the factors that drew us
0:35:58 > 0:36:02to this site as a site for a museum of modern art.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05There is a new generation of performance artists that have
0:36:05 > 0:36:07emerged in the last 10 or 15 years,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10and they look very strongly back to what was happening in the '60s,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13and it's a museum that can bring these two things together.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20One of those artists showing in the tanks is Marvin Gaye Chetwynd,
0:36:20 > 0:36:25who was the first performance artist to be nominated for the Turner Prize in 2012.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30Her often improvised carnival-esque performances have been called
0:36:30 > 0:36:33"bawdy and bonkers", and now the tanks will provide
0:36:33 > 0:36:37the stage for one of her most explicit and challenging works.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42To find out if the performance artists of today still pack
0:36:42 > 0:36:44a punch like their 20th century forebears,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48I spoke to critics Waldemar Januszczak and Jennifer Higgie.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51so, can we start by talking about performance art,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54which seems to be very au courant at the moment, people are talking
0:36:54 > 0:36:57about it a lot, and it's going to dominate some of the space
0:36:57 > 0:36:59in the tanks down at the bottom.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Waldemar, first of all. Performance art came out of the 1960s,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06highly political, cutting-edge then, exciting and dangerous,
0:37:06 > 0:37:10can you recreate that in a public institution in the 2010s?
0:37:10 > 0:37:12No, you can't.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15If you're talking about what performance art did in the 1960s,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18it's a completely different world and a completely different situation.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23The performance art that happened then by Yoko Ono or Vito Acconci,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25this was cutting-edge stuff.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29There was a famous, an infamous performance by Vito Acconci
0:37:29 > 0:37:31in which he sat underneath a ramp at the Sonnabend Gallery
0:37:31 > 0:37:34and masturbated for eight hours a day, for a couple of weeks
0:37:34 > 0:37:36while the show was on.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39- Is that going to happen here at Tate Modern?- I think not. - I don't think so.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43So, this is another kind of performance art. This is performance art as a sort of crowd pleasing...
0:37:43 > 0:37:46You can't really be a cutting-edge performance artist
0:37:46 > 0:37:48in a building that cost £260 million.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Jennifer, nonetheless... crowd-pleasing.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Is it more than crowd-pleasing, what they're trying to achieve here with performance art?
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Yeah, I think that's a slightly simplistic way of looking at it.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01I mean, some of the great performances that are happening downstairs in the tanks...
0:38:01 > 0:38:04This is the first museum in the world that has opened
0:38:04 > 0:38:06a space that is dedicated to performance,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09and I think that's a very radical thing on Tate's behalf,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12and I don't think the cost of the building, actually, is relevant in this sense.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14How can it not be relevant?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17It's like saying you couldn't enjoy a painting in the National Gallery.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21£260 million at a time when Britain's just come out of a recession?
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Art is a brilliant revenue maker.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26You know, this is the most visited contemporary art museum in the world.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28It brings in millions of tourists.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I think that it will pay itself off very easily and very quickly.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34It seems to me that one of the big gambles going on here,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37is that we have a lot of international artists who are
0:38:37 > 0:38:40not that familiar, to say the least, to British punters,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and to get those huge numbers in, the Tate is now going to have to
0:38:44 > 0:38:46sell the reputations of those artists to a new audience.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49That's a big, big ask in many cases, isn't it?
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Yes. Absolutely, and I think that's one of the really exciting
0:38:52 > 0:38:56things about walking around this building. I've worked in contemporary art 20 years,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00and I was entering galleries, and half of the stuff I was looking at I didn't know about
0:39:00 > 0:39:03and I was thrilled to see it. And I think that's an enormously
0:39:03 > 0:39:06exciting sort of re-evaluation of what art history is now,
0:39:06 > 0:39:11and where we are at this moment in terms of how art reflects ourselves as a society.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15I think it's unquestionably a good thing that you've got art from other
0:39:15 > 0:39:19countries and from places that aren't America and Western Europe
0:39:19 > 0:39:22which is where it usually came from, but there's a sense in which...
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Is it the very best art that's being made at the time?
0:39:24 > 0:39:30I'm not sure it is. I mean, I found that, going round, I missed...
0:39:30 > 0:39:34I think there's a sense in which the baby's been thrown out with the bathwater.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37We've got no isms here, so we don't know really what happened -
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Constructivism, Minimalism, they don't exist anymore.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43I mean, for example, just take a really obvious example, you know, Picasso.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46He's probably thought of now as a kind of patriarchal figure,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49looked down on, so over in Tate Modern there's
0:39:49 > 0:39:52hardly any Picasso, there's a couple of things scattered about.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55You don't really get a sense of him.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Is that curatorial decision, or is it the fact that the Tate, back in the 20th century,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01missed big periods when they could have bought
0:40:01 > 0:40:04cutting-edge painters in particular and didn't?
0:40:04 > 0:40:06I think it's certainly true that they didn't,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08but I also think it's true they're not doing it now.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11I mean, if you look back at... What are the real signature
0:40:11 > 0:40:15artworks of the last 20 years? What do we all remember?
0:40:15 > 0:40:17What are the important things that have been made?
0:40:17 > 0:40:22Well, you know, Damien Hirst's shark, Tracey Emin's bed, the Chapman brothers' Hell.
0:40:22 > 0:40:23What have they got in common?
0:40:23 > 0:40:26That they're signature artworks, and that they're not here.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30- Jennifer, do you agree with that? - No, I don't agree with that.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32I agree that there are gaps in the Tate Modern's collection,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35but then there are wonderful paintings on display
0:40:35 > 0:40:38like Picasso's Three Dancers is a very fine painting.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41And this is put in dialogue with other works that were made around
0:40:41 > 0:40:44the same time or possibly from different countries.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48But this is an extremely bold move in terms of opening a new wing,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51to start a new conversation, "We're going to include people
0:40:51 > 0:40:54"in the conversation who haven't been included before."
0:40:54 > 0:40:56I think we're all very used to
0:40:56 > 0:40:57and perhaps a little bit tired of
0:40:57 > 0:41:00the Tracey Emins, the Damien Hirsts, the Sarah Lucases.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02What this display is doing is saying,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05"There's another conversation to be had about the work
0:41:05 > 0:41:07"that is being made in Britain in the last 20 years."
0:41:07 > 0:41:10There are lots of examples of British art in the collection,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12but they're just not the expected ones.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Now, we know from the past year that the thing that has really brought
0:41:15 > 0:41:19people in have been the huge shows in that massive Turbine Hall,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and it's partly, I guess, people like to wander around them as well.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24There is a kind of interactivity
0:41:24 > 0:41:26now in new art audiences that we didn't have
0:41:26 > 0:41:28perhaps when we were kids.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Yes indeed, and of course they had
0:41:30 > 0:41:32some wonderful things here in that Turbine Hall.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34I don't think the last few Turbine Hall commissions
0:41:34 > 0:41:36have been as good as the early ones.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39In a way, they've sort of exposed the real problem here which is
0:41:39 > 0:41:41the size of it all, and interactivity is
0:41:41 > 0:41:45an interesting thing, because, yes, people love it, they all come in.
0:41:45 > 0:41:46I mean, there are things here...
0:41:46 > 0:41:49There's that Brazilian sculptor who does the metal cages
0:41:49 > 0:41:53where kids will throw the cushions around and stuff.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57I'm sorry, but I suspect a lot of that is to do with luring
0:41:57 > 0:42:01the audience in rather than making or showing them great art,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04and interactivity... There's a touch of Alton Towers about it all.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07You know, there are things you can jump up and down on.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- Remember the Carsten Holler slides? - It was a helter-skelter, yes.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11Yeah, that's it.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15And if you'll do anything to lure people in, that means that
0:42:15 > 0:42:17you're putting the popularity of your institution
0:42:17 > 0:42:19ahead of anything else.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22I personally don't think that there's anything wrong with luring
0:42:22 > 0:42:25audiences in to have fun, because all of the artists that they're
0:42:25 > 0:42:29using to lure audiences in are very good, very important artists.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31This will be seen by a lot of people, nevertheless,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34who are wondering, "Shall I go to Tate Modern and see for myself?"
0:42:34 > 0:42:37I guess you'd both say, "Certainly, come and look for yourselves."
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Well, for me, being a woman, walking around a major museum
0:42:40 > 0:42:42and seeing 50% of the displays including women
0:42:42 > 0:42:45artists is nothing short of revolutionary. And also I'm not
0:42:45 > 0:42:49from this country, and so to see hundreds of works of art by...
0:42:49 > 0:42:51Art made in other places, for me,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54was an extraordinary mind-blowing experience.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Should people come? Of course they should.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00I mean, it's a fantastic building, it's an amazing experience,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03to walk off from the river, come in here, to see British people
0:43:03 > 0:43:06liking modern art. All that is wonderful and it's revolutionary.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08So of course they must come.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11But there are, I think, issues. And as we clap away crazily, saying,
0:43:11 > 0:43:15"Welcome the new Tate Modern," someone has to look at it as well
0:43:15 > 0:43:17and say, "Hey, hang on. This... Could've done things slightly
0:43:17 > 0:43:20"differently and could've been better in this way and that."
0:43:20 > 0:43:25And that someone, for tonight, has been you, Waldemar!
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Ladies and gentlemen, if you could keep moving down that way, please.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30Keep moving, please, ladies and gents.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34To test the public's willing participation in performance art,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37the Tate's curators are staging this controversial work by
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Cuban artist Tania Bruguera.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Ladies and gents, if you all move in for me, please. Thank you.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47First performed in 2009 in Bruguera's hometown of Havana,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50it was intended as a political statement about the intervention
0:43:50 > 0:43:55of the state on individual freedom in Communist-controlled Cuba.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58So how will the public react to this work now it's being staged
0:43:58 > 0:44:00here in Tate Modern?
0:44:00 > 0:44:02Well, it was all a bit Englishy really, because everyone was going,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05"Terribly sorry," and "Can we take a picture of the nice horsey?"
0:44:05 > 0:44:08So it wasn't a particularly radical Cuban revolution.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14People were relaxed, and it flowed, and it didn't... That's
0:44:14 > 0:44:18what made us realise afterwards that it was more a performance.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21The best part was, they don't even have to say anything, the horse
0:44:21 > 0:44:23just comes up and was tapping a man on the shoulder, and he knew to move
0:44:23 > 0:44:27out of the way, so it was a very polite way to move people around.
0:44:27 > 0:44:28Well, it's a funny category,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31because I like the theatre and I do a lot of amateur drama myself,
0:44:31 > 0:44:35but I don't really expect to find it when I come to see visual art.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41So, this is a kind of classic minimalist work
0:44:41 > 0:44:43that people find really hard
0:44:43 > 0:44:45to get their head around, and what people don't realise
0:44:45 > 0:44:48and what we don't allow people to realise is that
0:44:48 > 0:44:51a lot of works of art in the 1960s weren't made to
0:44:51 > 0:44:55go on plinths and behind barriers but actually were made for people to interact with.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59- So, people today really want to interact with works.- Play away.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02This is a work that you can walk in, you can close the doors.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06We could actually have a bit of privacy in here if we wanted.
0:45:06 > 0:45:07Here we go.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11That changes the mood in here immediately, doesn't it?
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Yeah. And the sound.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16See, works like this, on the surface, can seem pretty cold
0:45:16 > 0:45:18and pretty unsociable in a sense.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Is that why you feel it's important that audiences can connect,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24can physically touch, can be up close and personal?
0:45:24 > 0:45:28I think they can feel very austere and distant,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32but we're trying to recapture something of that energy that the
0:45:32 > 0:45:36artist brought to them in the 1960s, where they were game-changing.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38People really hadn't seen work like this before,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41the idea that you could go into a gallery and rearrange...
0:45:41 > 0:45:43I mean, this is Rashid Araeen's work, and
0:45:43 > 0:45:45it was intended by the artist that the audience
0:45:45 > 0:45:47- should come and rebuild it every day.- Right.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Robert Morris's mirror cubes.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52You think of a mirror as a static thing on the wall
0:45:52 > 0:45:55that throws your image back at you,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59but here, once these come off and you walk around it,
0:45:59 > 0:46:01- it's not just you, it's the space, it's infinity.- Wow.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04I mean, these were dynamite when they were shown in the 1960s.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07The artists, that generation and succeeding generations,
0:46:07 > 0:46:09were really experimental, there was
0:46:09 > 0:46:11a drive to do things for the first time, to do it anew,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15and to kind of ask questions about the audience WITH the audience.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18So, there's a kind of risk factor, the unknown,
0:46:18 > 0:46:20and that's something that we've seen
0:46:20 > 0:46:22duplicated in our Turbine Hall commissions -
0:46:22 > 0:46:25an artist does something, then the public responds.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28They don't always respond in a way you anticipate.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36The Weather Project was so unique and so amazing,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40and used the space so brilliantly. People lying on the floor,
0:46:40 > 0:46:45just kind of letting the art wash over them was amazing.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48I was actually surprised with the scale.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51When you put something in the ceiling, there's
0:46:51 > 0:46:54a tendency that people lean back or might sit down.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57I didn't think people would lay down, because that's kind of
0:46:57 > 0:46:59like on the floor in a museum. And you know how museums are,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02like pretty uptight, so when that started to happen,
0:47:02 > 0:47:03I was very excited.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06As soon as one person did it, then a lot of people did it.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08And I often thought, "Who was that? Who did it?"
0:47:08 > 0:47:10I mean, who lay down for the first time?
0:47:10 > 0:47:12I was drawn to it, from the...
0:47:12 > 0:47:15It was heat, it was this warmth.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17There was something that drew me,
0:47:17 > 0:47:19physically made me want to walk towards it.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24The exciting thing was, of course, that it kind of got out of control.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26People started doing all kinds of things,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28they brought their picnics, sat down, they lay down,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32they kind of almost made love on the floor, some yoga classes came,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35then there was some worshipper type of people,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39and some doomy and gloomy people who would have, "Oh, apocalypse!"
0:47:39 > 0:47:42So, it was really good fun in that sense.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46I'd never seen that kind of interactive sculpture before.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48I remember everybody saying,
0:47:48 > 0:47:50"Have you been? Have you done it yet?"
0:47:55 > 0:47:58The very first artist to take on the challenge of making
0:47:58 > 0:48:02work to fill this vast cavernous space back in 2000
0:48:02 > 0:48:04was Louise Bourgeois.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07It seems nothing was too daunting for the diminutive 89-year-old who
0:48:07 > 0:48:10embraced the commission with gusto.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16Her deeply autobiographical installation
0:48:16 > 0:48:21"I Do, I Undo, And I Redo" dominated the east end of the hall.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26And looming over the bridge was her giant spider, Maman, that has become
0:48:26 > 0:48:30perhaps the defining image of the Turbine Hall commissions.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33As a whole room dedicated to Bourgeois's work took shape
0:48:33 > 0:48:34in the new Switch building,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37I caught up with two of her most ardent fans
0:48:37 > 0:48:38for an intimate preview -
0:48:38 > 0:48:42artist Tracey Emin, who collaborated with Bourgeois before she died,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44and sculptor Phyllida Barlow.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54What's your immediate response? You look shocked.
0:48:54 > 0:49:00I'm feeling quite awestruck, because it's very...
0:49:00 > 0:49:06high lighting, and things are in incredible high relief.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09The light is nice here.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12It feels wonderful, the proximity of the works in the room.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14- More intimate.- Yeah, definitely.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16Is it marble?
0:49:16 > 0:49:21Being able to get this close up to the work is remarkable.
0:49:21 > 0:49:27And I think the red cluster is such a brilliant lure.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29I'm longing to get to that point.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32And I think to have an initial opening
0:49:32 > 0:49:34where there's something that draws
0:49:34 > 0:49:37you right in is tremendously exciting.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40We're so opposite, because I'm going to the clothes.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Because I'm sure that these were Louise's actual clothes.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48And knowing Louise when she was 97 and then seeing this dress...
0:49:48 > 0:49:51- Is it quite emotional?- Yeah, it is actually. It really is, because
0:49:51 > 0:49:55I always think of her as this older woman who had
0:49:55 > 0:49:58these giant sort of breasts, and these really strong hands,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00sitting at a table, kind of shouting at me.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03But now, when I see this pink dress,
0:50:03 > 0:50:07and this femininity and this fragility,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10I see her completely differently in my mind.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15VOICE OF LOUISE BOURGEOIS: That is your interpretation,
0:50:15 > 0:50:18you are entitled to your interpretation, right?
0:50:18 > 0:50:23So, I say, talk for yourself.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34I mean, I could swear, this is a complete mindfuck really. Totally.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41- This is like...- This is just...
0:50:41 > 0:50:45one of my most landmark pieces.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49- Of her work? - Well, of possibly all sculpture.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52As Tracey says, it is a mindfuck,
0:50:52 > 0:50:54because it's not just drawing you in
0:50:54 > 0:50:59but it's spitting you out at the same time. It's welcoming you and...
0:50:59 > 0:51:02- Keeping you out.- Exactly.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06There's both hostility and, in a way, allure.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10You know, I can see the cameraman there and I can see myself,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13unfortunately, over there.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17BOURGEOIS: 'The act of making a sculpture is to put order in discord.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22'At any kind of level, otherwise the anxiety comes in.'
0:51:22 > 0:51:26What do you think this particularly says about her in that period
0:51:26 > 0:51:28and her state of mind at the time?
0:51:28 > 0:51:31She always said her materials were her emotions.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33That was a fantastic quote...
0:51:33 > 0:51:37I think anybody, even if they don't know anything about art at all,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39would look at this and go,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43"Oh, my God." It's menacing, there's a heaviness,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46something deep is going on here.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53I don't say that I am a wild beast all the time,
0:51:53 > 0:51:56but I'm a wild beast some of the time.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01As I always say, I am not what I say, I am what I do.
0:52:04 > 0:52:05For me, this one actually...
0:52:05 > 0:52:08A lot of the spiders, this one is one that scares me.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11You know, it's living within a kind of nightmare.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Which is also really interesting with Louise,
0:52:14 > 0:52:15because she was an insomniac,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19and she would write and draw all night long.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21- What do you think? - Yeah, it's brilliant.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26- Daughter of Maman. - Yes. The teenager, yeah.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29It's a really lovely echo of the opening moment in 2000
0:52:29 > 0:52:31to have this small version.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35In 2000 I always said it was the most romantic place to be in London.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37"I'll meet you underneath the spider."
0:52:37 > 0:52:39- And here we are.- And here we are!
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The most exciting thing about this room, when it opens,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47is the vast amount of girls between the age of 12 and 18 that are
0:52:47 > 0:52:50going to come and visit here who haven't seen Louise's work before.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52That is just going to be brilliant.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55You're going to be... It's just going to be full of teenage girls
0:52:55 > 0:52:58going, "I can be an artist. I can do it."
0:52:58 > 0:52:59That's the legacy.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01INTERVIEWER: Have you finished, now?
0:53:01 > 0:53:03BOURGEOIS: Yes, I'm finished, thank you.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06OK. That's it.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18It remains to be seen whether teenage girls are really
0:53:18 > 0:53:21drawn into Louise Bourgeois's web, but what is certain is that this
0:53:21 > 0:53:26secular cathedral of cool has always been a Mecca for young people.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29In fact, of all the people who come here,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32around half are aged 35 or less.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36So, what is it that brings so many teenagers and 20-somethings here,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39not just to look at the art, but to hang out?
0:53:39 > 0:53:43The performance poet Jemima Foxtrot explains.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48The Turbine Hall brags its struck dumb size
0:53:54 > 0:53:58I am young and welcomed by the Switch House
0:53:58 > 0:54:01It's cuddling curves a tightening corkscrew up
0:54:06 > 0:54:10A view of London's Moody heights that you never get to see much
0:54:10 > 0:54:12That you'd normally have to pay for
0:54:12 > 0:54:16# A foggy day in London town. #
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Don't spend your hard earned rent-exhausted salary
0:54:20 > 0:54:24# Had me blue, had me down. #
0:54:24 > 0:54:27A cool refuge from the angry streets
0:54:27 > 0:54:29It rustles with young energy
0:54:33 > 0:54:40Art as sex and love affair Art as the moon howling back
0:54:40 > 0:54:46Art as metal cages, mirrors, art as molten orange sun, saying,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49# Good day, sunshine #
0:54:49 > 0:54:54Pulling us in from the frost Art as slides and childhood
0:54:57 > 0:55:00We demand an active, vibrant place in it
0:55:00 > 0:55:02We demand that it's alive
0:55:03 > 0:55:05They're showing more women
0:55:05 > 0:55:09We're more than half the population, so it's about time, too
0:55:11 > 0:55:14They're showing artists from all corners of the globe
0:55:14 > 0:55:18We're starting to see world as fragmented by perspective
0:55:18 > 0:55:22Understand that power comes from celebrating difference
0:55:26 > 0:55:31Tate pushes me to think, it always calls me back
0:55:31 > 0:55:35It shows me a world refracted through an infinitely
0:55:35 > 0:55:37splintering eyeglass
0:55:37 > 0:55:41This is a power station morphed into a power station
0:55:41 > 0:55:45The tanks' vast oil vats chuck power out and up again
0:55:45 > 0:55:50This place, though, in a different way, is still lighting London up.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59So, you've heard from people who really love this place,
0:55:59 > 0:56:04and others who think the money could have been better spent elsewhere.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07And now it's over to you, because new Tate Modern
0:56:07 > 0:56:12officially opens this weekend, and you can't properly understand
0:56:12 > 0:56:16art through television, you have to come and see it for yourself.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20So, come here, bring an open mind, and then make it up.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25And now, here's Mercury Music Prize winner Benjamin Clementine with his
0:56:25 > 0:56:28appropriately titled track London to play us out.
0:56:28 > 0:56:29- Good night.- Good night.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44# History will be made today
0:56:44 > 0:56:47# It's written boldly on his face
0:56:47 > 0:56:50# So clear you could hardly miss it
0:56:50 > 0:56:52# You could hardly miss it
0:56:52 > 0:56:54# For transcending the barriers of
0:56:54 > 0:56:57# Yesterday was and is the dream
0:56:57 > 0:57:00# On a road where Cleopatra comes and goes
0:57:00 > 0:57:05# Like fishes caught in ponds then thrown back for fun
0:57:06 > 0:57:10# Mmm-mmmmmm
0:57:12 > 0:57:16# She said, look at you, look at you
0:57:16 > 0:57:18# Just pick a fleet
0:57:18 > 0:57:21# Your cup is full, your cup is full
0:57:21 > 0:57:24# What have you not yet achieved?
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# And it's obvious that you are trying
0:57:27 > 0:57:30# It's dubious stop or you'll die here
0:57:30 > 0:57:35# You're pretending but no-one is buying
0:57:37 > 0:57:44# London, London, London is calling you
0:57:44 > 0:57:46# What are you waiting for?
0:57:46 > 0:57:49# What are you searching for?
0:57:49 > 0:57:55# London is calling you
0:57:55 > 0:57:58# Why are you in denial of the truth?
0:57:59 > 0:58:06# I might, I might I might be boring you, he said
0:58:06 > 0:58:10# Although it's not clear as the morning dew
0:58:10 > 0:58:14# When my preferred ways are not happening
0:58:14 > 0:58:18# I won't underestimate who
0:58:18 > 0:58:23# I am capable of becoming. #
0:58:52 > 0:58:55APPLAUSE