Tate Modern

South bank of the River Thames at Bankside
London, United Kingdom

Contributed by Project for Public Spaces

One of the most aggravating public spaces in London, it controls and limits the visitor.

Why It Doesn't Work

Just redeveloped and opened in 2000, this is one of the most aggravating public spaces we have ever been in. You feel so manipulated by a series of birch allees that lead to nowhere. It seems like you might be entering a giant maze... but no, it was just a line drawn on a paper and then put onto a plan and built. Clearly no more thought was given to this space than this minimal, simplistic idea. (If it represents some metaphor, then this space is even worse in our minds.) The fact that people might use it could not have been remotely considered. It truly has the worst and most poorly located benches ever produced by man. In fact on a Friday night, June 6, 2003 at 10 PM, the only creature using the space was a giant rat at least 14 inches long including the tail. It was not a work of art. Maybe that is why we didn't even see any homeless people.

Because we stay nearby, we have gone through the space at least 20 times, so we were prepared for little or no use, but a rat was unexpected.

A space that offers so few options, that controls you and limits you in every attempt that you might want to make, we know instantly that people who try to use it in the way they want are going to be irritated and will not stay long, and probably will not return. In addition, the fact that it is an art museum of "renown," you would think that there could be a garden with sculpture, amenities, and flowers…something that might lift one intellectually or spiritually.

In contrast, when you compare this public space with the Hirshhorn's and the National Gallery’s sculpture gardens in Washington, or the Modern Art Museum’s garden in New York, you realize how far off the mark the Tate Modern is. What a loser.

Inside the situation is similar, especially in the main hall where world-class contemporary sculpture is laid out with no consideration of human use or comfort. This could be a wonderful setting with more features like that of a garden atrium or plaza, such as cafes and seating that are provided in the American Wing at New York's Metropolitan Museum. The space is acting more as a storehouse for art, not the public space that it could and should be.

Contact Info:

Main information: 44 20 7887 8000
Recorded information: 44 20 7887 8008

User Comments:

> Add your own comment about Tate Modern

03/05/04 Chris Wood said:: Whilst I agree with the comment on the exterior, I think the author has failed to appreciate that the 'main gallery' (actually the Turbine Hall of the electrical power plant that the Tate Modern started out as) is just that, a gallery. It is a blank space for changing and experimental artistic installations, none lasting more than a few months. As is the nature of such things, some are better than others, and none will be to everyones taste. To criticise the Tate Modern on the basis of one such, is to criticise its fundamental purpose rather than its sense of public space. The current installation (The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson which has installed a huge mirrored ceiling, a hemispheric neon sun and artificial weather patterns) has a great sense of place judged by the large numbers of people who come to participate.
09/22/04 Nick West said:: I second Chris' comments about the Turbine Hall -- it actually is a fantastic space, but it depends on the artist commissioned to fill it for each 6-month period. There is nothing else like it in the world, and a few of the pieces have done an incredible job of connecting the visitor to the massive scale of the space.

As for the park outside...I'm tempted to say that you've completely missed the larger point. Although it's true that the space immediately around the Tate is subpar, the real accomplishment here is that the riverside space outside the Tate -- as well as along the entire South Bank -- has been completely refurbished as a wonderful urban walkway. It is *always* full of people strolling, and has completely turned around London's conception of its once-disdained South Bank. (And the Millennium Footbridge leading to the Tate is absolutely gorgeous, and also always filled with people!)
01/10/05 Kieran Gaffney said:: I agree with the review of the space outside TATE Modern. It is really terrible, one of the worst public spaces I know off. No mention was made of the Millennium Bridge, which is placed very badly and doesn't help the public space at all. Although I agree with a reviewer that the south bank walkway has been greatly improved, it is not a public space but a route, and in fact there are almost no stopping points along the walkway. This doubles one's disappointment that the Tate Modern Space is so bad.
02/15/05 Mark David said:: I agree that the walk up to the Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge was a disappointment. It had no "spunk" for a lack of a better term. However, once inside, the great turbine hall left me a little breathless. I thought that the vast emptiness of the space was what was exciting and in some way a terrific statement for modern art. The only comparison I can think of is watching a great stage actor stand silent for a minute on stage and that in itself is captivating. As for the rest of the museum, I feel the arrangement of the art installations will get better with time. In other words the museum will grow beyond what it is. Just another quick observation, I loved the views north across the Thames towards St. Pauls.
04/06/05 Mary Sz said:: The area around the Tate Modern is curiously empty and uninspired for such an extensively planned public space. Unlike the barren plaza in front of the British Museum (which has a grim 19th century authenticity worth preserving), the Tate plaza has a drab, Soviet-style egalitarianism about it that's incongruous with the lively areas that surround it. It's fitting that the museum also displays Soviet-era posters in one of its galleries.
As for the inside of the museum, there seems to have been a presumption that its vast interior space would "speak for itself." As Bruce Nauman's (to my mind) unsuccessful "Raw Materials" installation in the Turbine Hall only underscored, that is hardly the case here. The Tate Modern still lacks a defining voice. Current trends in museum design don't help. Like the new Museum of Modern Art in New York, the paintings are displayed in barren rooms painted a harsh shade of white. Is looking at art really meant to be so antiseptic and disengaged? As I walked through the Tate Modern, I noticed how eagerly people abandoned the paintings and walked over to the windows to look out at the Thames and St. Paul's. They preferred London's urbanity over the Tate's bland aestheticism.
05/21/05 John Rutherford said:: Disappointing, and I hope that the planners will learn from their mistakes. This has the potential to be a truly memorable public space. Statues, fountains, seats; good tea and coffee please.
11/16/05 Will D said:: The public space outside Tate Modern is poor. Agreed. It is however well used when the gallery is open. Once the gallery shuts for the evening I wouldn't expect the space to be used - if you know London you'd realise that the nightlife of this area plays second fiddle to the other side of the river. As for the gallery itself. The turbine hall inside is fantastic. It is a really good blend of the original building and fresh new architecture. The millenium bridge is also exciting in its own right. It's a shame they didn't leave it wobbly - it could have been really really exciting.
What I don't get about this site is every 'hall of shame' item you seem to suggest "woudn't it be nice with some flower beds?". As if flowers will necessarily make a public space exciting. Sometimes less is more.