On May 11, "Art, the transformation of the capital of steel - Shanghai Wusong International Art City Forum" was held. Through a visit to Baosteel industrial remains located by the Yangtze River in Baoshan, well-known experts and scholars from all over the world began their first day of discussion on "Revival - the value regeneration of industrial remains" and "Aesthetics - the aesthetic pursuit of the city".
Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern Art Museum in London, kicked off the Shanghai Wusong International Art City Forum with the case of transforming from power plant into Tate. In her speech, she involved the value and significance of Tate Gallery in contemporary art. How "Tate" transformed gorgeously, handed over the ownership of the exhibition hall to the public, how the public can play a infinite possibilities, and paid attention to how industrial building space presents artworks and the entire process of exploring the value of contemporary art. "The Paper·Art Review" (www.thepaper.cn) special issue issued a speech by Director Morris.
Francis Morris, director of Tate Modern Art in London, spoke at the forum
The story I told is about a building with some bricks and tiles, of course it is not just some bricks and tiles, but also his history and audience.
The Tate Gallery of Modern Art opened in 2000, and the Queen of England attended the opening ceremony in person, although she was not known for her love for art. We had 5 million visitors in the first year, which was far beyond our 2 million visitors’ expectations. "Tate" is not a brand new museum, it is actually the youngest of the four museums. We collect artworks, classify them, and then display them to everyone. At the same time, our venue also preserves some previous buildings and shows the functions of the buildings. One of the public functions of museums is collection, and we carry out art collection on behalf of the people, which is very important. Our source of funds comes mainly from the government, our collection is the national collection, and we have collections of modern art from 1500 AD to the present.
Tate Modern Art Museum on the Thames
"Tate" includes four museums, Tate British Art Museum and Tate Modern Art Museum in London, Tate St Ives Art Museum by the sea, and a Tate Gallery in Liverpool. The "Tate Modern" where I am is, is the latest one. We want to truly share the national collection with the whole people, so "Tate" is spread all over the UK. We also share Tate’s resources through the Internet and capture changes in artists and history.
Tate British Art Museum
Tate Liverpool
I started to join Tate in the 1980s and started to curate collections, so the "Tate Modern" architecture itself is also part of our collection. We used to do Western European art (especially paintings), and then we went to the contemporary world. Our current collection has greatly expanded, including not only British and Western European art, but also global art, as well as various art categories. The increase in our collection is gradual and gradual. It can be said that in all the changes, we fix what is now and then reflect it to the whole world.
built on top of industrial heritage "Tate Modern"
In the 1980s, many young artists began a brand new creative journey. In the early 1990s, we were preparing to expand our art base in London because our art collections grew very fast, and the artist's works were not only small paintings, but also many large installations, which required greater space. At first we went to find industrial buildings ourselves, and now they took the initiative to find us in the industrial buildings used by "Tate Modern". This building is an oil power plant that played a role in the 1970s. Although it lost its role as a power plant, it is still the most obvious building in London.
At that time, industrial heritage and cultural reshaping were not yet linked, and museums had just begun to pay attention to this type of architecture. Before that, we imagined that "Tate Modern" would be a modern or postmodern building. But it is difficult to find large space in central London.The oil power plant building has a 99-meter-high, 7-acre open space. In the southern part of Thames, there are many people in the lower class, with relatively dilapidated houses, often undergoing processing industries, and even some prostitutes appearing. It can be said that here, both housing and construction are not so high-end, and the transportation facilities are not so complete and the connection is not so convenient. We feel that we should cooperate with artists around the world, and architecture should create the best support for the display of contemporary art.
First, "Tate Britain" is the style of classical architecture, and "Tate Modern" also bids architects to provide us with some design drawings. We were looking for an architect who could cooperate with, rather than a complete solution. We hope that architects can consider three aspects. One is that our building is in an urban environment. We hope to contribute to London through this building, not only to display art, provide space for artists, but also to become a shared space for the entire citizens. Second, this building not only needs to have a gallery (the exhibition hall of works), but also reflects the public functions of the museum and is a public space. Third, we want to ask the architect how this gallery can use natural light well. While everyone has not paid much attention to climate change and energy conservation, we are already considering sustainability issues, hoping to use more natural light. This also shows that artists of all generations have the concept of "light is friends".
However, the persistence in this point has also brought us many problems. Many artists from all over the world participated in the bidding. Some plans were to cut off the chimneys of the entire building, so we did not use them. Some plans were to build a large glass box in front of this power station. There was also a Swiss architect who made a large number of public buildings, but there was no pre-conceived art gallery.
"Tate Hyundai" is a very large institution with hundreds of staff. The staff hope to work with lesser-known architects to let them work with some small curators to come up with some good plans to change the building. What is very attractive about their design is that they hope to retain the original building as much as possible so that the building can be fully displayed in front of the public, make full use of natural light, and use natural light through existing windows. So the "Tate Hyundai" we see now uses more steel frames, which have a very industrial flavor, but it also has a brick structure and is very decorative. There is a lot of natural light on the roof, which is east-west. There are some vertical glass windows along the river from the ceiling to the floor, and there were also some power generation facilities in the south of the building that could provide part of the museum’s electricity.
Tate Modern Art Museum's new "Switch House" appearance
In addition to the main building, "Tate Modern" also has a south building, which was not redeveloped many years later. This is what we originally thought, two architects turned the building towards the Thames, connecting the two banks together, and connecting the entire building with the city. We saw that the public functions and the art gallery were well combined. From the ground floor to the top floor, we had a light beam running through the entire hall. This light beam could allow more light to penetrate and illuminate the entire museum. At the same time, it could create a good public space so that everyone could see the river view. Although we have public funds, we also need additional funds. There was a boiler room on the back of the building. At that time, there were many industrial remains, many pipelines, and many industrial designs and installations. We established another exhibition hall. We have removed a lot of industrial designs to transform it into a large public space. Their solution is to transform the boiler room into a very classic art display space, which can introduce natural light well, and combine a very original industrial flavor with a very exquisite art exhibition. This project has a good architectural concept and a very good exhibition concept. I was very honored to join the entire design team in the late 90s.
Looking at the Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Church from "Tate Modern"
Let art activate space, and the public responds to art
The main driving force for "Tate" is how to better utilize our permanent collection. We believe that we cannot only talk about art history. We must create an environment that can show different modernities, integrate different angles, and combine history and modernity.
All our exhibition halls have many exhibits from the 20th century to the present. Although it seems to be accustomed to it now, there were a lot of controversy at that time. We are constantly discussing how to reshape our exhibitions and how to combine the past and the present. We have different terrain to display, we have immersive rooms that can pay attention to the exhibitions of a single artist, allowing the audience and artists to communicate very privately. We will also have different venues to display different themes and art works of different artists at different periods. At the same time, we will also put works from two different eras together to let the audience think.
"Tate Modern" repositioned the art gallery, and we hope it will serve the public better, and better classification. We not only have to tell stories, provide our own answers, but also ask questions, both researchers and ordinary audiences. Our vortex hall is almost a must-pass place for visitors. Many of our works are displayed in the vortex hall, and it is also a very important public space. We are very happy to let it play a role in a lot of public spaces. The Vortex Hall is like a street, and the audience enters the museum as if they enter a public space.
"Tate Hyundai" vortex hall
In May 2000, "Tate Hyundai" attracted a lot of audiences when it opened, and it also received a lot of criticism at that time. Many people think that "Tate Hyundai" is like a big shopping mall, but I regard it more as a channel where everyone can carry out many projects and activities. There are many memories of projects happening here.
In 2003 we held an exhibition about climate, attracting millions of visitors. This is a resident project that turns the entire exhibition space into a public space. We are particularly happy that in this public space, we have handed over ownership to the public, and the public will really play a role in ownership, which will become a symbolic place. In 2007, everyone lined up to visit our exhibition, as if there was a big crack on the floor.
"Tate Modern" climate exhibition
Of course, space outside the art gallery is also very important. In addition to the building itself, we also need other factors to attract audiences. At first, we were a very large institution, and there was not much industrial development for the surrounding areas. How can we tell good industrial stories in the early 21st century while meeting the needs of local communities and tourists, how can we find a balance, and how can we cooperate with other cultural institutions? Has our culture become a good business? Or can business be transformed into a good culture? How do we use all kinds of creative power to drive the development of the entire city? These are all problems we need to solve. So at the beginning, we made a decision - we should not explain art to the public, we want to be a responsible art that can respond to the needs of the masses.
In the early stages of the project, we collaborated with artists, and we invited some older volunteers to do some projects on the Thames River, and we also had an open exhibition, asking many artists to work together, display their works, and build friendships. We also have a good historical tradition and we are considered the most popular international art gallery in the world. At the same time, we also pay great attention to local culture. For example, we have a good garden, a movie club event every week, and have good interactions with the surrounding markets. We hope to create a sense of belonging to this kind of community.
"Tate Hyundai" exhibits interact with the audience
In 2016, when "Tate Hyundai" was under construction of the second phase, I was appointed as the director of "Tate Hyundai".We have invited 500 singers, which are a collaboration between professional artists and amateurs, and we have young, older people involved, and we have created a very diverse environment.
"Tate Modern" Phase II is mainly about an infrastructure building, which we could not include in 2000. It is also an industrial heritage, a large oil tank on the south side of the building. Our curators have long believed that this place has great potential and we can use it as a place for live performances. The curators have always wanted us to create it, a space that can achieve a sense of presence and a certain feeling that the artist particularly needs.
We still chose the same architects, these oil tanks as the basis for creating new buildings. This is a rather radical part. He used a very bold architectural language to express it. It was associated with the existing building. It was both a complement to an old building and a very powerful structure, and there was a circle of bricks on it. Since the construction of "Tate Modern" in 2000, there has been vigorous development around us, and the development of restaurants and other buildings has made our surrounding environment very dense. This is related to our desire at the beginning of our construction. We are planning to build a city park in the north, so that London has a breathing space in the heart of the city. In our exhibition hall, we adopted a very modern white space, completely unbounded by the original building and turned into an open space. At the same time, we preserve the flavor of its underground part of the industrial heritage. Now we have live art performances every year. As a curator, we have a vision where we always observe and think about how artists and audiences respond and engage. The second phase of "Tate Modern" is to combine all stages of art. In the 1960s, Western art became active, and artists crossed the border. They took the paintings from the walls, let the works go among the people, let the public surround the artwork, and let the artwork activate the space where it is located.
"Tate Modern" permanent exhibition hall
This is a straightforward process. In order to increase public participation, we allow these visitors to interact with the art through various methods such as dance, video, audio and video, etc., instead of being a bystander, just appreciating the art. This is the so-called "living art", which can be placed in the building, and this concept is also the cornerstone of our entire building.
We have a communication place in the building called TATE Exchange, which can make us a more public-oriented organization, and we start communicating with other institutions. In the 21st century, we do not want to do our things alone, we hope to cooperate, so TATE Exchange is aimed at the audience's desire and needs, in order to solve the shrinking situation of our art education. We must work with our audience, not show it for them. Various institutions have also cooperated with Tate to start some experimental projects to explore what works and what doesn’t work, and how to influence individuals and society.
In the process of cultural rejuvenation, we believe that Shanghai also needs to stop and ask what can work, what cannot work, whether art education and art can be deeply embedded in our lives, and TATE Exchange redefines the essence of a museum. Museums are both passive and active, both quiet and dynamic, both visible and touching, both thinking and debate, both learning and chatting. We hope that our art gallery can be integrated.
(This article is compiled based on the speech of Frances Morris, with the subtitle added by the editor)
