Tate Modern turns 10

The light show at the Tate Modern opening night party on 11 May 2000. Photocredit: ChicagoGeek/Flickr

Ten years ago on 11 May, the world’s largest modern art gallery saw its first light of day in Britain. The Tate Modern gallery was officially opened by the first visit of the Queen of England and a star-studded evening celebration with politicians, celebrities and famous artists from everywhere. Tuesday marked its tenth year since it was first officially opened to the public.

Fifty-two exhibitions, 400 film screenings, and over 45 million visitors later, the former power station on Bankside is still going strong today as the world’s most visited modern art gallery and one the UK’s top three free tourist attractions. The gallery brings over £100 million in economic benefits to London each year.

For its remarkable tenth anniversary, the Tate Modern will hold a free global arts festival in its iconic Turbine Hall space, including the special collaborative work of Maurizio Cattelan and curators Cecilia Alemania and Massimiliano Gioni. Titled No Soul for Sale, over 70 independent art spaces and collectives from across the globe have been invited for a unique project to promote a spirit of diversity and independence.

The celebration kicks off today (12 May) with special birthday procession led by a samba music band and 300 local children who will participate in a birthday cake cutting ceremony. All visitors are invited to come enjoy a slice of cake.  The procession begins at 10:45am at Borough Market and ends at the Tate Modern.

Tate also asks the public to share their personal memories of Tate Modern from the past ten years which will be used for a film about the gallery. The collaboration of these stories, pictures and film clips will be posted on Tate’s online blog, the Tate Modern Flickr Group, Facebook, Twitter and on YouTube.

Here’s what’s coming up at this weekend’s anniversary celebration and the rest of 2010 at the Tate Modern:

Tate Modern 10th Anniversary – Free arts festival (12-16 May 2010)

• Birthday Procession (12 May) – Borough Market to Tate Modern
• Arts Culture and Social Space: Can Culture Make You Well? (13 May) – discussion
• Live Performances (14-15 May) – including Thurston Moore, Eva Prinz, DJ Spooky and more
• No Soul for Sale exhibition – A Festival of Independents (14-16 May)
• Quick Silver (14 -16 May) – performance piece by The Cholmondeleys Dance Company
• Bankside Birthday Barrows Parade (15 May)
• Banksidemews: a community display (16 May)
• Tate Shapes (14-16 May) – during gallery hours

Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera (28 May – 3 October 2010) – photographic exhibition featuring candid pictures of iconic subjects taken without their explicit permission.

Level 2 Gallery: Haris Epaminonda, VOL. VI (29 May – 30 August 2010) – a three-dimensional collage exhibition making specific use of the architecture of this gallery space.

Francis Alÿs (15 June – 5 September 2010) – a Belgian artist who explores the interpretations of political and social subjects in his travels around the world.

Gaugin (30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011) – celebrating the painted works of Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gaugin.

The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei (12 October 2010 – 25 April 2011) – the eleventh installation of the famous series for the Turbine Hall space at Tate Modern will be done by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.