Tate Modern opened in May 2000 with a dramatic nocturnal launch televised by the BBC. London’s first national museum for modern art, Tate Modern is housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which was transformed from a defunct industrial space into a stunning gallery.
The former Turbine Hall, running the whole length of the vast building, now makes a breathtaking entrance. At the top of the building is a new two-storey glass structure that provides natural light into the upper galleries and houses a café offering outstanding views across London. Tate Modern’s collection covers 1900 to the present day and includes works by Dalí, Picasso, Matisse, Rothko and Warhol as well as contemporary artists such as Dorothy Cross, Gilbert & George and Susan Hiller.
From the day it opened (and even before) Tate Modern has been a talking point. During its opening week it occupied 317 inches of column space in the national press, making it the fifth-biggest story that week. And in its first year, Tate Modern attracted 5.25m visitors, with more than a million visiting in the first six weeks alone.
Tate Britain focuses on British art and is housed in Tate’s original 19th century building a few miles further west along the Thames at Millbank. The collection presents an unrivalled picture of the development of art in Britain, from 1500 to the present day. Renaming and redefining the 'original Tate', against the backdrop of Tate Modern's precocious success, was an interesting strategic challenge for any brand. But by September 2001 Wallpaper* magazine was not alone in seeing Tate Britain writ large on the cultural radar when it told its readers "Leave Tate Modern to the tourist hordes: this one's for the connoisseur".
The Tate's out-of-London galleries in Liverpool and St Ives (Cornwall) opened in 1988 and 1993 respectively. Tate Liverpool is located in a converted warehouse in the city's Albert Dock, while Tate St Ives makes the most of the legendary Cornish coastal light with its beachfront position. Both present art selected from the Tate Collection and special exhibitions of contemporary art loaned from other public and private collections.
It was the splitting of the London Tate Gallery into two that stimulated the creation of a new identity. In March 2000, a new logo, a Tate font and a colour palette symbolising openness, change and vision were unveiled. There was also a newly designed website, uniforms designed by Paul Smith and signage.
The launch of Tate Modern and Tate Britain was accompanied by a high-impact advertising campaign that communicated the spirit and values of the new Tate through adverts using the strapline "Look Again, Think Again". As well as collaborating with The Guardian (the media partner for the launch of both galleries and a key collaborator today), Tate Modern's marketing campaign involved six million branded coffee cups in Coffee Republic cafés, Wagamama chopsticks promoting the Tate Membership scheme, an in-store concession at Selfridges, Tate Beer produced in conjunction with Oliver Peyton's Mash restaurant and a special Royal Mail stamp.
Research has shown that international awareness of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain has continued to rise, with a growth of 18% between 2000 and 2001. In addition, Tate Modern became on launch the most popular modern art gallery in the world, as well as the third most popular tourist attraction in Britain.
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