Tate Modern Art Gallery - Essay Example

Introduction Tate Modern, the beautiful modern art gallery in London is the largest modern art gallery over the globe. However, several years back it was not as radically stunning as it is now. The story of Tate Modern is the story of the conversion of a polluted power station into a gorgeous art gallery. The power company of London planned to build a power generating station at Bankside. In the year 1930, the responsibility was given to Sir Giles Gilber Scott. The power station got completed in two phases, with a 200m long brick clad steel structure having a 99m high central chimney. The height was kept a bit lower than the dome of St. Paul's cathedral, situated on the other side of the river (White Mouse Burrow, n.d.). The power station was made to order due to a power shortage back in 1947; but as the power pant was an oil-based one, it had huge emission of polluted gas in surrounding air. Apart from this, dumping of noxious chemicals in nearby grounds was a part and parcel of the plant operation. Due to gradually rising oil prices it seemed to be uneconomical to carry on with the power station. Finally in 1982, the power station was shut down. After that for several years, this power station was at jeopardy of being knocked down by the developers. A number of people campaigned for the new usage of the unused building. In 1993, the knocking down process started with digging up a hole on the station wall (Smith, 2008). Then only BBC came up with a program called "One foot in the past" focusing on the imminent danger of the old building; a passionate appeal was given by Dan Cruikshank, the reporter in there. Later on in the year 1994, Tate Gallery announced that they are going to develop new house of Tate Modern in the Bankside Power station. Many issues regarding pollution, safety and sustainability were attached with this new project which Tate Gallery managed well. At present this is one of the successful art galleries. Pollution problem with power stations Power has been always considered as one of the essential input for development of industries as well as the nation. But at past different pollution related factors were underestimated by the companies who were keen towards profit maximisation and money making. The area in the south bank of the river Thames where the Tate Modern is located today has always been an active place. In the eighteen century it was an important trade and industry sector. It was destroyed heavily during Second World War, but construction of Bankside bought a major change. Being an oil based power generating station, it resulted in different pollution related factors. The power station dumped harmful chemicals in the nearby ground that polluted the underground water and surrounding water bodies. The station had emitted different gases directly into the atmosphere without treating them properly for purification and filtration. These gases contain high concentration of carbon dioxide and several other toxic exhausts which deteriorated the environment around. When an international survey was conducted in 1962 by National Survey on Air Pollution, a high volume of smoke and sulphur dioxide was found to be present. The reasons behind such changes were pointed towards a decline in the consumption of coal and a growth in use of oil as a fuel. It was also found that the black smoke emitted by diesel engines contain carbon mono oxide which is highly poisonous for the health of living being (The British Medical Journal, 1967). The oil based power generation station neglected many legal factors to keep the pollution level low and all these had resulted high pollution of land, water and air. It caused harm to both vegetation and animals of the nearby locality and turned to a major threat to the environment. Health and safety issues related to Tate Modern Bankside power station was in a closed state for many years, so when Tate Gallery decided to convert it in an art gallery there were many safety and health related issues that required to be handled with due importance. The air inside the building contained dangerous levels of sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and other toxic gases. Stones got decoloured and the bricks were efflorescent, the mortar got eroded and resulted into deep cracks. The structure that was made up of steel got eroded and wooden structures got decayed; the whole structure suffered from weathering and became structurally weak. The building was in a poor state and it was quite unsafe for anyone to stand under the roof of this monument (Crisman, 2007, p411-412). The building was filled with dirt and debris as it was closed for many years. Such inner environment can be a hazardous for anyone resulting in respiratory problem, lung infection, and infection in the skin or any other discomfort. Underground water was highly polluted and was unfit to be used for human consumption. Many oil tankers stood there for many years, so leakage of oil from the tankers made the ground highly toxic and unsafe. When Tate Gallery decided to convert Bankside into an art gallery, they under took all these health and safety related problems seriously. Factor behind success of Tate Modern There were many factors behind success of Tate Modern, first of all is the selection of the location itself. In 1980s the company has to shutdown the power generation business as due to hike in oil price, it was no more economical to run the business. It was standing idle for many years, but many people campaigned to save the historical building and suggested different alternative uses. The building had a historical importance as it was created by Sir Giles Scott, the great architecture who had also designed many other important monuments (White Mouse Burrow, n.d.). The industrial building has many special components which attracted visitors in large numbers. The huge turbine of the power station is 35 meter high and 152 meter long and just parallel to it a boiler is located. This large turbine room is an ideal place to display big sculptures. Tate Gallery has well utilised the space, it has used the first two floors for modern art and the third one displays contemporary art collection. The top floor of this building has a cafe which provides view of river Thames and the long chimney is decorated by lights called Swiss light that makes the environment more attractive (White Mouse Burrow, n.d.). So, proper utilisation of space and art creates magic in Tate Modern and acts as a vital factor in the success of the art gallery. The other important factor behind the success is combination of old structure well matched with the art and atmosphere. The architectures tried hard to retain the old day's structure; they made minimal changes in the original construction by strengthening the existing construction. The art gallery, Tate Modern is located quite near to the river Thames, which provides easy transportation facility to the visitors. The location is in the heart of densely populated locality and quite near to the famous church. The art gallery is quite famous as it adds high cultural value to the society and to its customers or visitors. It enhances knowledge of the visitors and at the same time results in economical activities. Till date it has generated many jobs for the native people; hence it adds instrumental value. The experience of being in the art gallery is one of its own kinds. A visitor experiences intellectual, emotional and spiritual feeling; so the Tate Modern adds intrinsic value. The art gallery also adds institutional value as it increases public goods, it increases satisfaction and trust in general public (Holden, n.d.). The management of the art gallery pay lot of attention on visitors' convention as they have painted the chimney in orange which is to be used as a signal for finding the path. The river boat facility is arranged so that connects the art gallery with regular passenger service. Competitive position of Tate Modern over Saatchi Gallery Saatchi Gallery is a strong competitor of Tate Modern as it also deals with contemporary art. It was opened in the year 1985 by Charles Saatchi. They first developed their art gallery in an unused paint factory situated in St John's Wood on Boundary Road. In a bid to attract visitors the critics suggested that there has to be a binding contrast between the art pieces and the surrounding environment. The art work and the surrounding environment were mismatched. The concept was to use contrasting environment to highlight the art works and it's beautify, but due to mismatch, the art pieces lost their natural attractiveness. The management failed to use space and figures for creating the extra effect on visitors (Georgian House Hotel, n.d.). Later on the art gallery sifted to County Hall, located miles away from the river's South Bank. This was again the wrong choice because the place was surrounded by two hotels, a shopping mall, Dali exhibition along with several cafe and restaurants. All these provided an alternative mode of entertainment to the people visiting the place and the charm of art gallery got faded. An art gallery should not be just a collection of art pieces exhibited as trophies; rather there must be a synchronisation between the environment, art and the culture. This feel was lacking in the Saatchi Gallery and as a result it was never as popular as Tate Modern art gallery. Taking a gap of three years, the Saatchi Gallery reopened in 2008 in a new location which in situated on Kings Road, the building has three floors and three additional gallery areas. The management is planning to put more focus on educational program for the next generation so that it can have better knowledge in the field of contemporary art. But each time the Saatchi gallery failed to fulfil the visitors' expectation, the mismatch between classical building and contemporary art work was blamed by experts. The idea of using a contrasting background environment for the contemporary art destroys the feel and visitors cannot accept such mismatch. So, all these can be considered responsible for failure of Saatchi gallery. Sustainability factors behind success of Tate Modern During constructing the Tate Modern, management assumed around 1.8 million visitors on an average, but the data shows it reached to 4.6 million in the first six months. The art gallery has created new jobs for almost 1000 people. Different people have different views regarding the success of the art gallery. According to many the company managed a sustainable growth that assists in attracting visitors from different parts of the world. The term "sustainable development" was initially used in the 1700s by Malthus (1766-1834) and William Stanley Jevons (1835-82). These thinkers used the sustainability development in respect of resource scarcity, population boom and energy shortage. They paid more attention on the health hazards caused due to industrial pollution. Many years later this term was reintroduced by International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources through World Conservation Strategy which aimed at achieving sustainable development through conservation of living beings so it introduced a concept of limit (Baker, 2006, p.17-18). Many scholars consider Tate Modern as one of the world's famous sustainable development example. The art gallery has reused a historical building in the most effective way to create a blend of environment and art work. It is not easy for a company to reuse an old building as many of its walls cannot be shifted for the safety measures; the management has to use the available space exactly as it was constructed. This helped in retaining the ethnic look of the building and also the cost of construction was reduced. It was a challenge for the management to satisfy all the safety measures without disturbing the natural beauty and originality of the construction. The location chosen by Tate Gallery was highly toxic, so almost 20 percent of the budgeted cost of remodelling was invested for make the place free from these toxic substances. The construction was made initially for industrial use, so it does not fit for nonindustrial uses, so the Tate's architectures did a lot of work in using the available space to fulfil entire requirements in the best possible way (Planning Report PDU, 2007). At present the museum is planning to extend its existing art gallery location for which it has to pay special attention on certain sustainability issues. The parking space is a problem, so the management has introduced concept of blue badge holders who can book the parking space in advance and can park only for 3 hours in street. This will help the management to handle growing demand of parking space in the peak demand phase. Management is also planning to reduce lose of heat during distribution; also there is a plan to use 10 percent of renewable energy from biomass boilers. A flood management plan has been introduced and they are encouraging use to river water as a mode of transportation. All these measures will help Tate Gallery to maintain sustainable development which will be more environments friendly and on the other side cost effective. Conclusion In London there are many art galleries which offer many precious art works done by different artists, but Tate Modern has made its own identity. It was developed in the historical building of Bankside power station. It was one of the most important oil based power generating station, but it paid less attention toward the pollution measures and was finally closed down in 1981. In 1994, Tate Gallery took an initiative to convert the old architecture into an art gallery for exhibiting their modern art works. This proved highly successful and the management found the number of visitors crossed their assumption by a large margin. The main success factor of the museum was sustainable development and a well managed blend in between art, culture and space. It used the available space in most effective way to add value to the visitors and fulfilled their expectations. Reference Baker, S. 2006. Sustainable development. Routledge. Crisman, P. 2007. From industry to culture: leftovers, time and material transformation in four contemporary museums. The Journal of Architecture. Volume 12. Number 4. [Pdf]. Available at: http://people.virginia.edu/'pc4v/pdf/Crisman_From_industry_to_Culture_JoA_07.pdf [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. Georgian House Hotel. No date. Saatchi Gallery. [Online]. Available at: http://www.georgianhousehotel.co.uk/london-museums-galleries/the-saatchi-gallery.asp [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. Holden, J. The Cultural Value of Tate Modern. Tate Modern: The First Five Years. [Pdf]. Available at: Planning Report PDU. February 01, 2007. Tate Modern extension, Bankside. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning_decisions/strategic_dev/2007/20070214/tate_modern_bankside_report.rtf [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. Smith, C. May 18, 2008. London Art Galleries - Tate Modern. [Online]. Available at: http://historictravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/londons_art_galleries [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. The British Medical Journal. 1967. Progress With Air Pollution. [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/pss/20389359 [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. White Mouse Burrow. No date. Tate Modern. [Online]. Available at: http://whitemouse.ru/photo/london/lm_tm_history.wmb [Accessed on December 29, 2009]. http://www.scribd.com/doc/9381073/Tate-Modern-Reinventing-a-power-plant-Essay Read More