Artist's Impression of The Tate Gallery of Modern Art,
also showing the planned footbridge adjacent to the school
Opposite CLS, on other side of the river is the disused Bankside Power Station, now being developed as an additional site for the Tate Gallery.
The Tate plans to open the Tate Gallery of Modern Art at Bankside to the public in the year 2000. It will display the Tate Collection of modern art, which of course includes British modern art, which will therefore be seen in both Tates, although in much greater depth at the Tate Gallery of British Art. However the Tate is emphasising that there will be great flexibility in the display of the Collection as between the two buildings so that, for example, major foreign modern artists who may have worked in Britain, or whose work influenced British artists, would be the subject of displays at the Tate Gallery of British Art.
A key element in the project to turn Bankside into the Tate Gallery of Modern Art is a footbridge over the Thames to the St Paul's stairs. The Tate Gallery of Modern Art will thus become a major new cultural resource for the City, not to mention the City of London School. Its displays will begin outside the building with carefully placed pieces of sculpture, probably including specially commissioned new works that will relate to the building or its surroundings - that will be 'site specific' in the jargon. Inside, the Collection will be displayed in six groups, or suites, of rooms each representing a visit of about two hours and covering a specific but broad period of modern art, for example Early Modern, or Inter-War. As well as the displays of the permanent collection there will be an extensive programme of loan exhibitions and a three part education programme aimed at the general visitor, at community and youth groups, and at the large number of school and college groups that visit the Tate every year. Schools in the City will be particularly well placed to take advantage of this, and one as close as the City of London School might well be able to develop a special relationship with that Tate Education Department. But individual students and staff could simply pop across the river at breaks or after school (admission will remain free) and there will be a substantial provision of information and other services including, we hope, a roof top restaurant.
The presence on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art, together with the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, will transform and regenerate that part of London, as well as adding a new dimension to the life of the City.
Simon Wilson
Curator of Interpretation
(edited extract from The Citizen, one of the school's magazines)
