New exhibitions have been lined up for the Royal Academy of Arts
(Picture: David Parry/ Royal Academy of Arts)The architects who helped transform Tate Modern into the country’s most popular visitor attractions will be the subject of their own exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.
The show which runs from July 14 to October 15 next year will let visitors see behind the scenes at Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron whose distinctive designs range from the Laban Dance Centre in Deptford to the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.
Curator Vicky Richardson said the firm, which recently worked on the Royal College of Art’s new campus in Battersea, consisted of “the most exciting architects in the world”.
Their multi-million pound transformation of the disused Bankside power station made Tate Modern a landmark on the south side of the river and helped spark the regeneration of a large chunk of the riverside.
The gallery opened its doors in May 2000 and by 2018 was welcoming 5.9 million people through its doors — putting it ahead of the British Museum for the first time as the most popular attraction.
She said: “Their two most famous buildings in the capital, Tate Modern and the Laban Centre, are completely different in scale but they still have a playful use of materials and awareness of shared space. It is an ambition of the show to act as a hub from where people can go out and explore their work in London”.
She said the show, which will include prototypes and photography from the firm’s own archives, will also look ahead to new projects they could take on.
Other shows lined up for next year at the RA include an exhibition dedicated to the collection of the Hispanic Society Museum & Library in New York which includes work by Goya and Velazquez and an Impressionists show featuring paintings and drawings by artists from Degas to Renoir and Van Gogh.
Also planned is a retrospective of performance artist Marina Abramovic and an exhibition by black artists from the southern states of America.
