Tate visits reveal cultural shift
Updated on 21 September 2007
A record number of visitors to the Tate art galleries reveals a nation getting in touch with its arty side.
You wouldn't expect a sedated shuffle around a converted power station to be on a par with the heady thrills of the big dipper, but when it comes to our choice of day trip destinations, we're a nation of art lovers.
New figures from the Tate reveal that the Tate Modern art gallery in London comes second only to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in terms of number of visitors.
New visitor figures reveal that 7.7 million people visited the four English Tate galleries (two in London, one in St Ives and one in Liverpool) between April 2006 and 2007.
The days of claiming "I don't know a lot about art, but I know what I like" seem to be over; it seems we're opening our minds to the thrills of art, in all its mind-boggling variety.
This cultural shift has taken place over the last decade. The real people grabber is undoubtedly the new addition to the Tate family - the converted power station on the South Bank, Tate Modern.
'It is partly because of the excitement of the building itself, and partly its position in London by the Millennium Bridge. And clearly there is a huge interest in new developments in art all round the world.'Nicholas Serota, Tate director
It claims 5.2 million of the 7.7 million visitors. A great deal of this interest has been inspired by the series of giant installations in the enormous Turbine Hall. Three quarters of a million people took the plunge down last Autumn's commission - Carsten Höller's helter-skelters.
Before that the Weather Project held visitors in its thrall, crawling along the floor like bugs and staring at the patterns they made in the mirrored ceiling.
"It is partly because of the excitement of the building itself," said Tate director Nicholas Serota, "and partly its position in London by the Millennium Bridge. And clearly there is a huge interest in new developments in art all round the world."
And it's not just modern art that's exciting the punters, Tate Britain has also received record numbers of visitors. Last year's Holbein in England show at Tate Britain was the second-most visited exhibition in its history.
Tate bosses are hoping for another busy year, already retrospectives of Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon and Juan Munoz are in the pipeline.
All this, and building work on the Tate Modern extension will get underway in 2009 - hopefully to be finished by 2012 for the Olympics. The £200m project will make room for all those extra visitors looking for an arty day out.
