Louise Bourgeois's monumental spider sculpture Maman (1999) will return to Tate Modern next spring to mark the 25th anniversary of the Bankside gallery, which received 4.7 million visitors last year. “Standing ten metres high, this monumental sculpture was the first work to greet visitors when Tate Modern opened in 2000 and will be returning to the Turbine Hall for the first time in 25 years,” says a gallery statement.
The Bourgeois piece will be the starting point of a new trail around the building which launches during the space’s anniversary weekend (9-12 May). The new itinerary is made up of recent additions to Tate’s collection, along with some of the “most iconic works from Tate Modern’s history”.
Other trail works will include Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals, commissioned in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram building, which will be coming back from their current display at Tate St Ives (until 5 January). Dorothea Tanning’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943), currently on show in Surrealism at Paris’s Centre Pompidou (until 13 January), will also feature along with works by Nalini Malani and Meschac Gaba.
Catherine Wood, Tate Modern’s director of programmes, says in a statement: “We wanted to celebrate our 25th anniversary with a capsule collection of 25 key works, which will lead visitors around the whole building on a journey from old favourites to new discoveries.”
Other 25th anniversary shows include A Year in Art: 2050 which examines how artists “imagine possible futures” through works such as Umberto Boccioni’s seminal Futurist sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio, 1913) and a computer-generated animation by Ayoung Kim set in a futuristic version of Seoul.
Gathering Ground, which will also be open during the anniversary weekend, will feature works “united by a deep connection to land and community, often addressing the relationship between the ecological crisis and social injustice”, says Tate. Participating artists including Outi Pieski, Carolina Caycedo and Edgar Calel.