Opening of the new Tate Modern

You can’t miss the big art story of 2016: it’s ten storeys high. On June 17, a new Tate Modern will be unveiled when its extension, known as The Switch House (that’s the big, twisty building that’s been rising up behind the Bankside building for the past couple of years) opens to the public. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss architects behind the original transformation of Bankside power station 15 years ago the building will provide 60 per cent more exhibition space, and allow for a ‘progressive rehang’ of Tate Modern’s permanent collection across both the Switch House and current Tate Modern building, with the Turbine Hall becoming what the Tate is calling ‘the street’ that connects both buildings. The new building features a viewing level on the top floor, a restaurant, members' room and three new floors of galleries, billed as ‘new spaces for new kinds of art’, which will be used to show works acquired since Tate Modern opened in 2000, including an installation of giant burlap sacks by Magdalena Abakanowicz and a multi-screen film by Cannes prizewinner Apichatpong Weerasethakul.