The 'crack' has disappeared now, but entering the word 'Shibboleth' into a search engine still brings up endless pages of discussion. 'How did they do it?' is the main question many people still ask of Doris Salcedo's work, the eighth in Tate Modern's Unilever Series.
Shibboleth, which ran from October to April, was the first work in the Series to intervene with the building itself. The vast Turbine Hall usually prompts visitors to gaze up and around. This time, all eyes were on the floor or on the fascinated line of visitors slowly following the length of the crack.
Like previous installations in The Unilever Series, Shibboleth drew a large audience and international attention. Its themes – immigration, racism, exclusion – came from the Colombian perspective of the artist, and reflected Tate Modern's position as a global gallery.
Two artists commissioned for The Unilever Series in the past returned to Tate Modern this year. Louise Bourgeois and Juan Muñoz took over the Turbine Hall in 2000 and 2001; this time, they were the focus of retrospectives.
From Maman 1999 – the giant spider holding court outside the building – to The Destruction of the Father 1974, the Bourgeois exhibition spanned seven decades of the artist's deeply personal work.
The Muñoz exhibition, too, brought together a lifetime of works in the first major show devoted to this artist since his unexpected death in 2001. They included Many Times 1999, the crowd of 100 figures described by one reviewer as 'the most frightening cocktail party you have ever been to'.
During 2007–8, Tate Modern built on its reputation for finding new points of entry into artists' work.
Dalí & Film (June – September 2007) was the first exhibition to focus on the close relationship between Salvador Dalí's films and paintings. More than 60 paintings were seen alongside films such as Un chien andalou 1929 and Spellbound 1946, drawing out the cross-fertilisation between the new mass entertainment of Hollywood and Dalí's work.
Similarly, Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia (February – May 2008) cast new light on all three artists' work. By showing these major figures of twentieth-century art in the context of each other, the exhibition teased out affinities between them, revealing how they questioned the very nature of art.
Another new initiative was Global Cities (June – August 2007), which brought art and architecture together to profile life in ten of the world's most dynamic cities.
As part of UBS Openings: Tate Modern Collection, 21 rooms were rehung in May 2007 and included works by Maya Deren, Steve McQueen and Dieter Roth.
Tate's growing collection of work from Latin America was on display, including works by Guillermo Kuitca, Rivane Neuenschwander and Cao Guimarães. To coincide with the exhibition dedicated to Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica we hosted a separate display of works from the Collection, including the newly acquired Tropicália, Penetrables PN 2 'Purity is a myth' and PN 3 'Imagetical' 1966–7 by Oiticica.
UBS Openings: Saturday Live, our strand of performance events which encourage crossover between the arts, has had some memorable moments in the last year including the first UK performance of Maritime Rites. American composer Alvin Curran performed the work on a keyboard synthesiser from a barge positioned on the river in front of the gallery and was backed by musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra and the bells of St Paul's Cathedral.
And during the late May Bank Holiday, Tate Modern hosted its second UBS Openings: The Long Weekend. Evening events included an all-night screening of Andy Warhol's first film, Sleep 1963 – accompanied by live performances of Erik Satie's Vexations 1893 – and a rare performance by Throbbing Gristle, the industrial music group, in response to Derek Jarman's Super 8 films. Daytime events included commissions by artists Mathieu Briand and Marepe.
Tate Modern's huge popularity has brought with it record numbers of visitors – more than five million in the past year. This popularity, combined with the continuing evolution of the gallery's programming, means that Tate Modern needs a bigger range of spaces suited to different purposes. Transforming Tate Modern is the process by which this will happen.
To the south of Tate Modern, architects Herzog & de Meuron are developing designs for a new building which will create 21,000m2 of space. At the heart of this development lies the transformation of former underground oil tanks, which will provide a unique environment for performances, events and displays. The development will also house a variety of other spaces higher up in the structure. A new route from the south will draw pedestrians through Tate Modern towards the river, further integrating the gallery into its locality.
During 2007, Trustee and philanthropist John Studzinski donated £5 million towards the development, and the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, James Purnell MP, also announced an investment of £50 million in the project.
