Join Tate Modern’s 25th birthday celebrations this weekend

NEWLY ANNOUNCED:

· Get free entry to all exhibitions all weekend by joining Tate Collective

· Join a mass-participation artwork by Roman Ondak in the Turbine Hall

· Headline DJ sets from Romy and BBC Radio 1’s Jaguar and a rare London takeover of The Tanks from CULTUR FM

· Newly released Life Membership available for a limited time only

Today Tate Modern announced the full line-up for its Birthday Weekender, four days of art, music, making and performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the world’s most visited modern art museum. From Friday 9 to Monday 12 May, in partnership with UNIQLO, Tate Modern is offering everyone a chance to enjoy the very best modern and contemporary art alongside live music, performances, talks, workshops and tours, all for free.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “It’s hard to imagine London without Tate Modern, even though it’s only 25 years old. In that short time, it has transformed London’s cultural landscape – cementing our city’s status as a global art capital, commissioning and celebrating emerging voices alongside world-renowned artists, and inspiring Londoners while welcoming millions of visitors from around the world. The 25th Birthday Weekender is a fantastic way to celebrate Tate’s extraordinary contribution to our city, as we continue working to build a better, more vibrant London for everyone.”

In only 25 years, Tate Modern has transformed the public’s relationship with modern and contemporary art, expanded the canon of art history, and rewritten the rulebook for what a museum can be. To celebrate this milestone, a limited release of Life Memberships are now available to buy and gift. These special edition membership cards will offer 25 years of unlimited entry to all exhibitions across all four Tate galleries with no need to book, as well as access to special opening hours and events.

Tate Modern’s Birthday Weekender will include…

Free Art
Visitors will be met by Louise Bourgeois’s iconic steel spider Maman, standing 10 metres high at the heart of the Turbine Hall, where it was first unveiled 25 years ago. Everyone is then invited to have their height marked on the Turbine Hall wall as part of Roman Ondak’s collective performance Measuring the Universe. These fleeting marks will grow into a vast collective constellation as the weekend continues. A trail of 25 inspiring artworks will lead visitors across the museum, highlighting much-loved classics and new arrivals, from Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí to Monster Chetwynd and Pipilotti Rist. There will also be live tarot readings in Meschac Gaba’s Museum of Contemporary African Art and performances by artists including Abbas Zahedi, Lawrence Lek, María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Maxime Jean-Baptitste.

Free Music
DJs will be bringing the party to the Turbine Hall, Tanks, Corner Bar and Terrace Bar all weekend, including headline sets on Friday night from BBC Radio 1 DJ Jaguar and Romy (DJ set), and a rare London takeover of the Tanks from music collective CULTUR FM on Saturday evening. Further DJ sets will be programmed by Jumbi Peckham, NiNE8 Collective and Radiate Festival on Friday, Crystallmess, DAYTIMERS and Queer Bruk on Saturday, and House of Dad on Sunday. Community platform foundation.fm will also be broadcasting live from Tate Modern with music and conversation on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Free Exhibitions
Aged 16-25? For one weekend only, Tate Collective can enjoy free entry to all four of Tate Modern’s current exhibitions: Leigh Bowery! brings together outlandish costumes, photographs, paintings and videos to explore how this provocative figure changed art, fashion and pop culture. Electric Dreams offers a dreamscape of machines, movement and captivating installations that play with your perception. Anthony McCall: Solid Light is an immersive environment created by projecting beams of light through a thin mist, resulting in mesmerising ever-changing sculptures. The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh invites visitors to explore captivating large-scale installations, sculptures, videos and drawings which ask questions about home, memory and identity.

Free Talks, Tours and Workshops
The Starr Cinema will host panel discussions chaired by Tate Modern’s Director, Karin Hindsbo, and Chief Curator, Catherine Wood, as well as artist talks by Nalini Malani and Robert Zhao Renhui. Visitors can drop in on a creative coding workshop led by tech experts at Goldsmiths and UAL, a community conversation hosted by Tate Neighbours, and a hands-on interactive Make Studio as part of UNIQLO Tate Play. The galleries will feature pop-up Ten Minute Talks, British Sign Language and Audio Description tours, and a host of daily free tours for visitors of all ages. There will also be free workshops led by the team at Kazvare Made It in the UNIQLO Tate Shop, a new collaborative space to shop, play and make throughout the summer, which offers customisable fashion and a new range of UTme! Tate T-shirts celebrating Tate Modern’s anniversary.

For press requests, email pressoffice@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8730. To download press images, visit Tate’s Dropbox.

Listings Information
Birthday Weekender
Tate Modern, 9-12 May 2025
Birthday Weekender is in partnership with UNIQLO
www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/birthday-weekender

The display of Louise Bourgeois’s Maman is supported by LVMH.

Leigh Bowery! is supported by Tate Members. The exhibition is organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with Nicola Rainbird, Director and Owner of the Estate of Leigh Bowery.

Electric Dreams is presented in the Eyal Ofer Galleries. The exhibition is in partnership with Gucci, supported by Anthropic, with additional support from The Electric Dreams Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Americas Foundation, Tate International Council and Tate Patrons. Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.

Anthony McCall: Solid Light is presented in The George Economou Gallery.

The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House is in partnership with Genesis. It is supported by The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh Supporters Circle and Tate Members. The creation and repurposing of artworks in the exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of Genesis.

Abbas Zahedi’s performance is part of Gathering Ground, a free exhibition supported by Mala Gaonkar and Tate Patrons. With additional support from PPL and Tate Members, in addition to support from Little Greene for their supply of paint and Minirig for the supply of audio equipment.

Lawrence Lek’s performance is part of Digital Intimacies, a Learning season supported by Anthropic. Also supported by Marcin and Izabela Wiszniewski.
UNIQLO Tate Play is in partnership with UNIQLO.

Uniqlo Tate Shop, Art For All is open from 5 May to 16 September 2025.

On Monday 12 May, Tate Modern will host 25 schools from the local community for a dedicated programme to inspire the next generation.

About Tate Modern
Tate Modern is the world’s most popular museum of modern and contemporary art. It is free to visit and open to all, welcoming millions of people each year. The museum’s collection displays span 100 years of art by renowned artists from around the world, presented alongside a diverse and international programme of exhibitions, commissions and events. Tate Modern is part of a family of four Tate galleries around the UK alongside Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, which together care for a growing national collection of over 78,000 works of art. For more information, visit tate.org.uk

About Tate Collective
Tate Collective is the first free-to-join membership scheme for 16 to 25 year olds at a national UK museum and is open to people anywhere in the world to join online. Members are able to see any of Tate’s exhibitions for £5 and also get discounts in Tate’s cafes and shops, as well as having access to exclusive opportunities and events. Find out more at tate.org.uk/tate-collective Tate Collective is supported by the Rothschild Foundation and Tate Patrons

About UNIQLO
UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing group, a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo. With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom, and changing the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. UNIQLO’s support of Tate has enabled Tate Modern to offer captivating and culturally empowering participatory events that welcome new and younger audiences to the gallery. UNIQLO is committed to its ongoing partnership with Tate, and the power it has to make art accessible to all. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visit uniqlo.com and fastretailing.com

notes to editors

Sign up to emails