Tate Liverpool announces major transformation works

Tate Liverpool today announced that the gallery will temporarily close from Monday 16 October 2023 as the landmark building on Royal Albert Dock undergoes a major reimagining – the transformed gallery will reopen in 2025.

Ahead of the closure period, the venue will be extending its popular exhibition JMW Turner with Lamin Fofana: Dark Waters until 24 September 2023. The exhibition focuses on the power of the sea through Turner’s paintings and sketches and through Fofana’s immersive sound environment. Tate Liverpool will also be one of the venues across the city hosting exhibitions for the 12th edition of Liverpool Biennial, open from 10 June to 17 September 2023.

Tate Liverpool’s free displays of the national collection of modern and contemporary art will also be extended until 15 October 2023. On level 2 of the gallery, The Port and Migrations and Global Encounters feature more than 80 works exploring themes of movement, migration and international exchange, including Hew Locke’s spectacular sculptural installation Armada 2019. On level 1, Democracies features artists from around the world who have responded in various ways to the theme of democracy.

Helen Legg, Director, Tate Liverpool, said:

“Since Tate Liverpool opened 35 years ago, the experiences our audiences want to have, and the kind of work artists want to make, have both changed significantly. So now is the time for us to reimagine the gallery for the 21st century and strengthen the connection between art and people.

“Announcing this temporary closure gives everyone who loves Tate Liverpool a chance to return to the gallery before we begin the transformation process. It is also important to us that our audiences know they will still be able to engage with Tate Liverpool during the closure period through the high-quality work we deliver within the city’s communities.”

While the building is closed, the organisation will continue to host events and one-off projects in collaboration with other spaces in the city. Following the success of the Mobile Museum in collaboration with Art Explora and MuMo, which is currently touring works from Tate’s collection around Liverpool City Region until April, the gallery’s off-site programme will ensure it retains a close connection to the local community. Plans for the programme for 2024 will be announced in the coming months.

Established in 1988, Tate Liverpool helped create a blueprint for a wave of new galleries across the UK, redefining the role of the museum in the life of a city. Following a grant from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, Tate Liverpool is now working with 6a architects to reimagine the gallery spaces to meet the scale and ambition of today’s most exciting artists. They will also develop social spaces that better connect with the city and its communities, creating an environment that is flexible and inviting and able to host people, art and ideas in equal measure.

Visit the Tate Liverpool website here.