The Tanks: Art in Action at Tate Modern

On Sunday while the rest of London were treated to the best and worst of Britpop, we visited Tate Modern's newest exhibition space, The Tanks, for the second time. Thanks to their late opening hours, we were able to wander around the hall and drum galleries unhindered, taking in the installations with only the eerie silence or whatever soundtrack attached to certain installations as accompaniments.

The Tanks were once three abandoned underground oil tanks, originally used by the former Bankside power station. It lies just by the south side of the Turbine Hall. It has recently been refurbished for use as a gallery and will now a permanent location for live and video art installations. A new building is currently being constructed above The Tanks in a redevelopment called the Tate Modern Project, which will see the creation of a new exhibition wing.

While The Tanks's Art In Action will be a permanent feature to the new wing of Tate Modern, it will only be opened to the public in intervals from October while construction of the new building goes on above. While initially skeptical about how the raw, cold interior and brutalist architecture of The Tanks, which used to hold five millions of oil, would fit with live art, the dark echo chambers were brilliantly utilised.

So far 40 artists has been commissioned to provide live work of art at The Tanks. Both semi permanent and limited live exhibitions such as Tania Bruguera's Immigrant Movement International and Haegue Yang's Dress Vehicles will be free.