Category: Museum Director
Nationality: British
Last Year: 4

Brrr, it’s tough out there, but the ever-affable Serota is coming out fighting for Tate. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport revealed a £100 million funding black hole for the arts in England in July that cash for Tate Modern’s £215 million extension has fallen face-first into. Who made that phone call? “Ermm… something to tell you… [mumbles].” At present Tate only have a third of the money, but Serota is upbeat about continuing to open for the London Olympics in 2012: ‘We are in discussion with a number of people who are more than capable of giving us the large gifts that we will require for this project’, he said recently. Still, put your best face on (again) for this year, Sir Nick, as chasing the money is sure to consume much of your time, what with the £45 million refurbishment of Tate Britain to fund too. All that said, Tate put on some huge exhibitions this year, including Rothko and Bacon blockbusters, and braver fare in Bourriaud’s Altermodern: Tate Triennial, Baldessari, Balka, a daring tackling of art market commercialism at an awkward moment in Pop Life and a staggeringly elegant Roni Horn retrospective. Tate Liverpool’s programme also looks more exciting by the day, with a recent Michael Landy vs. Jean Tinguely exhibition, and Nam June Paik in 2010, as does that of Tate St Ives since the appointment of Martin Clark. Though the shadow of the extension will loom large for the next few years, and a period of hard graft and uncertainty lies ahead, the benefits for London and the UK will be staggering if it can be pulled off.