In May 2000, the late monarch Queen Elizabeth inaugurated Tate Modern in London. It occupied a flashy new Herzog and de Meuron-designed home in the disused Bankside Power Station, which sits on the south side of the Thames, directly opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of the British capital’s best loved landmarks. It would house work by titans of 21st-century art like Marcel Duchamp, Dorothea Tanning, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Paula Rego, as well as serve a world class exhibition program.

Art critic Adrian Searle wrote breathlessly that the occasion marked “a watershed in the cultural life of this country. It signals the importance of the art of our times, and its centrality in our culture.”

Herzog & de Meuron, Tate Modern, London. Photo © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of Royal Academy of Arts.

A quarter of a century later, Tate Modern in London is the world’s most visited modern art museum. With much to celebrate, it has decided to go big on its festivities planned for its landmark 25th anniversary weekend on May 9–12, 2025. The good news is, everyone is invited! Guests can expect a busy schedule of talks, tours, workshops, and performances.

These will be accompanied by two free show-piece exhibitions that foreground the importance and relevance of contemporary art as a lens to understand a fast-evolving world. The climate crisis and related injustices will be the central theme of “Gathering Ground,” an exploration of how artists are responding to the defining challenge of the 21st century.

Additionally, “A Year in Art: 2050” will trace how successive generations of artists have conceived of new futures, from Futurist sculptor Umberto Boccioni to Ayoung Kim, a Korean artist working in computer-generated animation.

“Our birthday weekend will be a wonderful chance to see what we do best and get a taste of where we’re going next,” promises Tate Modern’s director Kate Hindsbo.

Mark Rothko’s, The Seagram Murals: Red on Maroon (1959)at Tate Britain, which will return to Tate Modern for the museum’s 25th birthday. Photo by WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The museum is honoring its achievements both old and new. For example, one of its greatest assets, Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals, will be back on display in pride of place after a stint at Tate St Ives in Cornwall. In homage to Tate Modern’s opening days, it will re-install Louise Bourgeois’s soaring bronze spider Maman to fill its cavernous Turbine Hall entrance as it did so many years ago. The space is now used for the museum’s renowned annual Turbine Hall commission, this year filled by the typically grotesque, unnerving work of Korean artist Mire Lee.

Maman will mark the starting point for a trail of prized items from Tate’s collection, including significant new additions from the past 25 years. Two highlights that have so far been teased are installations by Indian artist Nalini Malani and Beninese conceptual artist Meschac Gaba.