The director of Tate Modern explains her choices in the JdA

Born in Denmark in 1974, Karin Hindsbo has been director of Tate Modern since September 2023. She was director of the National Museum in Oslo (Norway) from 2017 to 2023, an institution created under her supervision and bringing together the former National Gallery, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the Museum of Contemporary Art as well as the Museum of Architecture. She has also headed various institutions in Norway and Denmark and was a lecturer at the Institute of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

You have been running Tate Modern for over a year. What surprised you the most?

It is an extraordinary institution, which has a broad field of action. But the unexpected is part of the sector and I had prepared myself before entering this museum that I already knew well… On the other hand, the surprise was more of a cultural nature. I had to get used to the British way of working, more diplomatic… I am often advised to “Britishize” my messages! In Scandinavia we are much more direct.

Tate Modern will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. How is this young institution still innovative?

The museum has always been a pioneer in its way of diversifying the canons of art, centered on the West. Today, we continue to work in this direction, at the transnational level. For example, we launched a four-year program to improve the representation of indigenous art (from communities established in different countries before any Western colonization, editor’s note) in our collections. From July, we will dedicate a major exhibition to the astonishing indigenous artist Emily Kngwarreye (Australia, 1910-1996). The aim is to show how abstraction, for example, develops within Aboriginal communities. We also work on the transfer of knowledge within these communities, more direct and personal than in a more academic approach. The idea will also be to show how these practices explore themes linked to climate change, biodiversity, and how art can be inspired by these issues.

British museums are the target of environmental movements. Is this a way to respond to these protests?

As a museum, if our duty is to protect the works, we can also highlight this cause. This is what we will do through the exhibition “Gathering Ground” (from January 29, 2025 to January 4, 2026), which includes, for example, artists such as Outi Pieski, a Sami woman from Finland whose works were acquired thanks to this indigenous fund. But while I like this cause, I oppose the activists’ methods and we are monitoring this closely even if I cannot go into detail about our security measures. If the situation becomes more alarming, we will modify our procedures accordingly.

Your acquisition policy is highly debated in Great Britain. How is it innovative?

I think we need to adapt acquisitions to the world in which we live. For our indigenous collection, acquiring art requires other requirements because this type of art is generally produced by a community and this element must be taken into account. Perhaps the acquisition should take the form of a loan or an agreement with this community. The principle of joint acquisitions is a way of getting around the ownership problem. This is what we did, with Australia and the Australian government, for the acquisition of works by Archie Moore.

Concerning your international approach, the Tate does not follow the model of the Center Pompidou, the Louvre or the Guggenheim which develop branches abroad. For what ?

In the United Kingdom, we still have four antennas. But in our international approach, we have always favored partnerships and collaborations, as with Australia, rather than franchise development. We have assistant curators around the world. We have a transnational research center, transnational conferences and we provide major loans. All of these actions allow us to attract around one million additional visitors per year.

Tate Modern was Britain’s fourth largest tourist attraction in 2023, with 4.7 million visitors. How do you plan to increase this attendance?

We are back to pre-pandemic numbers for our paid exhibitions, but not for free exhibitions. Over the next few years, I would like to exceed 5 million visitors to try to get us closer to pre-Covid. But it will be a somewhat different audience because we have much more local visitors than before, based in London or the UK. For this reason, diversification is part of our strategy. We strive to attract young audiences and families, such as with the “Uniqlo Tate Play” program, which encourages active visitor participation.

The Center Pompidou will close in 2025 for five years. How are you going to seize this opportunity?

I know that the intention is not to close everything and that there will be a number of important exhibitions held elsewhere. So I can’t wait to see how the museum will take advantage of this opportunity to show its collection in new forms and with new partners! We work very closely with this institution which we consider our big sister and we will continue throughout this period.

Culture is not the priority of the Labor government, which mainly seeks to consolidate the economy. Does this worry you about the future of the sector across the Channel?

The United Kingdom is currently in a difficult financial situation, the government is working within this framework. In the fall budget, there was talk of an increase in the subsidy granted to museums, but we do not know how much this will amount to. Many UK museums are suffering due to Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation in general. The government has also shown an interest in the link between art and education, which is close to my heart. We will see what happens over the next few years.

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