Has the Tate Modern revealed that highbrow Works?

I thought that Richard Rogers’ Dome disclaimer on Radio 4 last week was a bit rich, considering he sat on the briefing Litmus Panel for months while we were all badgered into making the thing more populist.

Various luminaries on the panel fretted endlessly about the East Enders viewer; the number of ‘wow’ factors per zone was counted and compared, and not enough was a sackable offence. I remember Richard Rogers wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about all this, but he must have known that it went on.

Now I personally don’t have any problems with populism.

I do have a problem with post-Tate spin where the Dome story is reinvented to infer the briefing body would have preferred a more highbrow approach (because highbrow is suddenly OK), but the headstrong designers somehow went their own way regardless.

And by the way, although he claims he had nothing to do with the dumbed down content of the Dome, Richard Rogers Partnership designed the psychedelic, funky, Rest Zone.

Tim Pyne

Director

Work

work@easynet.co.uk