Tate Chief on a Year of Modern Glory

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Byline: ROBIN STRINGER

TATE DIRECTOR Sir Nicholas Serota has already imagined next year's headlines - Attendances at Tate Modern slump: honeymoon over for London's wonder gallery.

It is that degree of foresight which goes some way towards explaining why London's first museum of modern art, which will celebrate its first anniversary next Thursday, has been such an extraordinary success.

Working for seven years on the project in close conjunction with all interested parties, Sir Nicholas managed to avoid all the pitfalls, even emerging from a fly-on-the-wall television documentary with reputation intact. Now, having foreseen the possibility of a downturn in attendances, the man most responsible for the arrival on Bankside of this [pound]135 …