Unilever to pour £1.25 m into Tate Gallery

Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald today announced a £1.25 million sponsorship agreement with the new Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. The funds will enable the gallery, which is due to open in May 2000, to commission and exhibit large-scale work each year for the next five years. This is the first major sponsorship of the new gallery's programme.The commissioned works will be known as The Unilever Series and will be showcased in the gallery's massive Turbine Hall, which is more than 150 metres long and 30 metres high. The first artist to be commissioned is Louise Bourgeois, who at 87 years old is still one of the most influential and challenging international sculptors of this century. She will create the inaugural work to be unveiled in May 2000 as the main feature in the gallery. The gallery, which is situated almost opposite Unilever House across The River Thames, will also house the Tate's collection of international twentieth-century art, including major works by Picasso, Matisse, Dalí, Bacon and Warhol. At an event to announce the sponsorship, Louise Bourgeois said: "I want to thank Unilever and the Tate for making it possible for me to create such large-scale work - the Turbine Hall is totally out of this world when it comes to size." Also at the event, Niall FitzGerald commented: "Being associated with international creativity on such a scale attracted us to this partnership - in our own business, innovation and creativity are vital. The internationalism of the gallery also goes straight to the heart of Unilever's own approach to business. "Through The Unilever Series we are supporting the Tate's commitment to providing a dynamic new centre for art-lovers worldwide." Around the world, Unilever companies invest some £25 million in community involvement projects, including education and arts sponsorship. Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate Gallery, said: "We are delighted that an artist of such international standing has accepted the challenge set by the Turbine Hall, which promises to be one of the great new spaces for modern art. We are enormously grateful to Unilever for their very generous support for such an imaginative project."