Tate Modern’s Angry Neighbors Are Not Giving Up Their Fight Against Museum Visitors Peeping Into Their Apartments

Angry neighbors of London’s Tate Modern are appealing a High Court ruling
that dismissed their efforts to shut down the gallery’s 10th floor
viewing platform, which allows visitors to see into their high-end
apartments.

In 2017, five occupants of the luxury apartment block Neo
Bankside sued the Board of Trustees
of the Tate for creating a nuisance and breaching their
privacy.

The gallery’s viewing platform is a popular tourist attraction,
offering panoramic views of London and the Thames River. Despite
signs politely asking visitors to “please respect our neighbours’
privacy,” visitors also often take advantage of the vista point to
peer into the goings-on of the chic designer apartments next door.
(The silent battle between the nosy parkers and the furious
neighbors even inspired artist Max Siedentopf to
install binoculars on Tate’s
balcony, a guerrilla artwork designed to highlight the
absurdity of the situation.)

After a long legal battle, a judge dismissed the neighbors’ bid
to shut down the high-rise viewing platform last February, denying
that the gallery was creating a legal “nuisance.” The judge,
Justice Anthony Mann, found that the Tate was not “making an
unreasonable use of its land” and pointed out that the design of
the flats, which include floor-to-ceiling glass windows, made them
abnormally vulnerable to privacy invasions. He suggested that the
neighbors could protect their privacy the old-fashioned way: by
investing in some curtains.

Undeterred, the residents have now taken their fight to the
Court of Appeal, alleging that the High Court justice was mistaken
in his ruling. Their lawyer is arguing that because the judge found
that the viewing gallery provided an “intrusive and material
intrusion to their living accommodation,” he should have granted
the injunction against Tate.

Lawyers for the Tate’s Board of Trustees are arguing that the
decision of the High Court judge should stand. Artnet News reached
out to the gallery for comment but did not immediately hear
back.

A ruling on the appeal will be made at a later date.

The post Tate Modern’s Angry Neighbors Are Not Giving Up
Their Fight Against Museum Visitors Peeping Into Their
Apartments appeared first on artnet News.