Tate Modern's Serota named most powerful person in contemporary art

LONDON (Reuters) - The man who runs London's Tate Modern - an art gallery in a former power station that looms over the River Thames - was named on Thursday the most powerful figure in the world of contemporary art. Nicholas Serota has been in the top 10 of the "Power 100" every year since the list was launched by ArtReview magazine in 2002, which said his museum "has come to epitomize almost all the elements of the current 'global' artworld." "Tate Modern remains the most visited modern and contemporary museum in the world and the organization has partnerships from Seoul and Sydney to Berlin and Oman," ArtReview said. Established in 2000 under Serota's leadership, Tate Modern has become a major tourist attraction in the British capital. Last month, it announced that an exhibition of paper cut-outs by the Henri Matisse drew more than 560,000 visitors, making it the most popular show ever mounted at the museum. Previous figures to top the list include artists Damien Hirst and Ai Weiwei. Last year, Sheikha al-Mayassa al-Thani, daughter of the emir of Qatar, was named most powerful person after the Gulf state went on an unprecedented spending spree to fill its new museums. (Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Larry King)