How busy are the Tate viewings for The Clock?
January 9, 2019 7:17 AM   Subscribe

Thinking of going to the Tate Modern to see Christian Marclay’s The Clock next week. It would be during a weekday as it finishes the following weekend and I anticipate it will be too busy then. It will be a special visit to London; does anyone know what the queues are like at the moment? Long? Looong? Walk straight in?
posted by Kiwi to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Went a couple of weeks ago during the week (lunchtime) and it was not busy - about a quarter full. (The theatre is large,). My wife and her sister went last weekend and had to queue for about ten minutes.
posted by TheRaven at 7:34 AM on January 9, 2019


The Tate Modern is generally not that busy on weekdays outside of the summer tourist season. The weekends are far more popular, and also Friday evenings when all the romantic couples turn up.

That said, you can look up the popular times on Google and see for yourself.
posted by Eleven at 7:45 AM on January 9, 2019


I went on a Saturday afternoon in December and probably waited 20 min to half an hour?
posted by batter_my_heart at 8:00 AM on January 9, 2019


I went about 3:30pm (weekday) and the queue took about 5 to 10 to mins. It's like a cinema in there and people frequently get up and leave.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 8:01 AM on January 9, 2019


I've been a couple of times during the week. First time I got there at about 11.30am. Second time was around 4.30pm. Both times I walked straight in.

When I left the first time at around 3pm, there was a short queue of maybe half a dozen people but, like others have said above, people are in and out constantly and I doubt you'd have to wait long.
posted by Del Chimney at 8:34 AM on January 9, 2019


For extra chance at walking straight in, I’d arrive for when the Tate Modern opens in the morning. Go to the rear entrance (opposite side to the river) as the Clock is in the Blavatnik Building (the modern brick extension). It’s on Level 2 just near the elevators. The elevators can be slow to arrive so if you’re able you could run up the stairs instead to get there first. Have fun!
posted by fabius at 1:44 PM on January 9, 2019


When I went, lots of people left on the hour - I guess they'd been saying to themselves 'I'll stay till 3' etc. So I think aiming to arrive at the hour or half hour mark would work well.
posted by prune at 2:25 PM on January 9, 2019


We went on December 28th, the Friday after Christmas. I think we got in line at about 4pm and got into the theater at 4:30pm, so a thirty minute wait. I've been wanting to do this for a full decade, and this was one of the top two reasons we even went to London, so yeeeahhh I'll wait 30 minutes.

Once inside, the theater is full of THREE-seater lounges, typically with single seat openings scattered around. So if you're there as a couple and want to sit together (you should), you may need to hang out on the perimeter of the dark theater waiting for two adjacent seats to open up. Or just split up like we did, but then besides the non-shared experience, that's a pain because after a while you start wondering if your partner has bailed, and you don't want to be the asshole looking at his phone for messages. Ask me how I know. So just wait on the side for a minute for two adjacent seats to open up.
posted by intermod at 9:56 PM on January 10, 2019


I went the day after intermod, and made the mistake of going late in the day. The queue was so long I had to give up and walk away or I was going to miss my ride back out of town (it was my only chance to see it, I cried a little on the way out). Seconding fabius’ advice to go early and take the quickest route in.
posted by threecheesetrees at 5:14 PM on January 12, 2019


Response by poster: Thanks all, I saw a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. I think the queues are getting longer, almost up to an hour when I was there. If you still want to see it, I recommend getting in early in the day! Definitely worth it though.

After this weekend the exhibition's off to Sydney.
posted by Kiwi at 5:55 AM on January 18, 2019


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