The Tanks, which open their doors to the public on July 18, are the underground oil tanks belonging to the converted power station that have been transformed into a sleek exhibition space for artists to showcase their work.

"This is not a museum, this is not a gallery, this not a theatre. This is something different," said Tate Modern director Chris Dercon, who believed the unusual shape of The Tanks will challenge artists to adapt and create new work.

The conversion of the vast concrete cylinders are the first stage of the Tate Modern Project, a 215 million pound transformation which will see a new building added to the museum, helping to expand its size by 60 percent.

"The opening of the Tanks allows us to offer a different space in our programming so that performance, sound, moving images and participation can carry as much weight as anything else we are doing," Dercon told Reuters at a press preview on Monday.

Among the artists on show this summer will be South Korean Sung Hwan Kim and choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker who adapted her widely acclaimed 1982 performance, Fase: Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich, for the opening of The Tanks.

Kim chose to divide the East Tank, one of two circular former oil containers, into two spaces.

Among the works on display was "Temper Clay", which focused on the theme of property by juxtaposing film of his parents' apartment in a modern high rise building with footage of their countryside home.

The exhibition, which runs until October 28, is part of the London 2012 Festival bringing together an international programme of performance, film, talks and live events to coincide with the summer Olympic Games in London.

The Tanks also features more established visual artists Suzanne Lacy and Lis Rhodes to help viewers to understanding the history behind live art and performance.

"We really wanted to set the older generations of artists ... in dialogue with what the youngest artists in the programme are doing," Tate curator of contemporary art Catherine Wood told Reuters.

"Performance isn't just this thing that has been invented just now, and even though it's about inhabiting the immediate moment, it hasn't just emerged. It's got a long history," she added.

"This is really about being there, experiencing something extraordinary and new and ... that's as much as artists are interested in as making something that lasts forever on a wall."

(Additional Reporting by Sarah Mills, Editing by Mike Collett-White)

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