Tate acts as blank canvas for street art

The Tate Modern's facade has been emblazoned with six giant works of street art from some of the world's most acclaimed artists. On show at the gallery on London's South Bank are works by Blu, from Bologna, Italy; the artist collective Faile, from New York; JR, from Paris; Nunca and Os Gemeos, both from Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Sixeart, from Barcelona.

The display at the former Bankside power station is the first exhibition of street art at a major British gallery and is seen as a sign that major graffiti works – which can sell for several hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction – are now taken seriously by the art world.

The gallery is also offering a street art walking tour of the capital and an interactive evening with the experimental New York artists Graffiti Research Lab, in which graffiti projections will light up the Tate. The exhibition runs until 25 August.