Image: The Tanks at London's Tate Modern

Tate Modern has unveiled one of the world's first permanent exhibition spaces for live art, installation and performance works within the former London power station's oil tanks.

A commission from Korean artist Sung Hwan Kim is the first to be installed in The Tanks - opened as part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

The Tanks had been vacant since the Bankside Power Station was decommissioned in 1981 but will now host Art in Action - a 15-week festival of live art, installation and film works.

The creation of new galleries is also the first stage of the £215m Tate Modern Project, with the government contributing £50m and the Greater London Authority investing £7m.

A series of other donations from foundations and individuals have been secured in support of the scheme, which will see the attraction's exhibition space increase by 60 per cent.

Herzog and de Meuron are behind the design of the redevelopment of Tate Modern, which also includes a new building adjoining the existing site to the south and learning spaces.

A Tate spokesperson said: "The Tanks are raw, industrial spaces which provide an anchor and home for the live art and film programmes, which have previously been presented in diverse spaces around Tate Modern."

Click here to read more about The Tanks and its opening commissions.

More details: www.tate.org.uk

Image: Tate Photography