“All these cafes, where is the art?” asks an elderly lady, looking at a green giant wall display that directs visitors around the newest exhibition space of the Tate Modern in London. “It is right here,” says her senior companion, pointing at a sign right next to it. The couple is among the few lucky people allowed to visit the Switch House before it officially opens to the public on June 17. At the sight of the 10-storey building designed by the Swiss architecture office Herzog & de Meuron, one could have also answered that woman’s question with a simple: “Art is everywhere here.” Concrete winding staircases, bricks interlaced in mesh-like patterns and large windows cascading light into spaces that challenge traditional definitions – somewhere halfway between a hallway and a gallery. The architects of the project definitely have “a significant degree of understanding about the philosophy of showing art at the Tate,” says Frances Morris, director of the Tate Modern. A new home for performance art Flexible spaces were needed to display a great range of large-scale contemporary works. Previously, an installation such as Ai Weiwei’s seven-meter-high (23-foot) “Tree” could only fit in the massive Turbine Hall. “The new…