Keeping it in the family: Juergen Teller photographs the Whitechapel Art Gallery's friends and relations

Gilbert & George, photographed in London. The pair's first major British show was held here in 1970, and their studio is located just around the corner, up Brick Lane Photograph: Juergen Teller

David Hockney at home in Bridlington - another artist to receive his first solo exhibition at the Whitechapel, just before G&G Photograph: Juergen Teller

The third major artist associated with the gallery in these years was Richard Hamilton, who has a good claim to have brought pop art to Britain: he made a collaged poster featuring the word POP for the landmark 1956 exhibition This Is ­Tomorrow Photograph: Juergen Teller

Nicholas Serota, photographed inside his current office. Serota led the gallery from 1976 to 1988, bringing artists such as Frida Kahlo and Cy Twombly to Britain, before taking up the reins at Tate. 'I love the Whitechapel, and I miss it', he says Photograph: Juergen Teller

Following Catherine Lampert's stint as director (1988-2002), Iwona Blazwick has run the gallery for the last seven years and overseen the current restoration Photograph: Juergen Teller

Artist and curator Michael Craig-Martin, photographed at the Whitechapel earlier this month. Craig-Martin is often seen as the godfather of the YBA generation because of his teaching at Goldsmiths; he has curated a room in the new gallery Photograph: Juergen Teller

One of those YBAs was Rachel Whiteread, whose most famous early work, House, was located a few miles further into east London. She has been closely involved with the Whitechapel's redesign, and sits on the board Photograph: Juergen Teller

The Whitechapel has presented two exhibitions of work by Cornelia Parker, who describes the gallery as 'the great East End outpost'. She says the Whitechapel's Julian Schnabel show 'blew my mind'. Last year, the Whitechapel presented Parker's film Chomskian Abstract, an interview with Noam Chomsky Photograph: Juergen Teller

The Whitechapel's Turner-winning alumni include Mark Wallinger. 'The first time I felt like a serious artist,' he says, 'was getting a work into the Whitechapel Open' - the gallery's free show for East End artists Photograph: Juergen Teller

Goshka Macuga, who was shortlisted for 2008's Turner prize, is the first artist to be commissioned for the new space. Well-known for working with other artists' materials, she has borrowed the UN's copy of Picasso's Guernica, which was shown at the Whitechapel in 1939. The installation will go on show in April Photograph: Juergen Teller