About

Marking the end of the first decade of this millennium, '21st Century: Art in the First Decade', occupies the entire Gallery of Modern Art and focuses exclusively on works created between 2000 and 2010. It includes more than 200 works by 140 artists and collaborative groups from more than 40 countries.

Over the past decade, technological, political and environmental issues have been directly reflected in contemporary art. This exhibition examines current directions in art practice and the conditions surrounding art and exhibition making in the 21st century.

The exhibition highlights the Gallery's extensive contemporary collections, and showcases works acquired over the past decade from Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North, South and Central America, Asia, the Pacific and Australia.

Recent acquisitions being shown for the first time include a work in neon by Tracey Emin (England), sculptures and photographs by Romuald Hazoumè (Benin), playful sculptures of camp dogs by Arukun artists including Arthur Pambegan Jr and Craig Koomeeta (Australia), powerful photographs by Mitra Tabrizian (Iran), Guy Tillim (South Africa) and Olaf Breuning (Switzerland), a suite of drawings by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (Ivory Coast), and striking video works by SUPERFLE X (Denmark) and Sharif Waked (Palestine).

The exhibition also features a group of outstanding new commissions that introduce audiences to key moments in recent international contemporary art that would have been unthinkable in previous decades.