Tate Modern Level 5
23 May – 30 November 2006
This display, A View from Here: Acquisitions since 2000, brings together twenty-four outstanding contemporary works by international artists, all of which were acquired for Tate’s Collection since the opening of Tate Modern in 2000. Most of these were made in the last five years and are being shown as part of the Collection for the first time. The display examines contemporary practice across a broad range of media.
The artists represented are The Atlas Group (Walid Raad), Rut Blees Luxemburg, Nathan Carter, Phil Collins, Alexandre da Cunha, Inka Essenhigh, Joseph Grigeley, Jorge Macchi, Michel Majerus, Jason Meadows, Sarah Morris, Frank Nitsche, Henrik Olesen, Raymond Pettibon, David Rayson, Santiago Sierra and Pae White.
The works are arranged across five rooms and are formally and conceptually diverse, focusing on a range of themes that have preoccupied and continue to inspire artists in the first years of the millennium. The appropriation of imagery from street culture, the use of diverse media and the cross-over between the visual arts and other disciplines inform much of contemporary art practice.
Many artists are acutely engaged with the realities of city life. Henrik Olesen, for example, exposes the aggression of homophobic graffiti in three untitled works of 2004. Several works blur the traditional boundaries between visual art and other disciplines. The logos found in Michel Majerus’ painting, Fries 2001, for example, recall product and graphic design. Alexandre da Cunha’s constructed sculptures made from found skateboards, Skateboarderistismatronics (fan) 2004 and Erik Ellington (fan) 2004, and Joseph Grigeley’s arrangement of private notes, 167 White Conversations 2004, suggest customisation and personalisation. Nathan Carter’s assembled relief, Attention Archangel Radio Free Dunkirk is Reporting a Scotch Mist All Risks Apply 2003 evokes the overload of information brought about by increasingly sophisticated communication technologies.
Politically engaged comments on world events are also a feature of some of the works in the display, including the photographic series Young Serbs 2001 by the artist Phil Collins.
A View from Here: Acquisitions since 2000 is part of the rehang, UBS Openings: Tate Modern Collection. For the first time since Tate Modern opened in 2000, all 48 of its galleries devoted to the display of the permanent Collection have been rehung around an entirely new concept. Opening on Tuesday 23 May 2006, the rehang has been made possible thanks to a significant three-year partnership between Tate Modern and UBS.