Contemporary art
A shark in formaldehyde, an unmade bed and a steel angel made British contemporary art a matter of worldwide interest, and Tate Modern became one of the most visited museums in the world.
In 1988 the young art student Damien Hirst organised the exhibition Freeze in an empty warehouse in London’s Docklands. It marked the start of the wave of artists who came to be known as the Young British Artists. They worked with dead animals, casts, personal belongings and shocking subjects, and they knew how to use the media. With the backing of the collector Charles Saatchi they became famous all over the world. The exhibition Sensation at the Royal Academy in 1997 was both a triumph and a scandal.
In the 21st century contemporary art acquired a new standing in Britain. Tate Modern opened in 2000 in a former power station on the Thames and quickly became one of the most visited museums in the world. Public works such as Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North and the rotating programme on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square made art part of everyday life. The Turner Prize was debated every year in the newspapers and on television, and the street artist Banksy became a household name worldwide.
In recent decades new voices have come to the fore. Black British artists such as Chris Ofili, Steve McQueen, Lubaina Himid and Sonia Boyce have received the highest honours. Questions of colonialism, identity and class have become central, and statues of slave traders have been challenged and torn down. Artist collectives, film and participatory art have become more common. At the same time, cuts, Brexit and the pandemic have shaken the art world and raised new questions about whom art is for.