Among the 100 best art of the 21st century

As the ARTnews published recently its list of “100 best artworks in the 21st century”(though the 21st century is far from over , thus this title does not seem to be suitable ), I took some time to go over the whole list and it certainly did not disappoint me as I came across some very good art and artists that I didn’t know. The criteria of this list, as written in another article on the ARTnews by Alex Greenberger who also contributed to the selection, includes some of the stricter rules such as each artist can only have one artwork in the list, and artworks need to be created after the start of 2000 (except one), as well as some more subjective focus: artistic innovation that pushed the boundary, its ability to resonate with community and culture, its relevancy and significance over time, as well as its recognition within the field. These criteria signified the general beacon of what is considered a contemporary great art (note that commercial success is not part of that criteria), which I think can be an inspiration for new artists. In this blog, I want to share some of my favorite, and the “weirdest” arts that truly break the conventional mediums. 

No.91 is Wafaa Bilal’s project Dog or Iraqi in 2008, in which the artist waterboarded himself in a video after an online poll of whether he should waterboard a dog or himself during the time when the U.S. military insisted that waterboarding is not defined as a form of torture. Having a clear purpose of contesting towards the U.S. military and government and the Iraq war, this “performing” (or should we call it body experimenting) art has exceeded itself as solely an art piece, but a manifestation of challenging and contesting dominating narrative and systematic violence. 

No. 82 is from the well-known activist the Gorilla Girls, 3 WAYS TO WRITE A MUSEUM WALL LABEL WHEN THE ARTIST IS A SEXUAL PREDATOR in 2018. The piece follows their focus on feminine activists in the art industry and was created especially along with the “Me Too” movement. 

No.41, 2 Lizards, was created during the pandemic lockdown in New York City by animators Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki. The work includes 8 short animations that portray people as digitally created avatars and superimposed on real-life footage. The artists themselves stood as the titular lizards, their friends as a snow leopard and a hummingbird among other creatures. The work is certainly weird, but illustrates that times of unprecedented struggles and resilience very effectively. 

No. 7 is from Maria Eichhorn’s project in 2016. This is a special one as the work is almost literally the “lack of it”. 5 Weeks, 25 Days, 175 Hours is the period of time the artist shuttered London’s Chisenhale Gallery to allow the gallery staff left on vacation with pay (it must be Chisenhale’s staff’s favorite artwork ever). The gallery remained closed (or partially opened as it is presenting Eichhorn’s work) for the entire time and did not allow the staff to pick up any gallery phone calls. The piece was a reminder of the labor of non-artists, curators, gallerists, and others behind the glamour of the art world. 

The full list can be found at the ARTnews.

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