Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009

Spartacus Chetwynd. Hermito's Children, TV Pilot (promotional material) 2008. © Spartacus Chetwynd

Tate Britain, London

February 3 - April 26, 2009

With the 4th Tate Triennial entitled “Altermodern,” Nicolás Bourriaud introduces a new term to characterize new forms of contemporary art that celebrate the energy and spirit of the current cultural scene. The work of these artists defined as Altermodern or “alternative modern” supports Bourriaud’s thesis that the historical period defined as Postmodernism shall soon disappear and that a new form of twenty-first century art is emerging.

If at the beginning of the twentieth century, Modernity was characterized as being a phenomenon of western culture and Postmodernism was configured with concepts, such as, origins and identity, Altermodern expresses the language of global culture. The artists assembled in “Altermodern” channel the different forms of social and technological networking offered by communication and mobility links in a globalized world.

“Altermodern” assembles the production of artists who live and work in Britain or who are identified as “passers-by.” They include: Franz Ackermann, Darren Almond, Charles Avery, Walead Beshty, Spartacus Chetwynd, Marcus Coates, Peter Coffin, Matthew Darbyshire, Shezad Dawood, Tacita Dean, Ruth Ewan, Loris Gréaud, Subodh Gupta, Rachel Harrison, Joachim Koester, Nathaniel Mellors, Gustav Metzger, Mike Nelson, David Noonan, Katie Paterson, Olivia Plender, Seth Price, Navin Rawanchaikul, Lindsay Seers, Bob and Roberta Smith, Simon Starling, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Tris Vonna-Michell.

Since April 2008, a series of events or “prologues” has been organized to introduce and provoke debate about Altermodern. Each of these events has included conferences, performances and films. The “prologues” have revolved around the following themes: Prologue 1: Altermodern, Prologue 2: Exiles, Prologue 3: Travel, Prologue 4: Borders. Taking part in these discussions have been renowned writers, artists, art historians and philosophers, such as: Tom McCarthy, Okwui Enwezor, Carsten Höller, Simon Critchley, Navin Rawanchaikul, Stephane Goxe and Jordi Vidal, Tris Vonna-Michell, Ultra-Red, Flávia Müller Medeiros & Nasrin Tabatabai, Tania Bruguera, TJ Demos & Eyal Weizman, John Smith and Zoran Naskovski.

Nicolas Bourriaud is one of the most notable European curators, founder of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; he has been working with the Tate Britain on this exhibition since 2007 as Gulbekian Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art.

With “Altermodern,” a new contemporary artistic production era is established and a new red-hot topic arises that without a doubt is already sparking vigorous controversy.