LONDON.- With the title of the Tate’s fourth Triennial exhibition, leading critical theorist and curator Nicholas Bourriaud introduces an exciting new direction in art. Made in today’s global context, “Altermodern” is a reaction against cultural standardization and commercialization. Characterized by artists’ cross-border, cross-cultural negotiations, and the celebration of difference and singularity. Altermodern works are on the cutting edge of contemporary art and thought.

With essays and contributions from Tom McCarthy, TJ Demos, Carsten Höller, and others, this captivating survey focuses on the four main facets of Altermodern art: the end of postmodernism, cultural hybridization, traveling as a new way to produce forms, and the expanding formats of art.

The exhibition proposed a definition for a new form of art that celebrates a fresh energy and spirit in contemporary culture. Altermodern was conceived by Nicolas Bourriaud, Gulbenkian Curator of Contemporary Art, and one of Europe's most respected curators. Bourriaud founded the influential contemporary art gallery Palais de Tokyo in Paris and worked at Tate Britain on the exhibition since 2007.

Bourriaud defines the work of a group of leading contemporary artists as Altermodern, or an alternative modern. The exhibition argues that the historical period defined by post-modernism is coming to an end, and a new art form for the 21st century is emerging. If early twentieth-century Modernism is characterised as a broadly Western cultural phenomenon, and Postmodernism was shaped by ideas of multi-culturalizm, origins and identity, Altermodern is expressed in the language of a global culture. Altermodern artists channel the many different forms of social and technological networks offered by rapidly increasing lines of communication and travel in a globalized world.

The exhibition presented new and recent works by artists at the forefront of their generation - both artists living and working in Britain and those who are identified as 'passers-by'. The artists featured 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.

Nicolas Bourriaud
Nicolas Bourriaud co-founded the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and is Curator for Contemporary Art at the Tate. He is the author of "Relational Aesthetics and Post-Production: Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World."