Defining contemporary art: what the Kunstkompass Top 100 lists can tell us about contemporary art

ABSTRACT

What is a ‘contemporary’ artwork? Widely acknowledged as a distinct genre since the early 2000s, contemporary art is not easy to define. To answer this question, this article draws on Kunstkompass, a German art database that has followed the recognition and success of contemporary artists since 1970. The database identifies the world’s top contemporary artists by tracking activities such as exhibitions, awards, and publications that bring an artist recognition. Using the 2017 Top 20 Living Artists and the Top 20 Stars of Tomorrow lists and an analysis of art-world texts, the study identifies the types of works produced and identifies their common modes of production and thematic content. The study finds that the two lists represent two generations, an older generation that was established during the shift from modernism to contemporary art, and a younger generation of emerging artists. The generational difference highlights how the younger generation has followed the pioneering practices of the older artists but have also expanded on these practices in their own way. And, while the results of the study do not identify a definitive paradigm for contemporary art, they do point to the limits of the genre and how these are shifting over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Contemporary art
• Kunstkompass
• art practice
• artistic themes
• identity
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Marie Leduc is an independent scholar and art historian living in Canada. She holds an MA in Art History from York University, Toronto and an interdisciplinary PhD in Visual Art and Globalization from the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Her research explores how contemporary art is recognized and validated in the art world. She is the author of Dissidence: The Rise of Chinese Contemporary Art in the West (MIT Press, 2018), and she has written feature articles, reviews, and interviews for Canadian Art, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, and Media-N: The Journal of the New Media Caucus.

Notes

1 Other databases include ArtFacts.net and Art Price. Since 1985, journalist and artist Linde Rohr-Bongard has directed Kunstkompass.

2 The database tracks ‘solo exhibitions in more than 300 prestigious international museums such as the Guggenheim in New York; participation in more than 100 group exhibitions a year like the Venice Biennale; reviews in renowned art magazines such as “Art in America”; purchases by well-known museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris; honours with awards such as the Turner Prize in London; as well as sculptures in outdoor installations’ [German: my translation] (Rohr-Bongard 2017, 167). Also see Rohr-Bongard 2015.

3 This figure includes four duos where two artists work together and are recognized on the lists as one artist (i.e. Gilbert and George or Ilya and Emilia Kabakov).

4 This figure includes one duo consisting of a male and female artist and a collective of three men.

5 This percentage is replicated in the whole list of 100 where 25 artists are born before 1960.