The series Art of the Twentieth Century, whose roughly 2000 pages and as many illustrations provide a broad and complex overview of the movements, artists, works, and cultural phenomena characterizing the last century and the first decade of the new millennium, now reaches completion with Contemporary Tendencies: 2000 and Beyond. This final volume presents the multiform manifestations of art today and a selection of those artists who have made significant progress since the second half of the 1990s, gaining recognition or confirming their specific qualities in the early years of the twenty-first century.

The series of essays opens with Lea Vergine’s study of the changing geography of contemporary art: the shifting of the productive axis toward previously neglected areas of the world, the figures of the curator and the critic, female creativity, and Body Art. Nicolas Bourriaud then offers a richly detailed analysis of the themes and problems emerging in the post-medium era, with particular reference to installations, video and the media; Angela Vettese addresses the questions of identity, gender and vision of the self; and Klaus Honnef presents a rereading of the critical aspects of contemporary art and society.

These studies of a general character are followed by a number of specific analyses. Gabriella Belli examines the types and “poetics” of museums for and of contemporary art, Luca Molinari the increasingly close relations between architectural invention and the role of the contemporary arts, Paco Barragán the world-wide phenomenon of exhibitions and fairs of contemporary art, Walter Guadagnini the related subject of the art market and the role of foundations as new collectors, and Marco Scotini the relations between art and politics.

The series of essays ends with three addressing particular techniques of artistic expression. Filippo Maggia provides a stimulating overview of contemporary photography, Domenico Quaranta examines issues connected with the use of new media in contemporary art, and Valerio Terraroli suggests some possible links between the vocabulary of the decorative arts and contemporary artistic production.