Top 10 Most Iconic Video and Digital Artworks of the 21st Century
Contemporary Art Issue published a list of the ten most iconic audiovisual artworks of the 21st century, spanning video, video installation, and digital art. The selection includes Francis Alÿs's 'When Faith Moves Mountains' (2002), where hundreds of volunteers moved a sand dune in Peru; Pipilotti Rist's 'Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)' (2008) at MoMA; Cao Fei's 'RMB City' (2007-2009), a virtual metropolis in Second Life; Christian Marclay's 'The Clock' (2010), a 24-hour video montage synchronized to real time; Bouchra Khalili's 'The Mapping Journey Project' (2008-2011), documenting migrant routes; Ragnar Kjartansson's 'The Visitors' (2012), a nine-channel video installation filmed at Rokeby Farm; Hito Steyerl's 'How Not to Be Seen' (2013), a tutorial on invisibility; Camille Henrot's 'Grosse Fatigue' (2013), a desktop meditation on the universe; Arthur Jafa's 'Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death' (2016), a montage of Black American experience; and Refik Anadol's 'Unsupervised' (2022), an AI-generated installation at MoMA. The list highlights works that use new media to address political, social, and technological themes, with many pieces held by major institutions like MoMA, Tate, and the Guggenheim.
Key facts
- Francis Alÿs's 'When Faith Moves Mountains' took place on April 11, 2002, in Ventanilla desert, Lima, Peru.
- Pipilotti Rist's 'Pour Your Body Out' was commissioned by MoMA in 2008 and featured a 25-foot-high projection.
- Cao Fei's 'RMB City' opened to the public in January 2009 with Uli Sigg as virtual mayor.
- Christian Marclay's 'The Clock' won the Golden Lion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.
- Bouchra Khalili's 'The Mapping Journey Project' was shown in its entirety at MoMA in 2016.
- Ragnar Kjartansson's 'The Visitors' was ranked first by The Guardian in 2019 as the best artwork of the 21st century.
- Hito Steyerl's 'How Not to Be Seen' premiered at the 2013 Venice Biennale and was acquired by MoMA in 2014.
- Camille Henrot's 'Grosse Fatigue' won the Silver Lion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.
- Arthur Jafa's 'Love Is the Message' uses Kanye West's 'Ultralight Beam' and has been acquired by the Met, Smithsonian, and Tate.
- Refik Anadol's 'Unsupervised' drew over three million visitors at MoMA and was acquired by the museum.
Entities
Artists
- Francis Alÿs
- Cuauhtémoc Medina
- Rafael Ortega
- Pipilotti Rist
- Cao Fei
- China Tracy
- Uli Sigg
- Christian Marclay
- Bouchra Khalili
- Ragnar Kjartansson
- Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir
- Hito Steyerl
- Camille Henrot
- Arthur Jafa
- Kanye West
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Nina Simone
- Serena Williams
- Biggie Smalls
- Barack Obama
- Storyboard P
- Refik Anadol
- Jerry Saltz
- Ben Davis
- Travis Diehl
- Zadie Smith
- Adrian Searle
- Karen Rosenberg
Institutions
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- White Cube
- Tate
- Centre Pompidou
- Israel Museum
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- National Gallery of Canada
- Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
- Hirshhorn Museum
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
- Dallas Museum of Art
- Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Museo de Arte de Lima
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Contemporary Art Issue
- David Zwirner
- Paula Cooper Gallery
- Gladstone Gallery
- Kamel Mennour
- mor charpentier
- Silex Films
- Venice Biennale
- documenta
- Third Ibero-American Biennial of Lima
- Smithsonian Institution
- Rokeby Farm
- Astor family
- The New York Times
- The Guardian
- Washington Post
- New York Magazine
- Artnet News
- The New York Review of Books
Locations
- Lima
- Peru
- Ventanilla desert
- Mexico City
- New York
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Athens
- Greece
- Kassel
- Germany
- Denmark
- Bilbao
- Spain
- Boston
- Canada
- Paris
- France
- Washington, D.C.
- California
- upstate New York