Art in Our Time: Toward a new Museum of Modern Art

2001 / 58 min. / color
Directed by Michael Blackwood

With the participation of Glenn Lowry, Agnes Gund, Philip Johnson, William Rubin, Kirk Varnedoe, John Elderfield, Peter Galassi, Rob Storr and others. Narration by Martin Filler.

Art in Our Time: Toward a new MoMA features a cycle of ‘end of century’ exhibitions, cumulatively titled ‘MoMA 2000’, which aim to present the museum’s rich collection in a brand new way. Instead of MoMA’s famously traditional chronological installation, oriented heavily towards the ‘School of Paris‘, the curators assembled works by themes which offered the public a new approach to the understanding of the art of our time. One aspect of this different approach was to experiment with finding new ways for MoMA to connect more decisively with the art of the present, as the term ‘modern’ can be construed as the art of the first half of the last century. By masterfully juxtaposing art of the past with art of the present, MoMA has encouraged it’s visitors to observe, contemplate and process iconic pieces spanning the last century.