Tate Modern going global with acquisitions

A decade after its inception, Tate Modern has displayed some 880 new acquisitions, both gifts and purchases. In a press release, Britain's bastion of modern and contemporary art states that it will continue to aggressively pursue new artworks from regions other than Europe and North America.

Artwork from Latin America and Asia have long been a focus, but more recently, the Middle East and Africa have been prioritized with thirteen new acquisitions of contemporary art from these regions, including Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar’s Air Pollution of Iran 2004-2006.

Frances Morris, Head of Collections (International Art) said: “The ambitious repositioning of Tate's Collection is a response to the emergence of interesting and dynamic art centres across the world and an ever more complex and interconnected international art scene."

The Tate has also vastly broadened its collecting in the fields of photography, video and performance art. A recent major acquisition is Bruce Davidson’s Subway, 47 works taken in the New York subway in the 1980s.

Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, is coming up at the Tate Modern, May 28 to October 3, 2010 (see image shown).