Over the last 100 years many new forms of art have emerged: readymade, assemblage, installation, performance and more. But what trends have only become visible in the last three to five years? We talked to art historians, professors, specialists, gallery owners, patrons of the arts, and even the founders of online casinos who attended both the Venice Biennale and the Kassel Documenta this year – places where new trends are emerging. We asked them to highlight five key trends, according to the majority. And this is what we got out of it.

Feminine art

Back in 1971, renowned art critic Linda Nochlin wondered, “Why weren’t there great female artists?” – and devoted an entire essay to it that became famous. The question is far from idle, because for a long time women in art have appeared much more often in the status of models or muses inspiring male artists than as independent authors.

Today the situation is changing rapidly: there are more and more women artists at exhibitions, in galleries, at auctions. For example, at the largest exhibition of contemporary art, the 59th Venice Biennale, which took place last year from April to November, most of the participants were women and non-binary people. The emphasis on this is intentional, to show the contribution that women artists have made to contemporary art, and that there are indeed many of them.

It is hard to call this trend new, but it is gaining momentum.

Unusual Locations

More and more often modern art can be found in the most unexpected locations: on a city’s central square, in a temple, in a restaurant, in a casino lobby and even in a mall.

There is nothing specific in the fact that art surrounds people in their daily lives, examples can be found in any era: religious frescoes on the walls and plafonds of cathedrals, sculptures in palace parks, paintings and engravings in aristocratic mansions.

The contrast is striking when modern art objects are exhibited next to classical art. For example, in Venice inside the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, works by contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone are on display alongside Renaissance paintings as part of the “Burn, Shine, Pari” exhibition. 

Such art interventions, as a rule, are temporary and allow us to look at classical pieces from an unusual angle, to discover new meanings in them and to raise the status of contemporary art, which is also capable of talking about the sublime and the beautiful – just in a different language.

Surrealism

This trend is undergoing a new rethinking. In the 1920s-1930s, that is, a century ago, surrealism in art was a response to the collapse of the rationalist model of the world – the result of World War I.

A century later, in the 2020s, artists are capturing and conveying similar sentiments. The world of the unknowable, the super-real (the French term for “surrealism”) is what captivates the imagination. For some it is a variant of escapism, an escape into the world of dreams and magic, for others it is an opportunity to construct their own alternative universe.

The 59th Venice Biennale this year confirmed this trend. Viewers were invited to compare the surrealism of a century ago and the work of contemporary authors, displaying them in the same space.

How can you tell if what you’re looking at is surrealism? Recognizable objects and characters in Surrealist works exist in a fictional space that resembles a dream, hallucination or fantasy.

Participatory art

It is art that involves the viewer from a bystander into a participant in the creative process.

A recent example is the installation in the form of a skateboard park at a contemporary art exhibition where anyone can bring their own skateboard and skate. This art-object is presented at the exhibition documenta 15 in the German city of Kassel, which every 5 years becomes the main point of art-experiments. The work of the Thai collective speaks the language of action, attracting the attention of young audiences and making the exhibition space more democratic and accessible.

Another example of the public’s active interaction with an art object is Carsten Höller’s installation in the form of a large slide, down which not only children but adults as well can descend. Art that is not afraid of experiments and challenges the familiar is capable of offering unconventional experiences or resurrecting long-forgotten experiences.

Digitalization

Despite the recent decline in NFT sales, the trend toward digitalization of art remains relevant. For example, with the help of digital video cameras authors began to shoot video art – works of art that combine the techniques of film, performance, television, painting and installation.

The works of American video art artist Bill Viola are reminiscent of classical painting – only brought to life, or rather, coming to life right before the eyes of the viewer. The things that in life or even in movies happen in a fraction of a second, with the artist are stretched in time. For example, in the video-installation “Quintet of the Amazed” the viewers observe for 20 minutes the changes in the facial expressions of the characters, which actually took place within a split second. The depth of momentary actions and states is what Bill Viola’s focus turns out to be.

Unlike film, video art can be shown on multiple screens at once. Exhibitions often have separate halls for such works, where, like in cinemas, there is darkness and sometimes armchairs.