State of the Art is an exciting, authoritative, and challenging series of documentaries about the visual arts in the 1980s. Filmed in Europe, the United States, and Australia in 1985-6, the six-programme boxset features many key artists including Joseph Beuys, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cindy Sherman, Antony Gormley, Hans Haacke, and Eric Fischl. Framing the works and concerns of these artists is the intellectual context of the time, and especially the contemporary concerns of post-modernism. Each film adopts a thematic approach, with episodes looking at History, Value, Imagination, Politics, Sexuality, and Identity. Originally seen on Channel 4 in Britain, and then shown in more than 20 countries, State of the Art has been unavailable since its original broadcast. It is released in this 20th anniversary 2-disc DVD edition with a specially filmed interview with the writer of the series, Sandy Nairne, former Director of London’s National Portrait Gallery.

• Trefwoorden
  seksualiteit, kunstwereld, verzamelaar, politiek, beeld- en/of geluidsdrager
• Persoonstrefwoord
  Carlo Maria Mariani, Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorff, Jonathan Borofsky, Joseph Beuys, Antony Gormley, Miriam Cahn, Howard Hodgkin, Susan Hiller, Cindy Sherman, Alexis Hunter, Eric Fischl, Mary Kelly, Barbara Kruger, Hans Haacke, Victor Burgin, Terry Atkinson, Jean-Michel Basquiat