Author Description

6 March 2008 - 18 May 2008, Barbican Art Gallery. Taking the form of an encyclopedia with an eccentric classification system, Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art is an irreverent yet insightful analysis of contemporary art under the guise of a museum collection assembled by extraterrestrials. More than 175 works by 115 artists, from modern masters to bright new stars, are interpreted through alien eyes, in much the same way that Western anthropologists have historically viewed non-Western cultures. Featuring a fictional account, written by the novelist Tom McCarthy, of the Martian mission to Earth, this innovative book opens up contemporary art to thought-provoking new interpretations.