The art of the matter

Why contemporary art should become a feature of everyday life

- Giles Kime

HALF a century ago, many people's first experience of dramatically pared-back modernism was a visit to a contemporary art gallery— lofty, uplifting spaces, such as the Guggenheim in New York, US, and the Pompidou in Paris, France, that were as startling as the exhibits themselves.

In 2000, there was a dramatic new arrival in London in the form of Tate Modern with its Turbine Hall, which took minimalism to dispiriting new extremes. The arrival of these galleries gave birth to a new convention in both public and commercial galleries that contemporary art looks best when displayed against a white, minimalist backdrop. The danger is that it can also make it look irrelevant.