The brave critics panned it, most European papers were mildly impressed, the Americans have not yet bothered to write about it and the Italians, presumably feeling left out of the exhibition, did not mention it at all.
Tate Modern’s first major show since it opened, “Century City: art and culture in the modern metropolis”, is not only a mouthful of a title, but a mammoth exhibition of nine sections, so many critics were overwhelmed by its sheer size: Laura Cumming in The Observer called it “a long haul”, one which reminded William Packer of The Financial Times of walking through “a succession of villages”.
The debate centred around the choice of cities and the varying strengths of each section. The popular, if pointless, lamentation was: why not Milan, Shanghai or Berlin? On the other hand; “there were too many different focuses” according to El Pais, and the resultant irregularity was everyone’s favourite gripe. Sarah Kent from Time Out London concentrated on cities that she had experienced at first hand, castigating the New York and London sections for missing key moments (“Sensation” in London for instance): “...to avoid the obvious is also to rewrite history”.
Le Monde called the ensemble a “badly sewn patchwork” and Waldemar Januszczak from The Sunday Times was even more scathing, describing it as “a joyless stew”.
However, every journalist had favourite cities or expressed surprise at the presentation of works from further afield. In particular Geneviève Breerette’s piece for Le Monde praised Bombay/Mumbay for its diversity and, according to Adrian Searle in The Guardian, the Rio section proved that “Geometry really could be sexy”. Vienna, The Sunday Telegraph’s “erotic and excoriating highlight”, was universally admired and Paris was “a feast of riches” (The Wall Street Journal), while Moscow, the first room, stole the show: variously described as “exemplary” (The Guardian) and “exhilarating” (The Observer).
“The project was insanely overambitious and bound to be a disappointment” (The Wall Street Journal), tempered by the different curatorial approaches. The display of objects varied from “souvenirs of how it was” (The Guardian) to art “in its socio-political context, and its study in consequence as an aspect of political theory, rather than for any supposed quality as art” (The Financial Times).
“Century city: art and culture in the modern metropolis”, continues until 29 April, Tate Modern, Bankside. Tel: +44 (0)207 887 888
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Tate Modern: Century City—century bitty'