Best of British

One of the most comprehensive displays of contemporary British art goes on display at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery this weekend. Dunedin is the only New Zealand venue for the show, which Rebecca Fox discovers showcases the diverse range of contemporary art produced in the United Kingdom in the past 20 years.

A taxidermied dog.

A deconstructed chair hanging from the ceiling.

A portrait of a man covered in shaving foam.

These are just some of the pieces of contemporary art being installed in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in preparation for the opening of ''Private Utopia: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection'' this weekend.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery director Cam McCracken said there had not been a show charting that period of British art for a long while in New Zealand.

''It's a very rare chance to see such a broad snapshot like this. We grabbed the opportunity with both hands.''

It was hoped the exhibition would be a drawcard for visitors to the city, he said.

Former British Council curator Emma Gifford-Mead said the show was a wonderful opportunity for people to see an exclusively British collection of art.

''It celebrates everything UK since 1995. It's a great overview of the variety of work being produced in the last 15 to 20 years.''

It was created in partnership with the Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo Station Gallery, Itami City Museum of Art, Kochi Museum of Art and Okayama Museum of Art.

The curators of each museum selected works from the holdings of the British Council Collection, which included more than 9000 works.

''It started out as a exhibition of 1960s prints and works on paper but when the curators came to London they were drawn more to the contemporary pieces, the sculpture and installations.

''It quickly morphed and changed into this major, ambitious programme.''

After much ''toing and froing'' by email a final list of 28 artists and 100 works were selected.

Dealing with the different time zones and language made putting together the exhibition a challenge, as did the fact many of the artists were unknown to the Japanese public, she said.

''We had to provide a lot of information about what some of these things were about.''

While the exhibition had been produced with Japan as its focus, it would translate well to New Zealand, she said.

''The Japanese selection of the work was a key part, it just gives a more rich experience to see how a different country interprets things.

''You can see things in a way you have not considered before.''

The Japanese text accompanying the exhibition was ''very poetic and mystical''.

The British Council's collection was started in 1938 with the aim of developing a collection to be seen and to travel overseas.

It started out as works on paper and prints which were boxed up and sent around the world to ''far-flung'' places such as India and Russia.

In the early 1940s the council started to buy paintings and then small sculptures.

''Everything had to be able to travel. But the concept of what can travel has changed dramatically.''

That meant the council was able purchase large-scale installations which take up a lot of space, she said.

''Our exhibitions are becoming more and more ambitious.''

Given its remit to send its works overseas, the council collection was not very well known to many in the UK and had only recently been seen in Britain.

About 50% of the collection was being shown overseas at any one time.

The artists represented in the collection had to be British or have lived or studied in the UK contributing to the art scene.

''So there is a diverse representation there as well.''

The 1990s and early 2000s was an interesting time for contemporary art in Britain with a lot of hype around what became known in the media as ''YBAs'' or young British artists who became celebrities, hung around with the Brit Pop bands of the time and were really showy, she said.

''It was an interesting period which coincided with Brit Pop, when British culture was cool probably for the first time ever.''

Alongside that the Tate Modern opened in 2000 and many museums began to offer free entry to the public.

''There was a shift in public perception that contemporary art was accessible.''

Prior to that it was seen as something for ''rich people'' and inaccessible to the average person, she said.

Now contemporary art was seen on television and there was public debate about it. The Tate Modern had become one of Britain's biggest attractions.

''Private Utopia'' brought together a snapshot of that movement with artists' work crossing over into music, literature, social history and anthropology.

Artists selected included those who came to prominence in the mid-1990s such as Peter Doig, Gary Hume and Sarah Lucas, alongside younger artists who have emerged in the past decade.

Works by artists Marcus Coates, Sarah Lucas and Ryan Gander in the exhibition were being seen for the first time internationally. Among the ''Private Utopia'' exhibition was Glasgow artist David Shrigley's work which included a stuffed dog holding a sign ''I'm Dead''.

His work was known for its humour, sometimes on the dark and dry side, but the dog in question died naturally.

''It was not killed for art, it had already passed away,'' she said.

While seeing a stuffed dog might disturb some, it did not appear to be the case, she said.

''There were more selfies taken with that piece of work than any other in Japan. It was very popular with children, I think because it's down on their level.''