In 1990, the group exhibition, “Modern Medicine” was created by Damien Hirst, among others, and saturated the effects of scientific progress on mental health and the human body. “Ataxia-Aids is Fun” (1993) by London-based Derek Jarman, extrapolates the neurological condition, ataxia, which causes loss of balance and nerve coordination. A filmmaker and gay rights activist, Jarman was himself afflicted with an eyesight disorder. The chaotic assemblage of psychedelic colors, lines, and strokes is the result of his deliberate splash of paint on the canvas using his own fingers.

Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, 1991, Photo: Tate © Cornelia Parker, Courtesy Frith Street Gallery, London, Tate Collection

An enormous and bewildering installation towering to the ceiling weaves assorted fragments blown up by the British Army in a garden shed. In Cornelia Parker’s “Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View” (1991), part of the section on “At Home: Personal Spaces,” only a single lightbulb illuminates the pieces, casting dynamic shadows on the walls, floor, and ceiling. The work is a parody of the human fixation on explosions, as well as the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the universe. Parker has successfully envisioned both the realms of destruction and creation.

Michael Craig-Martin, Knowing, 1996 © Michael Craig-Martin, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian, Tate Collection

The final section, “Something from Nothing: The Quotidian Object,” shares human experiences and perceptions in relation to objects and their meanings. Everyday materials may be transformed into unexpected sizes and scales, renewing art’s capability to instigate maximum impact with minimal physical intervention. The bright acrylic painting, “Knowing” (1996) by Michael Craig-Martin plays on our ocular impression of objects, like a ladder, fire extinguisher, bucket, or a chair, that appear larger or smaller than normally seen.

The exhibition comprehensively encompasses the animated spirit of the period from a historical backdrop, and cultivates our consciousness about art’s crucial participation in this fast-changing world.

YBA & BEYOND: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection
Date: February 11th – May 11th, 2026
Opening Hours: 10:00-18:00 (Friday and Saturday till 20:00)
Closed on Tuesdays (except on May 5th)
Place: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Address: 7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)47 316 2772 (Hello Dial)
https://www.nact.jp