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British director named most powerful person in world of art
Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate galleries, has been named the most powerful person in the world of art
Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate, has been named the most powerful figure in the art world, the first Briton to head the list in six years.
Sir Nicholas has been named at the top of the Art Review Power 100, the prestigious list tracking the most important taste-makers in contemporary art across the globe.
He is the first Briton to appear at number one since Damien Hirst in 2008, toppling last year’s winner Sheika Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who is said to spend £1 billion per year on art as head of the Qatar Museums Authority.
The award is recognition of Tate’s growing importance in the global scene, with a record year of visitors and an “international – rather than national - perspective on art production”.
Art Review, which compiles the list with a jury panel of 26 international members, ruled Sir Nicholas has now helped Tate “"punch above its weight in the global network of influence".
The director has been head of Tate since 1988, and oversaw the opening of its contemporary gallery Tate Modern.
Other entries in the top 10 this year include Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones who run the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London's Hyde Park, and artist Marina Abramovic who earlier this year spent 64 days in the gallery interacting with the public.
Hundreds of people queued to spend time with her in the building with some people said to have left in tears after the experience.
Last year's list was topped by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the sister of the Emir of Qatar, who heads the country's museums authority tasked with developing galleries, sponsoring film festivals and public art.
The 2012 list was topped by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, with American curator of Documenta, Venice, following Chinese artist and campaigner Ai Weiwei in 2011.
Sir Nicholas, who has regularly appeared in the top ten since the award’s launch in 2002 is the first Briton to reach number one since Damien Hirst, the artist and darling of the YBA.
Judges said: “Tate has come to epitomise almost all the elements of the current ‘global’ artworld, where the distribution of art is arguably now more important than its production.
“Tate Modern remains the most visited modern and contemporary museum in the world and the organisation has partnerships from Seoul and Sydney to Berlin and Oman.”
Art Review Power 100 2014: the top ten:
1. Sir Nicholas Serota – Tate director - British
2. David Zwirner – gallerist – German
3. Iwan Wirth – gallerist – Swiss
4. Glenn D. Lowry – museum director – American
5. Marina Abramovic – artist – Serbian
6. Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones – curator, Serpentine Gallery – Swiss / British
7. Jeff Koons – artist – American
8. Larry Gagosian – gallerist – American
9. Marian Goodman – gallerist – American
10. Cindy Sherman – artist - American