Return to London: A Reflection on Museums, Memory, and Modern Art | July 7, 2025

Cristina Barbedo
Jul 6
3 min read

Updated: Aug 21

Last month, I had the great pleasure to return to London, U.K., after 36 years. Back then, most major museums in London primarily focused on European art, especially works from Western Europe. I explored the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, and the Courtauld Gallery, which showcased Old Masters and European painting traditions, while the Tate Gallery centered on British and European modern art. Although museums such as the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum held significant global collections, their displays largely emphasized European antiquities and decorative arts. Non-European art was generally underrepresented or framed through a colonial or ethnographic lens. Through my studies in art history, I came to understand that it was not until the 1990s and 2000s that London museums began shifting toward more inclusive and global curatorial practices, with the opening of Tate Modern in 2000 marking a pivotal expansion in the representation of international contemporary art.

Experiencing the Tate Modern Today

So, I had a chance to visit the fabulous Tate Modern, which is a landmark of cultural innovation and global artistic exchange. Located in the transformed Bankside Power Station, its iconic industrial architecture creates a powerful setting for contemporary art, particularly the dramatic Turbine Hall, where today holds the iconic spider sculpture Maman, 1999 by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The museum is renowned for its bold, inclusive programming, showcasing world-class works, while also highlighting underrepresented voices and experimental media. Its commitment to accessibility provides free admission to the permanent collection, making innovative art available to a wide public. With its striking location on the Thames and panoramic views from the Blavatnik Building, Tate Modern offers not only a dynamic cultural experience but also a breathtaking perspective on London itself.

Encountering Gutai: Shōzō Shimamoto’s Holes

full image with frame of japanese art by Shōzō Shimamoto in oil on paper.

It was during this visit at the Tate Modern that I was introduce to Gutai Art Association and the work of Shōzō Shimamoto, Holes, 1954. Gutai was a pioneering Japanese avant-garde movement founded in 1954 by Jiro Yoshihara in postwar Osaka, that emphasized radical experimentation, materiality, and physical engagement in art making. Gutai artists rejected traditional forms by using unconventional materials and methods.

Part of a groundbreaking series, Holes, 1954 was created by Shōzō Shimamoto using layers of newspaper. The surface is painted with subtle, cloud-like fields of white and pale gray, forming a delicate skin that is then violently pierced. These ruptures expose the material beneath, emphasizing contrast between fragility and force.

The textures in the work, when seeing up close, reveal a lunar-like surface: pitted, cratered, and richly tactile. Thinned paint drips across the surface like traces of erosion or rainfall, while torn edges around the holes give a visceral sense of impact. The spatial depth created by the punctures invites the viewer to look into the wound, evoking both violence and vulnerability.

Shimamoto began this series around 1949–1950, during the U.S. occupation of Japan following World War II. The stark tension between the soft, atmospheric paint and the aggressive perforations may reflect the cultural rupture Japan experienced during this turbulent time. As a founding member of the Gutai Art Association, Shimamoto sought a radical new art, one that embraced impermanence, risk, and raw material presence. The interplay of destruction and creation seen here lies at the heart of Gutai’s vision.