Watch each of the thirteen full segments from Season 5 of Art21’s Peabody Award-winning Art in the Twenty-First Century series.

Art21 traveled around the world in Season 5, filming the creation of new art on every continent except Antarctica, and in museums, studios, galleries, and homes in nine countries. Fourteen internationally recognized artists, from painters and sculptors to photographers and filmmakers exploring the possibilities of new media, were filmed in their own environments and in their own words. The result is an exceptional opportunity for audiences to experience first-hand the complex artistic processes behind some of today’s most intriguing and thought-provoking art.

Season 5 premiered in October 2009 on PBS.

Watch each of the thirteen full segments from Season 6 of Art21’s Peabody Award-winning Art in the Twenty-First Century series.

Timely and timeless, global and local, beautiful and provocative, contemporary art challenges us to look at our world in new ways. Contemporary artists grapple with the complex issues of our time, ask tough questions, and make works that delight, amaze and sometimes unsettle audiences worldwide. Season 6 includes 13 profiles of artists from five continents. Spanning the globe from Nigeria to New York City, from Beijing to Brazil, the episodes reveal the artists at work and speaking in their own words as they demonstrate the power of art to alter perception, challenge convention, and change how we see the world around us.

Season 6 premiered in May 2012 on PBS.

How do we bridge the time and distance between some of the places beyond our own immediate region—beyond our own knowledge, lives, and experiences? How can we find connections to the urban toxicity, the pollution of rivers and streams, and the stories of community resilience? 

This playlist shapes the contours of a range of questions about the world and ‘International Community-ism.’ It comes from my interest in connecting the global with the local, and I can use these videos to introduce global studies content in my classroom. These videos offer a range of possibilities for unpacking intersections of aesthetics and ecologies in multiple localities. 

Read about how Amiko Matsuo teaches with global/local connections in her classroom.