With summer recess comes the chance to catch up on the essentials. While students are handed a list of must-read texts, consider this playlist a primer of must-see contemporary art. A swirl of low-brow humor, bold color, sculpture, performance, and reoriented historical context, each of these artists has influenced the discourse of contemporary art. “We do create the reality in which we live,” declared James Turrell, a vanguard of the Light and Space movement, and whose work continues to inform today’s visual artists and popular culture at large. For Luchita Hurtado, considered an emerging artist at 98 years old, her body of work celebrates motherhood, mother nature, and memory—a sincere introspection of lived experience. 

Artists “invent strategies that allow themselves to see in a way that they haven’t seen before to extend their vision,” mused Richard Serra. Whether you’re on summer break or simply in a summer state of mind, this selection of artists will inspire you to discover the great potential of contemporary art.

“Gay politics, human rights, whatever, it’s always about being free,” ruminates Eli Sudbrack, a principal member of the collective assume vivid astro focus. “Go after things in your life that bring you pleasure.” Historically, social structures have pressured individuals to choose from pre-packed ideas of identity. Breaking free from the expectations of the binary, artists abstract traditional definitions of gender and sexuality to provide visibility to LGBTQ communities and liberated perspectives underrepresented in the mainstream.

For Collier Schorr, “there is no progress unless you put things forward to unveil desire and unveil repression.” This playlist explores how artists examine queer identity through individual and community participation, challenging audiences and participants to exercise free expression by putting forth their own personal experiences.

“Art doesn’t stop where the real world starts,” affirms Olafur Eliasson. Artists in many ways embrace a role as purveyors of knowledge, creating works that challenge viewers to recognize, investigate, and appreciate their surroundings. While individuals enjoy the convenience of modernity, how often do they take into account the grey energy behind its production? Rackstraw Downes paints landscapes marked by human-made structures such as cell phone towers or electric wires—details that otherwise go unnoticed, consciously or not—and considers his job as an artist to “provoke this hypocrisy” of enjoying technological advancements without accepting their environmental ramifications.

In this playlist, artists engage with environmental concerns to uncover opportunities to see the world through a new lens. From tracking natural phenomena to evaluating the impact of personal consumption, these artists position their work as jumping off points to reflect on our entanglement in these networks and society at large.