No borders: Contemporary art in a globalised world

Ai Weiwei, A ton of tea, 2007

© Ai Weiwei, courtesy Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives, presented by the Art Fund through Art Fund International. ArtFunded 2011

Tala Madani, Double Head Index, 2011

© Tala Madani, Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives, presented by the Art Fund through Art Fund International

Walid Raad, Civilizationally, We Do Not Dig Holes to Bury Ourselves, 2010

© Walid Raad, Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives, presented by the Art Fund through Art Fund International

Mthethwa Zwelethu, Untitled, Sugar Cane series, number 16, 2004-6

© Mthethwa Zwelethu, Bristol's Museum, Galleries & Archives, presented by the Art Fund through Art Fund International

In 2007, the £5 million Art Fund International project awarded substantial grants to five collections in the UK. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, in partnership with Arnolfini, for its part has acquired works that reflect the area’s history as a port and a site of global transaction.

Julie Finch, head of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, said of the project: 'This has been an opportunity to develop our art collections in a totally new direction, engaging with international art through contemporary media such as video and installation. We intend for No Borders and future exhibitions in the Global to Local series to draw visitors to Bristol to see these acquisitions by high profile artists.'

Investigate the full reach of Art Fund International with our interactive map of the highlights.

Don't miss

Ai Weiwei’s A Ton of Tea – a compressed block of China tea that resembles a Western minimalist sculpture – gets its first public showing in the exhibition. Further highlights include Walid Raad’s Chbanieh, a fictional archive of works of art and ephemera that frames the Lebanese Civil Wars, and work from Tala Madani, Walid Raad and Zwelethu Mthethwa.