Blake Gopnik | Art

Looking back at contemporary art in 2008, I realize that artists conducting experiments, of one kind or another, meant more to me than those who sought to make artistic objects. When Christine Bailey, from Baltimore, tried showing paintings in the style of another local artist, she was testing the whole idea of authenticity and the creative touch. Videos by Omer Fast, Pierre Huyghe and Ryan Gander pushed at the borders between fact and fiction, while Nick Mangan did the same with a pseudo-archaeological installation. Scott Lyall (with a group mural) and Artur Zmijewski (using video) tested ideas of collaboration and mutual support (in Zmijewski's case, by getting an amputee to allow himself to be "completed" by the body of a four-limbed friend). Steve McQueen (with a video of two naked black men wrestling) and Phil Collins (in a video about language and politics in war-torn Kosovo) were among several artists who thought through what conflict is and how we ought to feel about it. Here are 10 artists from all over who got me thinking in the past year.

Christine Bailey: This local artist presented her appropriated paintings in a corporate lobby in Baltimore.

Steve McQueen: "Bear," a black-and-white video by this Englishman, drew attention in the "Dreams" exhibition at the Hirshhorn.

Javier Téllez: This Venezuelan-born New Yorker's video projection, about an elephant being explored by six blind people, was a favorite at the Whitney Biennial.

Phil Collins: This Glasgow-based Englishman presented "zasto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom)" (or "why I don't speak Serbian (in Serbian)"), one of the most moving videos at Pittsburgh's Carnegie International.

Ryan Gander: "Man on a Bridge -- (A Study of David Lange)" was a striking video projected by this British artist at the Carnegie International.

Omer Fast: "Godville," a video installation by this Israeli artist based in Berlin, stood out in the "Realisms" exhibition at the Hirshhorn.

Pierre Huyghe: With his "Third Memory," this French artist was another standout in the Hirshhorn's "Realisms" show.

Scott Lyall: The Toronto artist contributed his conceptual painting to the Site Santa Fe Biennial.

Nick Mangan: This Australian's contribution to Site Santa Fe was a fake archeological dig.

Artur Zmijewski: A harrowing video by this Polish artist was the work in the New Museum's "After Nature" exhibition, in New York.