You're probably surprised at the peculiar title. The idea was to emphasize the fact that, in at least two senses, this show features contemporary artworks that are truly nothing less than world treasures.

Firstly, they are "world treasures" in terms of their market value and agreed insured value. At auctions these days, even works by the living artists can sell for prices in the tens of millions of dollars. A number of works in the exhibition fall into this category. Secondly, they are "world treasures" in an art historical sense. The best artists are those who seek to express things that need to be communicated now in forms both rooted in art history to date and destined not to grow stale in the future. It is for this very reason that their works radiate brilliance in a world overflowing with all manner of expression. For this exhibition, this collection of "hardcore contemporary art " deserving of the title " world treasures" has been organized into ten chapters in accordance with such key words as "muse," "sublime," "memory" and "new beauty."

The exhibition will feature 75 works by 40 artists, all of whom could be described as risk takers and members of contemporary art's "hard core," including Sanyu, Mark Rothko, Willem De Kooning, Francis Bacon, Zao Wou-Ki, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, Sugimoto hiroshi, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ron Mueck, Peter Doig, and Marc Quinn. Naturally, some of the best work by these artists is included.

No doubt there are some people who will say, "Collection exhibitions are never very interesting." But this exhibition is different. For a start, we've incorporated the kind of interactive element that is only possible with "an exhibition based on a collection" in the form of a game enabling visitors to experience what it's like to be a collector. So don't miss this exhibition, the first (and probably last) where you'll have the opportunity not only to view some real masterpieces, but also to think about what an artwork's "value" really is.

*image (left)
Marc Quinn,
Miniature Venus, 2008,
Yageo Foundation
©Marc Quinn