So, is it the “final ludicrous monument to an intellectual corruption that has filled contemporary museums and the culture they sustain with a hollow and boring, impersonal chatter.” or “The long-awaited antidote to the ignorance and daft, opinionated attitudes that pass on the whole… for general-reader art comment in newspapers, TV and radio?”

Are you asking me? Make up your own mind about the much ballyhooed tome du jour ART SINCE 1900. Billed as a landmark study over ten years in the making, Art Since 1900 is a new account of modern art co-authored by four highly influential art historians (Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin HD Buchloh, Hal Foster and Rosalind Krauss). Here’s the tate being all serious “Its publication raises many questions. From what perspective should modern art’s history be understood today? What continuing role should the concept of Modernism play? Who are modern art’s publics?” etc, etc. And I mean etc. These guys go on about the thing for 6 hours and you can check it all out on the lovely Tate Modern Online Archive.

This is serious art geek talk so if you can’t handle the notion of ‘Eliotic Trotskyism’, or have never wondered if Mondrian was ‘too Hegelian’ or don’t have major arguments with friends over the concept of ‘indexicality’ (Hey buddy, I’ve got some indexicality right here for you.) you might want to do a couple of brain-ups before entering. If not, welcome and enjoy!