The book opens with the transcript of an internet conversation between the curators who expand on the reasons for their choices and ponder the "complicated apparatus surrounding modern art". The artists themselves range from the relatively well known such as Turner Prize-winning Gillian Wearing and her video of a group of policeman (or are they actors dressed up as policemen?), 60 Minutes Silence, to the likes of Chinese artist Wang Du and his bizarrely distorted female shapes and images. This "exhibition" would, of course, have been impossible to stage in any other way and so this fascinating exercise is especially welcome. Highly informative, thought- provoking and stimulating, Cream is a close-up view of the cutting edge of modern art. --Nick Wroe

Synopsis
One hundred rising art stars, selected by an international panel of ten leading curators, are presented here. This book offers an insider's view of new art in all media - from painting and sculpture to such new art forms as video, photography, installation, performance and digital media. It offers an informed survey on current tendencies and personalities at the forefront of contemporary art. Numerous examples of each selected artist's work are presented together with a brief curator's text and the artist's exhibition history/bibliography. This virtual exhibition of a new art is accompanied by a virtual conversation on the Internet among the ten curators, highlighting the motivations behind their selection of artists and the questions surrounding art today. The art is also framed within a broader cultural context; "cream" includes a selection of recent texts by ten key contemporary writers who address pressing issues in art and culture at the end of the millennium.