Editing 2000s (section)

== Culture ==
=== Architecture ===
{{See also|Category:2000s architecture}}

Commercialization and globalization resulted in mass migration of people from rural areas to urban areas resulting in high-profile skyscrapers in Asia and Europe. In Asia skyscrapers were constructed in [[India]], China, [[Thailand]], South Korea, and Japan.
* The [[Millennium Bridge, London]] officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the [[River Thames]] in London, [[England]], linking Bankside with the city. Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after participants in a charity walk on behalf of Save the Children to open the bridge felt an unexpected, and, for some, uncomfortable, swaying motion on the first two days after the bridge opened. The bridge was closed later that day, and after two days of limited access the bridge was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the wobble entirely. It was reopened in 2002.
* [[30 St Mary Axe]] (informally also known as "the Gherkin" and previously the Swiss Re Building) is a skyscraper in London's financial district, the City of London, completed in December 2003 and opened at the end of May 2004. The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of modern architecture.
* [[Wembley Stadium]] is a football stadium located in [[Wembley Park]], in the Borough of Brent, London, [[England]]. It opened in 2007 and was built on the site of the previous 1923 Wembley Stadium. The earlier Wembley stadium, originally called the Empire Stadium, was often referred to as "The Twin Towers" and was one of the world's most famous football stadia until its demolition in 2003.
* A major redevelopment of London's [[Trafalgar Square]] led by [[WS Atkins]] with [[Foster and Partners]] as sub-consultants was completed in 2003. The work involved closing the main eastbound road along the north side, diverting the traffic around the other three sides of the square, demolishing the central section of the northern retaining wall and inserting a wide set of steps leading up to a pedestrianised terrace in front of the National Gallery. The construction includes two lifts for disabled access, public toilets, and a small café. Previously, access between the square and the Gallery was by two crossings at the northeast and northwest corners of the square.<ref>{{cite web |title=Transformation of Trafalgar Square |publisher=Foster+Partners |url=http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/110/Default.aspx |access-date=April 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214035327/http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/110/Default.aspx |archive-date=2012-12-14}}</ref>
* [[Taipei 101]] became the [[List of tallest buildings in the world|tallest building in the world]] ever built after it officially opened on December 31, 2004, a record it held until the opening of the [[Burj Khalifa]] (Formerly known as [[Burj Dubai]]) in January 2010, standing at {{convert|828|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

=== Fine arts ===
* [[Lucian Freud]] was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hogrefe |first=Jeffrey |url=http://www.observer.com/node/39963 |title=Lucian Freud Bio Killed Amid Much Heavy Breathing |work=[[The New York Observer]] |date=December 14, 1997 |access-date=July 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719205413/http://www.observer.com/node/39963 |archive-date=July 19, 2008}} Also see Rimanelli, David (January 2012), [https://web.archive.org/web/20140610054047/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2553396771.html "Damien Hirst"], ''Artforum'': "With the recent death of Lucían Freud, some might argue that Hirst is now the greatest living British artist". Retrieved October 28, 2012. Also see Kennedy, Maev (December 21, 2001), [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/21/arts.monarchy1 "Palace unveils Freud's gift to Queen"], ''The Guardian'', who calls Freud "the artist regarded as the greatest living British painter". Retrieved October 28, 2012. Darwent, Charles (November 28, 1999), [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-1990s-in-review-visual-arts--who-wants-to-be-a-yba-they-do-1129125.html "The 1990s in Review: Visual Arts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925010655/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-1990s-in-review-visual-arts--who-wants-to-be-a-yba-they-do-1129125.html |date=September 25, 2015 }}, ''The Independent'', says "Freud becomes the greatest living British artist after his Whitechapel show [of 1993]". Retrieved October 28, 2012.</ref>
** During a period from May 2000 to December 2001, Freud painted Queen [[Elizabeth II]]. There was criticism of this portrayal of the Queen in some sections of the British media. The highest selling tabloid newspaper, ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'', was particularly condemnatory, describing the portrait as "a travesty".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1723071.stm "Freud royal portrait divides critics"]. [[BBC News]]. December 21, 2001. Retrieved February 26, 2008. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130011802/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1723071.stm|date=January 30, 2009 }}</ref>
* The [[Hockney–Falco thesis]] is a controversial theory of [[art history]], advanced by artist [[David Hockney]] and physicist [[Charles M. Falco]], suggesting that advances in [[realism (visual arts)|realism]] and accuracy in the history of Western art since the [[Renaissance]] were primarily the result of optical aids such as the [[camera obscura]], [[camera lucida]], and [[curved mirror]]s, rather than solely due to the development of [[artist]]ic technique and skill. In a 2001 book, ''Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters'', Hockney analyzed the work of the [[Old Masters]] and argued that the level of accuracy represented in their work is impossible to create by "eyeballing it". Since then, Hockney and Falco have produced a number of publications on positive evidence of the use of optical aids, and the historical plausibility of such methods.
* [[Rolf Harris]] was an Australian entertainer. He was a musician, a singer-songwriter, a composer, a painter, and a television personality.
** In 2005 he painted an official portrait of [[Queen Elizabeth II]], which was the subject of a special episode of ''[[Rolf on Art]]''.
** Harris's portrait of The Queen was voted by readers of the ''[[Radio Times]]'' the third favourite portrait of her. The royal portrait was exhibited at [[Buckingham Palace]], the [[Palace of Holyroodhouse]] in [[Edinburgh]], and was exhibited on a tour of public galleries in the UK.
* In April–June 2003, the English visual artists often known as [[Jake and Dinos Chapman|The Chapman Brothers]], held a solo show at [[Modern Art Oxford]] entitled ''The Rape of Creativity'' in which "the ''enfants terribles'' of Britart, bought a mint collection of Goya's most celebrated prints – and set about systematically defacing them".<ref name="jones">Jones, Jonathan. [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003 Look What We Did] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114190818/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/mar/31/artsfeatures.turnerprize2003 |date=November 14, 2012 }}, ''[[The Guardian]]'', March 31, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009.</ref> The [[Francisco Goya]] prints referred to his ''[[The Disasters of War|Disasters of War]]'' set of 80 etchings.<ref name="jones" /> The duo named their newly defaced works ''Insult to Injury''.<ref name="jones" /> [[BBC]] described more of the exhibition's art: "Drawings of mutant Ronald McDonalds, a bronze sculpture of a painting showing a sad-faced Hitler in clown make-up and a major installation featuring a knackered old caravan and fake dog turds."<ref>Sumpter, Helen. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A1024282 BBC – collective – jake and dinos chapman, modern art oxford], BBC, April 17, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113202552/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A1024282|date=November 13, 2012 }}</ref> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' commented that the Chapman brothers had "managed to raise the hackles of art historians by violating something much more sacred to the art world than the human body – another work of art"<ref name="telegraph">Dorment, Richard. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3593618/Inspired-vandalism.html Inspired Vandalism], ''The Telegraph'', May 27, 2003. Retrieved February 3, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218072401/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3593618/Inspired-vandalism.html|date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref>
** As a protest against this piece, [[Aaron Barschak]] (who later gate-crashed [[Prince William]]'s 21st birthday party dressed as [[Osama bin Laden]] in a frock) threw a pot of red paint over Jake Chapman during a talk he was giving in May 2003.
* On May 5, 2004, a 1905 painting titled ''[[Garçon à la Pipe]]'' (English: Boy with a Pipe) by [[Pablo Picasso]] was sold for US$104,168,000 at [[Sotheby's]] [[auction]] in New York City. At the time, it broke [[List of most expensive paintings|the record for the amount paid for an auctioned painting]] (when inflation is ignored). The amount, US$104 million, includes the auction price of US$93 million plus the auction house's commission of about US$11 million. Many art critics have stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the merit or historical importance of the painting. ''[[The Washington Post]]''{{'}}s article<ref name="The_Washington_Post">''A Record Picasso and the Hype Price of Status Objects'', Blake Gopnik, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', May 7, 2004</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100712212647/http://www.theartistpablopicasso.com/pablo-picasso-painting-boy-pipe.htm ''Boy with Pipe'' or ''Garcon a la Pipe'', 1905] (archived), ''The Artist Pablo Picasso''</ref> on the sale contained the following characterisation of the reaction: {{blockquote|Picasso expert Pepe Karmel, reached in New York the morning after the sale, was waxing wroth about the whole affair. "I'm stunned," he said, "that a pleasant, minor painting could command a price appropriate to a real masterwork by Picasso. This just shows how much the marketplace is divorced from the true values of art."}}
* On May 24, 2004, more than 100 artworks from the famous collection of art collector and sponsor of the [[Young British Artists]] (YBAs) [[Charles Saatchi]]'s were destroyed in a warehouse fire on an industrial estate in [[Leyton]], [[east London]]. Modern art classics such as [[Tracey Emin]]'s tent and works by [[Damien Hirst]], [[Sarah Lucas]] and [[Gary Hume]] were lost.
** Works by [[Patrick Caulfield]], [[Craigie Horsfield]] and 20 pieces by [[Martin Maloney (artist)|Martin Maloney]] were also destroyed. They represent some of the cream of the so-named "[[Britart]]" movement of celebrated modern artists.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fire devastates Saatchi artworks |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3748179.stm |access-date=February 18, 2013 |date=May 26, 2004 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021084053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3748179.stm |archive-date=October 21, 2007}}</ref>
* In 2004, during [[Channel 5 (UK)]]'s 'Big Art Challenge' television program, despite declaring: "I hold video and photography in profound contempt." English art critic [[Brian Sewell]], noted for artistic conservatism and having been described as "Britain's most famous and controversial art critic",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/art |title=We pee on things and call it art |newspaper=Guardian |date=November 13, 2005 |author1=Cooke, Rachel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417010203/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/art |archive-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=June 17, 2017}}</ref> went on to at least 3 times hail video artist (and ultimately the competition's winner) Chris Boyd (aged 21) a "genius".<ref>{{cite web |last=Boyd |first=Chris |title=Big Art Challenge Clips |website=[[YouTube]] |date=August 7, 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstdmbusGeQ |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810194634/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstdmbusGeQ |archive-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Art of persuasion |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/going-out/art-of-persuasion-1128717 |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |access-date=February 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217062053/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/going-out/art-of-persuasion-1128717 |archive-date=December 17, 2013}}</ref>
* In June 2007, the English artist, entrepreneur and art collector [[Damien Hirst]] gained the European record for the most expensive work of art by a living artist, when his ''Lullaby Spring'', (a 3-metre-wide steel cabinet with 6,136 pills) sold for 19.2 million dollars.
** In September 2008, [[Damien Hirst]] took an unprecedented move for a living artist by selling a complete show, ''Beautiful Inside My Head Forever'', at [[Sotheby's]] by auction and by-passing his long-standing galleries. The auction exceeded all predictions, raising £111 million ($198 million), breaking the record for a one-artist auction.
* December 9, 2009 – when the most expensive drawing by an [[Old Master]] ever, was sold in an auction. Titled 'Head of a Muse' by [[Raphael]]; costing £29,200,000 ($47,788,400), at [[Christie's]], [[London]], UK.<ref>{{cite web |title=Most expensive drawing by an Old Master sold at auction |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1/most-expensive-drawing-by-an-old-master-sold-at-auction/ |publisher=Guinness World Records |access-date=February 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217072653/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1/most-expensive-drawing-by-an-old-master-sold-at-auction/ |archive-date=December 17, 2013}}</ref>

=== Literature ===
{{Main|2000s in books}}
* [[Carol Ann Duffy]], [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]] (born December 23, 1955) is a British poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]], and was appointed Britain's [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|poet laureate]] in May 2009.<ref name="about">[http://www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/english/academic-staff/?profileID=47 ''Manchester Metropolitan University, Profile: Professor Carol Ann Duffy''], accessed November 2, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107022702/http://www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/english/academic-staff/?profileID=47|date=January 7, 2014 }}</ref> She is the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly [[LGBT]] person to hold the position.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8029388.stm Duffy reacts to new Laureate post], BBC News, May 1, 2009. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030093931/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8029388.stm|date=October 30, 2011 }}</ref>
* The phenomenally successful ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series by [[J. K. Rowling]] is concluded in July 2007 (having been first published in 1997), although the film franchise continues until 2011; several spin-off productions are announced in the early [[2010s (decade)|2010s]]. The ''Harry Potter'' series is to date the [[List of best-selling books|best-selling book]] series in world history, with only seven main volumes (and three supplemental works) published and four hundred and fifty million<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13889578 The BBC] on ''Harry Potter'': "The Harry Potter novels have sold more than 450 million copies through Bloomsbury in Britain, and Scholastic in the United States." (June 23, 2011) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719004955/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13889578|date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref> copies sold. The film franchise is also currently the third [[List of highest-grossing films|highest-grossing]] film franchise in history, with eight films (all but the final two of which were released in the 2000s) and $8,539,253,704 in sales.