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'Mattress Performance' (2014-2015) -

Also known as 'Carry That Weight,' this was a performance piece by Emma Sulkowicz where, as a statement against her college's inaction, she carried around the mattress on which she had been sexually assaulted.

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'For the Love of God' (2007) -

Taking £14 million (or US$19 million) to make, this diamond-crested skull is the apple of many art lovers' eye. Damien Hirst created it to remind us of the inevitability of death, no matter what.

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'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1991) -

Originally commissioned by art collector Charles Saatchi, Damien Hirst made this gruesome sculpture. It is a dead shark preserved in formaldehyde.

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'Shark' (2005) -

David Černý took inspiration from Damien Hirst's sculpture, but instead of a real shark he put a sculpture of the dictator Saddam Hussein within. Some thought it victimized Hussein too much, while others found it too graphic.

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'Fountain' (1917) -

Marcel Duchamp turned the art world upside down by putting this urinal forward as an art piece. It was the beginning of art being conceptual rather than purely visual.

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'Guernica' (1937) -

Pablo Picasso created this piece in memory of those who were killed in a town of the same name. It was a statement against Francoist Spain, and provoked a backlash.

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'The Holy Virgin Mary' (1996) -

It may look innocent from afar but this painting, by Chris Ofili, contains dung covered with resin and clippings of pornographic scenes. It caused quite the stir.

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'Blue Poles' or 'Number 11' (1952) -

Jackson Pollock wanted to portray the irrationality of human beings by splattering paint violently across the canvas in the style of abstract expressionism.

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'Dinner Party' (1979) -

Judy Chicago lay a table with 39 vagina-themed plates. Each place was for an important woman in history, from Sappho to Virginia Woolf. But it was not well received by critics, who claimed it was more about shocking people than commemorating women of the past.

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'Work No. 227' (2000) -

Martin Creed created art where lights simply go on and off at five second intervals. It is meant to make the viewer reconsider everyday objects and possibly view them as art.

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'La Nona Ora' (1999) -

Maurizio Cattelan named this piece after the time of Christ's death on the cross. It depicts a wax statue of the Pope struck down by a meteor.

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'Vietnam Veterans Memorial' (1982) -

Maya Lin won the commission to build a memorial at only 21 and received a lot of criticism because people did not think the black granite building would honor the soldiers sufficiently.

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'Myra' (1995) -

Marcus Harvey painted Myra Hindley, who committed the Moors Murders with her husband. She is one of the most gruesome murderers in the history of the UK. The pixelated effect is made by many children's handprints to symbolize the lives she took.

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'P*ss Christ' (1987) -

Andres Serrano wanted to show the relationship between the profane and the sacred by submerging a crucifix in a container full of his own urine. It angered a lot of people, and one of the prints was even smashed at an exhibition by some Catholic activists.

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'The Chapman Family Collection' (2002) -

Jake and Dinos Chapman decided to play a hoax on the public by masking funny statues, such as one of Ronald McDonald, as rare ethnographic objects. One statue is even in the shape of some McDonald's fries!

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'Tilted Arc' (1981) -

Richard Serra constructed this wall from steel on the Federal Plaza in New York City. Serra claimed that it could only exist in this location, but the state wanted to move it around. He lost the lawsuit, and so the wall was deconstructed in 1989.

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'My Bed' (1998) -

It may not look like much, but this is considered one of the best works of contemporary work for the way it calls into question what art actually is. Not surprisingly, critics also thought art had reached a new low.

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'Campbell's Soup Cans' (1962) -

You have probably seen this hallmark of Pop Art by Andy Warhol. It sparked controversy by simply being simple. Warhol redefined what was accepted as art with this print.

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'Tattooed Pigs' (2006) -

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye tattoos pigs when they are alive, usually with religious iconography, and then sells them as art when they have passed. Many question whether this is ethical or not.

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'Cut Piece' (1964) -

The bold Yoko Ono staged this performance art piece where the audience were encouraged to take a pair of scissors and cut off her clothing, while she sat still. Absolutely crazy!

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'Rhythm 0' (1974) -

Echoing Yoko Ono's 'Cut Piece,' Marina Abramovic did a performance piece where she laid out 72 objects and told the audience they could do what they wanted to her. She is known as the godmother of performance art.

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'The War' (1932) -

Also know as the 'Dix tryptych,' Otto Dix painted scenes of WWI in the Renaissance style. The painting was labeled as degenerate by the Nazi regime, but Dix hid it and so it survived.

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'Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn' (1995) -

Ai Weiwei dropped an urn worth several hundred thousand dollars to show that the old must clear way for the new. The urn was also of historical importance to China, the destruction of which invited much criticism.

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'Ecstatic Unity' (1970) -

Dorothy Iannone was a visual artist known for incorporating sexuality and femininity in her work. She was banned from many museums because of explicit nudity in her pieces.

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'Grey Lines with Black, Blue, and Yellow' (1923) -

Georgia O'Keeffe painted a series of flowers up close. Many thought they were feminist statements because they resemble female genitalia. but O'Keeffe denied having a political motive.

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'Tree' (2014) -

Paul McCarthy originally displayed his sculpture in Paris, but it was soon popped by vandals. It also received criticism for its resemblance to a certain kind of adult toy, greatly scathing the artist's reputation.

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'Cardinal Sin' (2011) -

No one can forget the political activist Banksy who graffitis political messages on our streets. He started out with this statue, where the face has been sawn off and replaced with blank tiles.

Sources: (Artland)(Britannica)

See also: Banksy’s art around the world

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