Art:21: another PBS Masterpiece: sixteen artists reveal their personal visions, inspiration, and technique in public television's only series dedicated exclusively to contemporary art and the people who create it.

• Position: Mass Media - Television Program Review

EVERY DAY, contemporary artists ponder questions about life, society, philosophy, psychology, race, science, technology, memory, history, and the nature of art itself. Through an astonishing range of approaches, techniques, and materials, they transform their ideas into art that explores the possibilities of creative thinking and self-expression. What goes on inside the minds of today's most dynamic visual artists? How do they make the leap between insight and finished object? What tools do they use and why do they choose them? How do they locate themselves, their methods, and their works within the traditions of art history? What inspires artists to break through the barriers of convention to arrive at new ways of seeing?

These and other intriguing questions are explored in the third season of "Art:21--Art in the Twenty-First Century." the only series on national public television to locus exclusively on contemporary art and the people who create it. Like the great biennial art exhibitions that regularly showcase current artistic activity, "'Art:21" returns to television every two years to profile working artists who build our living culture with each painting, sculpture, photograph, or installation that they create. This season, "Art:21" travels from Silo Paulo to Boston, from Berlin to Houston, to film 16 working artists and to open up the intimate spaces where they flourish. The four-part series can be seen Sept. 16, 23, and 30, and Oct. 7 on PBS.

Creating art is a complex process; sometimes deliberate, sometimes serendipitous, always rigorous. "Art:21" takes viewers into the artists' lives, unfiltered, for a rare encounter with the creative process in action and an exciting opportunity to hear what cutting-edge creators are thinking about as they work. "It is difficult to imagine anyone who works harder than an artist," says Susan Sollins, executive producer of the series. "'Art:21' allows public television viewers to experience the passion, the focus, and the compulsion that drives their creativity."

As in previous seasons, each hour of the show is organized around a unifying theme that helps audiences analyze, compare, contrast, and juxtapose the artists profiled. The Sept. 16 program explores "'Power" and the issues of violence, domination, and control that pervade contemporary society. "Memory," airing Sept. 23, delves into how an artist's personal backgound, as well as our shared historical past, emerge in artistic expression. "Structures," on Sept. 30, profiles artists who investigate context and order in the organization of their art. "Play,"...