Lateral Thinking assesses the artistic achievements of the 1990s, concentrating on work by 40 contemporary artists from North, South, and Central America, Cuba, Africa, China and Europe. These include Matthew Barney, Vanessa Beecroft, Roman de Salvo, Zhang Huan, William Kentridge, Byron Kim, Jean Lowe, Vik Muniz and Cindy Sherman. A number of pervasive themes recur throughout: the body, the construction of identity (gender, personal, social, or ethnic), the role of the artist and the "everyday."