A work of art... Mima. Photograph: Marcus Ginns
You say Moma, I say Mima. In the world of contemporary art institutions it's important to get your acronyms straight. Moma, the Museum of Modern Art, holds one of the world's most significant collections and is located off Fifth Avenue, New York. Mima cost less to build than Moma's recent refurbishment, and it's in Middlesbrough.
The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art looks set to transform the image of a town known principally for its football team, its transporter bridge and its pollution. Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has designed a towering glass pavilion overlooking a broad, green piazza; clearing some much-needed breathing space among the huddle of Victorian civic buildings and dowdy retail developments in the centre of town. Leaning tipsily outside the foyer is Middlesbrough's prime artistic landmark, the Bottle of Notes, the only large-scale Claes Oldenburg/Coosje van Bruggen sculpture in the UK.
The interior is crisp, minimal, well-lit and offers all the expected amenities: five galleries, an education space, roof terrace, cafe and a squash court. Actually, that last one isn't quite true, though the black line scored at one end of the gallery does rather invite you to get your racquet out. It's a piece by Ceal Floyer, made out of a length of elastic stretched across the wall, and is probably the purest example of line drawing in an exhibition devoted to the art of draughtsmanship.
Drawing is one of Mima's specialist subjects: the Cleveland International Drawing Biennale has already bestowed Middlesbrough with one of the largest collections of contemporary drawings in the country, and for its opening show Mima has assembled an impressive array of modern masters - including Picasso, Matisse and Beuys - alongside current stars such as Hirst, Ofili and Turk.
The exhibition is arranged as a series of standoffs between dead legends and young pretenders, though some of these pairings seem less than fair. Picasso v Chantal Joffe is not much of a contest; Hirst v Bacon seems a lazy association and Warhol v Gavin Turk is a dead rubber if ever there was one. But Henri Matisse v Chris Ofili turns out to be a fight worth sticking around for.
Matisse described drawing as "the art of putting a line around an idea" - Ofili doesn't put down a line so much as drape what appears to be a length of beading which reveals itself, on close inspection, to be a looping row of little smiling faces, complete with funky afro haircuts. They're funny, provocative and stand so far apart from the competition because Ofili, uniquely among his peers, has developed a truly original mode of draughtsmanship.
The only contemporary who comes close for scale and invention is DJ Simpson, who attacks vast sheets of reflective-coated plywood with an industrial router. Simpson's exuberant gouging has been characterised as "drawing with electricity", and has the effect of someone running amok in a hall of mirrors. He has been pitted, again rather unfairly, with Jackson Pollock, though the legendary dripper's draughtsmanship is the source of a diverting joke (Q: What do you call a drawing by Jackson Pollock? A: A doodle).
On the first day after the opening weekend, Mima seemed to be doing brisk business, no doubt enhanced by its encouraging admission policy. This is the other great difference between Middlesbrough's new flagship arts centre and its Manhattan counterpart - Moma costs an extortionate $20 to get in; Mima is free. That ought to prove the biggest draw of all.
~ Take a slideshow tour of Mima.
