Last week I went to London with my family to catch up with relatives and see the sights, catch a few shows and generally experience London as a young adult this time.

One of the places I wanted to go to was the Tate Modern because I hadn't been there before and it was next to Shakespeare's Globe, theatre where we were having a tour anyway.

Contemporary art covers a whole range of different styles a lot of which can be thought provoking, funny, odd, clever, and skilful. We've had Pop Art, Op Art, Digital Art, Junk Art, Street Art, Land Art etc but I've discovered a new type of art at the Tate Modern, and I'm calling it 'Con Art.'

One of the rooms in the Tate is dedicated to a Greek artist called Jannis Kounellis. He is a well known contemporary artist who according to the blurb on the walls of the gallery, 'Demonstrates the unity of life and art,' and whose work is 'essentially

poetic.'

Now I like modern art; Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and even Jeff Koons who depicts the ridiculousness of consumerism by displaying vintage and

different coloured vacuum cleaners in a glass case as Art but do you know what we saw in that room? A coiled up piece of old rope (actually it wasn't coiled, just thrown down on the floor) and a few hessian bags of beans propped up against a wall!

I wouldn't mind but he couldn't even be bothered to give his pieces a name. He called most of his work, 'Untitled'! Even Tracey Emin called her unmade bed, 'My bed,' okay not very imaginative but at least she gave it a name for goodness sake!

The funniest thing was that only me and my family seemed to notice it was just a bit of old rope. Others around us were pondering on its meaning, starring intently looking for hidden meanings no doubt, but nodding in appreciation nevertheless.

It was only when my

little brother, who's six, piped up, "What's that old rope doing in the middle of the room?" that everyone snapped out of their trance and saw it as we did.

It was like the story about the emperor's new clothes, no one dared say, "Is this Art?" for fear of upsetting someone or seeming stupid. Anyway later we went to the National Gallery and saw some amazing Van Goghs, Monets, Turners and Constables, which put Kounellis's length of rope firmly in the shade. But you know the saying, 'Money for old rope,' well it seems Kounellis actually achieved that!