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[img]http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.20.3/30041?ns=guardian&pageName=My+decade%3A+personal+perspectives+from+key+arts+figures%3AArticle%3A1314931&ch=World+news&c3=Guardian&c4=Film%2CMusic%2CCulture+section%2CJane+Campion%2CAndrea+Arnold%2CPaul+Greengrass+%28Film%29%2CArt+%28visual+arts+only%29%2CArt+and+design%2CArchitecture%2CStage&c6=&c7=09-Dec-08&c8=1314931&c9=Article&c10=&c11=World+news&c13=Reviews+of+the+decade&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FJane+Campion[/img]Film-makers, musicians and more look back on their achievements and favourite works from the noughties


David Adjaye, architect
In 2000, I completed my first solo house, the Elektra House in London.
It was the beginning of a lot of press interest in me. There was a tendency to call me a "starchitect", but my work wasn't really about sensationalism; it was more about trying to work within a context than creating an object. The Idea Stores in Whitechapel were my breakthrough into public buildings. Then I won the Stephen Lawrence Centre, the Bernie Grant Centre and Rivington Place within the space of a year. Using architecture to make those institutions visible mirrored my own emergence. It's a sad thing: in European architecture, there are still few other architects of colour. Other big commissions: the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. We've also been involved in post-Katrina reconstruction in New Orleans. I realised how famous I was when the press reported my "downfall" earlier this year. There was the implication I'd gone bust. They tried to make out I was some entertainer who'd got his comeuppance. We had cashflow problems, but I don't know an architect in the world who hasn't refinanced.


Richard Rogers, architect
It's been a good decade. In fact, I've ­enjoyed the last third of my life much more than the first third. The Millennium Dome, from our point of view, was tremendously successful: on time, on budget. It only cost around £40m, but that does not include the contents, which we had nothing to do with. It's wonderful to see it now as the O2. Empty buildings are always horrible.
Other works: Terminal 4 Barajas ­Airport in Madrid; Terminal 5 at ­Heathrow; the Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney; the National ­Assembly for Wales in Cardiff; and the London Maggie's Centre, which won this year's Stirling Prize. The Stirlings, the Pritzker, the Golden Lion, and
being made a Companion of Honour – it's very nice to have these awards, but one doesn't set out to achieve them. You do what you think is right, which means working with the people who are going to be using your buildings.
Low point? Chelsea Barracks. ­Unpleasant interference, unpleasant loss of a major scheme. More than 80 meetings were held over more than two years with community groups, statutory consultees and Westminster's planning committee steering group. The majority were in favour until Prince Charles ­introduced the concept that it's better to look backwards than forwards. I don't think that's symptomatic of the general climate in British architecture.


Kevin Macdonald, film director
Personally, it's been a fascinating decade. In the late 90s, I was struggling to make TV documentaries but work was drying up. I was a purist, with no interest in working with actors. I hated the idea of dramatic reconstructions because they look so cheesy. Then I worked with actors on Touching the Void and this led to dramatic features, though documentaries remain my first love.

The British film industry has always been about boom and bust. We start out with unrealistic optimism: "We're going to compete with Hollywood!" Then we have the collapse and the correction. We saw it with Alexander Korda in the 1930s, with Rank after the war, and with Gandhi in the 1980s. This decade it happened again.

The collapse of Film4 back in 2002 was part of this problem. We just can't take on Hollywood, because it ends up using our money and talent for its own ends. Maybe the lesson is sinking in.

Film of the decade: Darwin's Nightmare, directed by Hubert Sauper, for using reality to paint a nightmare.


Nitin Sawhney, musician
We saw a lot of Asian artists getting radio play: Talvin Singh, Cornershop, Asian Dub Foundation. But after 9/11, a lot got dropped. It could have been Islamophobia, or a wider culture of fear, or just record companies not wanting to take risks. AR Rahman's soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire changed this to some degree in 2008.

I had an incredible 10 years. One of my best moments was meeting Nelson Mandela in 2001, when I was travelling round the world doing research for my album Prophesy. I recorded him saying, "We're free to be free", and included it on the album. I also had an amazing jam session one day: I was on piano, with Paul McCartney singing and David Gilmour playing the sax. I was looking at them thinking: "How did this happen?"

Album of the decade: Radiohead's In Rainbows. They're brilliant live, yet their album music also has energy and drive. Thom Yorke's voice has incredible emotional power.


Estelle, musician
I started my own label, Stellar Ents, in the noughties. I was 19, and everyone said I couldn't do it. But I released my first album, Diamond in the Rough, on it, and I'm proud of that. In fact, I'm prouder of that than I am of my Grammy award and my No 1 single – because in my head, they were always going to happen.

Being able to see Grace Jones perform was the musical high of my decade. I grew up watching her. Meeting her was like: "Wow, wow, wow!" She was poised, elegant, fresh, crazy. I met her at the 2008 Mobos. She presented me with an award [best song and best UK female] and said: "I love your music!" I said: "Aaaagh!" I hugged her for a good 30 seconds.

Albums of the decade: The Blueprint by Jay-Z; Mary, by Mary J Blige; The College Dropout, by Kanye West.


Christine Langan, Head of BBC Films
The films that grabbed me seemed to come from nowhere: Waltz With Bashir, City of God, The Orphanage, Downfall – all debuts that changed the landscape. In the US, the independent section was the strongest. Alexander Payne with About Schmidt and Sideways, Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven, and bigger films like There Will Be Blood. But the studios now think the economics of the specialty division don't stack up. So it's in limbo.

British cinema has had quite a healthy decade. I witnessed a lot of female directors making great films – Jane Campion, Andrea Arnold – as well as some brilliant directors who came through and went to the US, like Kevin Macdonald and Paul Greengrass.

I've had a big transition, going from TV to film, having started the decade doing Cold Feet. Producing The Queen was a phenomenal entrance to cinema. I had a lot of faith in it even if, in the UK, everyone thought it was a TV film. In the rest of the world, there was an instant appetite for it. Still, I never thought we'd end up going to the Oscars with it.

Film of the decade: Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for its sheer invention and exuberance, visual flair and great soundtrack.


Monica Mason, director of the Royal Ballet
In 2000, the Royal Ballet moved into the redeveloped Royal Opera House. Morale lifted immediately. In 2002, I was asked to be caretaker director. I discovered – though I was a little loath to admit it – that I loved being in the driving seat. By December I was appointed director.

I have two personal highlights: our first tour to Cuba last summer; and the first performance of Chroma by Wayne McGregor and DGV by Christopher Wheeldon in 2006. There was such a sense of competition – both choreographers really wanted to make their pieces work.

Sadler's Wells theatre has made a real impact. But it's been a decade of loss as well as gain, and many wonderful people have died: Norman Morrice, Pamela May, Glen Tetley and, of course, Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch.

Highlight: Earlier this year, a memorial to the founders of the Royal Ballet was unveiled in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey. It felt as if dance had come of age.


Arlene Phillips, choreographer
When Strictly Come Dancing started in 2004, we thought it would be a small affair: a rebirth of Come Dancing with a slightly new angle. Then in the first series, Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole did a paso doble that gave me goosebumps; that night I got so many messages from people who felt the same way.

Strictly reaches into the homes of millions. And when those people go out in search of dance, they come across different styles, different classes; but they also discover where to go and see dance. Suddenly dance was reaching everyone – through ballroom dance, of all things.

I've noticed a real explosion of street dance and hip-hop. It was big in the 70s and 80s, but then it seemed to die a death. Now it's back, and it's brilliant. I think we're open to a wider range of forms.

Being on Strictly, working on The Sound of Music, joining the board of Sadler's Wells – I've always been part of the wider world of dance. As I enter each new decade I think: oh, it'll slow down now. But it doesn't.

Highlight: a piece that comes back decade after decade – Alvin Ailey's Revelations. Each time I see it, it makes me fall in love with dance all over again.


Akram Khan, dancer/choreographer
In 2000, my producer Farooq Chaudhry saw a duet I did and asked to manage me. But he hadn't yet seen my own work, so I invited him to a festival in Newcastle, where I was due to go on after Rosemary Lee. At the last minute she cancelled, leaving a room full of promoters who were there for her. But afterwards there was a queue of them saying: how can I book this? From that one 10-minute solo, Farooq and I booked a year of touring.

After that, I was much more in the public eye. Everything was scrutinised. Even though Ma (2004) and in-I (2008, pictured left) were less well-received, they were pivotal for me because I put myself out of my depth. Ma was the first time I tried storytelling with words. With in-I, I had to let go of myself as a dancer; I was working with Juliette Binoche, who was a blank canvas in terms of dance technique.

I see a lot more collaborative work now: choreographers working with artists and composers. But contemporary dance is still marginalised. It's changing, through choreographers like Wayne McGregor, but it should be more in the mainstream.

Highlights: James Thiérrée's Raoul and Simon McBurney's Shun-kin. You forgot whether either was theatre or dance: what you were watching was magic.

• Jane Campion
• Andrea Arnold
• Paul Greengrass
• Art
• Architecture

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