Left:1. North Duveen Installation, Tate Britain 2003. Tower: David Batchelor, The Spectrum of Brick Lane 2003. Floor: Jim Lambie, Zobop 1999 - 2003, Sadie Coles HQ, London & the Modern Institute, Glasgow

Days Like These, the Tate Triennial of Contemporary British Art 2003 is currently showing at Tate Britain until May 26.

One of the first things that struck me was the amount of colour used in the show. Jim Lambie's psychedelic floor-striped painting 'Zobop 1999-2003' is made from strips of coloured tape that have been painstakingly placed in zigzags on the floor.

Right: 2. Jim Lambie, Zobop 1999 - 2003, Sadie Coles HQ, London & the Modern Institute, Glasgow

In the same area is David Batchelor's 'The Spectrum of Brick Lane 2003'. Batchelor's interest lies in colour and how this has been transformed by the modern city. For The Triennial he has assembled a series of found lightboxes that soar dramatically towards the ceiling of Tate Britain.

Together these pieces make an impressive entrance to the main galleries.

Left: 3. Peter Doig, 100 Years Ago 2000. Oil on canvas.

Preceding these works are Rachel Whiteread's new casts in two sections, one is a segment of stairs and the other details various interiors. Hints of what was once there lie in the outline of sockets and a handle rendered useless in their fossilised form. Although large in scale these works evoke fragility and the ghost like quality with which we have become familiar in Whiteread's work.

Cornelia Parker's 'The Distance (a kiss with added String) 2003' has taken Rodin's 'The Kiss' and transformed the work by wrapping a mile of string around the lovers. Duchamp used the same length of string in an early Surrealist exhibition in which he criss-crossed it throughout the gallery in order to impede visitor access to the work.

Right: 4. Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Stairs). Installation at Tate Britain.

In Parker's version of the sculpture, the viewer's appreciation of the lovers is similarly impeded - their faces, legs and ankles tied and bound. This 'Kiss' becomes unbearable and disturbing and is effective in evoking the complexities surrounding love and passion.

Painting and drawing continue in the main galleries, with notable works from Ian Davenport's 'Poured Lines.' He uses a syringe to squeeze paint from the top of the wall, which then pours to the bottom. Paul Noble's 'Accumulus Nobilatus 2001' is a vast drawing in which a self-sufficient dwelling is created. There is enormous detail and humour in this piece.

Left: 5. Cornelia Parker, The Distance (a kiss with string attached) 2003. Marble and String.

Film works from Relph and Payne, the youngest artists in the show, depict their own wry view of urban London. This is satirical and humorous but possibly too long in my opinion.

Sarah Morris's film' Miami' focuses on people and industries, such as factories producing endless supplies of Coca-Cola. Music pumps out at an upbeat pace throughout the video as you become hypnotised by the grids and blocks of colour in pinks and greens.

This video cleverly echoes the sumptuous colours, lines and grids that compete on the canvases of her abstract paintings.

Right:6. George Shaw, Scenes from the Passion, The Middle of the Week, 2002. Humbrol enamel on board.

One of my favourite artists in this show is Shizuka Yokomizo. The first piece is a video work shown on two screens depicting an elderly couple sleeping, but both projected separately. You become completely focused on their breathing as they sleep almost waking. It is a beautiful and quiet work.

Her second piece is a series of photographs in which Yokomizo has photographed individuals in a room of their own choice from the outside. The artist wrote at random asking them to stand in a room with the lights on so that she could photograph them from the outside.

Left: 7. Tim Head, Treacherous Light 2002 (detail pixel image). Digital Projection (from a real time computer). © the artist.

Yokomizo has developed an interesting new take on being a voyeur; the subjects involved are empowered through the photographs, which reveal fascinating insights into their own lives.

A unifying factor throughout the exhibition is the way many of the artists are working on their own obsessions through their work. George Shaw's exquisite paintings in Airfix enamel model paint sum this up well. He re-visits his childhood - both in the medium he uses and in his nostalgic, still depictions of the Coventry council estate where he grew up.

Right: 8. David Cunningham, Computer Programme

But looking at the scope and breadth of 'Days Like These' it is difficult to discern a new 'movement' that unifies the exhibition, although there seems to be a new quietness in much of the work. This is no bad thing - and far removed from the brashness and media saturation of the Young British Art movement.

'Days Like These' may not be a bold new direction for British art, but it makes for an interesting and rewarding survey of contemporary artists working in Britain today.

Picture captions in full.

1. Left: North Duveen Installation, Tate Britain 2003. Tower, David Batchelor, The Spectrum of Brick Lane 2003. Courtesy Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London © the artist © Tate Photography. Floor: Jim Lambie, Zobop 1999 - 2003, Sadie Coles HQ, London & the Modern Institute, Glasgow © the artist & Sadie Coles HQ, photo © Tate Photography.