Exhibition

London Zeitgeist

1 Jul 2021 – 31 Jul 2021

Regular hours

Thursday
20:23 – 20:26
Friday
20:23 – 20:26
Saturday
20:23 – 20:26
Sunday
20:23 – 20:26
Monday
20:23 – 20:26
Tuesday
20:23 – 20:26
Wednesday
20:23 – 20:26

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CIRCA

London
England, United Kingdom

Address

Travel Information

  • The nearest bus stops (14, 139, 176, 19, 38, 453) are located on or around Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue and Piccadilly.
  • Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus are the nearest tube and train stations.
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CIRCA presents group exhibition curated by Norman Rosenthal: Alvaro Barrington, Matt Copson, Larry Achiampong, Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan and Anne Imhof.

About

Bold new video works by five artists of the moment living or working in London will take over the world’s largest public screens this July in London, Seoul and Tokyo.

Curated by Norman Rosenthal, ‘LONDON ZEITGEIST’ will comprise five independent films by Larry Achiampong, Alvaro Barrington, Matt Copson, artist duo Rosie Hastings and Hannah Quinlan, and Anne Imhof, together forming a bold and comprehensive showcase of the most promising artists within a generation to emerge from London. 

This group exhibition adopts its title from Rosenthal’s 1982 exhibition ‘Zeitgeist’ that was held in Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau almost forty years ago, and which was arguably one of the most historically significant global painting surveys of the 20th century, bringing together 45 of the world’s most driven and symbolically heroic artists of the moment. Rosenthal’s unwavering commitment and capacity to embolden the great talent of the time has become a defining characteristic of his career. In 1981, Rosenthal introduced artists such as Baselitz, Kiefer, Polke and Richter to an audience beyond Germany in ‘A New Spirit In Painting’ and helped launch the careers of  Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and many others with ‘Sensation’ in 1997 at the Royal Academy of Art in London:

"That complex German word “Zeitgeist” (Time/Spirit) that more and more has entered the English language - just like “Kindergarten” once did (!) - naturally relates to place as well as time. Each of the four young artists chosen I believe address these issues subjectively, inevitably, sometimes obliquely, yet each in a “Spectacular” and “Beautiful” way onto the iconic Piccadilly Lights screen. They then are transmitted to the other side of the globe. They are pictures both of issues and fantasies that obsess four individual artists living and working in London, forever a huge urban national centre, and that hopefully too will touch audiences around the world."  - Norman Rosenthal

Alvaro Barrington (1 - 7th July) ‘Trust Your Global Stranger’

"I looked at a lot of clouds over the last years. I've looked at them from different angles and over the years more and more from the airplane. It has come to mean many different things to me….cycles of weather changes…… ideas about the world outside of this globe and lately it has meant nature. During lockdown it became nature unorganized by humans..it's just doing its thing and will continue to do its thing when we are no longer on this planet."

Matt Copson (9 - 15th July) ‘Gargoyle’ 

"For CIRCA I will show an animation of a gargoyle jutting out from the wall of LEDs, tongue outstretched, dripping water from its mouth, eyes scowling. Occasionally it coughs up junk (M&Ms, milk, coins, roaches) and spits them out like a cat would a hairball. The background is pure black, as if the gargoyle is jutting out from the nearby architecture" 

Larry Achiampong (17 - 23rd July) 'Reliquary 2: A Letter of 4 Chapters'

"The thing that has excited me about being a part of this project is not just the opportunity to show something outside, which, where art is concerned, I believe has a stronger traction in getting more people who are usually excluded, involved with art. But the challenging process of storytelling both through these gigantic screens, to bring something to the table that means something, and will hopefully connect with people."

Rosie Hastings and Hannah Quinlan (25 - 31st July) ‘Everything is folly in this world That does not give us pleasure’

"For Circa we will focus on the act of queer dance as a space of freedom, resistance and identity formation. The film will look at the gesture of dance as forming a bridge between the alienated individual confined to a domestic world (with its inherent ideological burden of heterosexuality, property relations and traditional gender roles) and the broader LGBTQ culture/community. The hedonistic joy of dancing is reflected in the text from La Traviata: “Everything is folly in this world That does not give us pleasure."

Anne Imhof (8th, 16th & 24th July) ‘ONE’

“ONE is a work made for the public.  Originally created for the Circa 20:20 New Years Eve countdown to 2021, I am honoured for it to now be a part of Norman Rosenthal’s curation. The video embodies my hopes for 2021 to be a year of change, marking a new period for us all where we stand up for freedom and peace while standing together against structural racism and structural misogyny everywhere. The work is derived from an experiment of isolating a key element from my performance ’SEX’ and displacing it into a natural setting — the seaside landscape of Normandy. The collaborative nature of my work is cyphered down to a performance of one. Eliza Douglas futilely whips the incoming tide as the sun sets beyond the horizon. The curving horizon is interrupted only be the faint gesture of a lighthouse in the distance, creating a dialogue with the imagined British shore beyond.”

Each work will be screened in the following order throughout the month of July at the following times and locations around the world:

  • London, Piccadilly Lights at 20:21 BST
  • Seoul, Coex K-POP Square at 20:21 KST
  • Tokyo, Yunika Vision, Shinjuku at 09:00 JST
  • Online via WWW.CIRCA.ART at 20:21 BST

*Seoul, Coex K-POP Square at 20:10 KST only for Anne Imhof’s presentation of ‘One’ on the 8th, 16th & 24th July 2021

#CIRCACONOMY PRINTS

This month, a series of four hand-signed, limited edition prints by Alvaro Barrington, Matt Copson, Larry Achiampong and Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan are available to purchase for £100 (+VAT where applicable) on the CIRCA website until 31 July. Created in support of the #CIRCAECONOMY, 70% of the profits are circulated back into helping build an economy that commissions new public art in our communities, nurtures more diverse cultural industries, and supports emerging creative potential with the distribution of cash grants to artists and institutions. For more info, click here.

CuratorsToggle

Sir Norman Rosenthal

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Matt Copson

Alvaro Barrington

Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings

Anne Imhof

Larry Achiampong

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