In 2021, the medium of moving image has become more powerful than ever before. With the rise of platforms like TikTok pushing us into an increasingly video-centric digital world, the work of filmmakers can offer us fresh new ways of seeing life today.
This week, Dazed and Circa reveal the 30 recipients of their Class of 2021 initiative, which offers budding video artists the chance to have their work showcased on the world’s most iconic public screens this September – including the Piccadilly Lights in London, K-Pop Square in Seoul, and Shinjuku in Tokyo.
The initiative was founded to empower youth and platform new voices from local communities on a global level, giving them unrivalled media exposure and access to Circa and Dazed’s combined networks. These opportunities are all the more vital in a post-pandemic economy, as investment in arts education diminishes and public art spaces shrink.
With the open brief of a two-and-a-half-minute film responding to the theme ‘Communion’, the 30 artists were selected from a staggering 2,000 submissions. They were whittled down by an appointed jury that “represents the length and breadth of the international creative community”. Featuring some of the world’s most important creative leaders, the jury includes names from across the worlds of fashion, film, photography and art, including Cauleen Smith, Frank Lebon, Hugo Comte, Simone Rocha, Dexter Navy, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ib Kamara, Priya Ahluwalia, Caleb Femi, Lawrence Lek, Sabine Getty, and former AnOther cover star Michèle Lamy.
In addition to having their work showcased in the world’s most iconic squares, each of the final 30 artists have also been offered annual access to the Dazed Space, a new multimedia studio complex at 180 The Strand in London. Plus, later this year, one lucky finalist will be selected by Marina Abramović to receive the #CIRCAECONOMY cash prize of £30,000, the recipient of which will be announced at Frieze London in October.
The Class of 2021 winners are:
Alfie White, Athena Vlachos, Bart Seng Wen Long, Ben Cullen Williams, Brin Schoellkopf, Carla Fernández, Christina Anagnostou, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Diane Cescutti, Edd Carr, Ewelina Węgiel, Flavian Berar, Gabriel Massan, Heliena Hagos, Hoa Dung Clerget, Hogan Schia, Joseph Wilson, Josh Spindler, Ksenia Ili, Lucy Loader, Michael and Chiyan Ho, Miles Greenberg, Mojmir Bures, Nicolás Barrera Martínez, Ning Zhou, Rhea Storr, Seulgi Lee Kang, Susu Laroche, Wes Viz, and Zongbo Jiang.
