30 video artists will have their work showcased on public screens across the globe throughout September, with one finalist winning a grand prize of £30,000
As the medium of film continues to snowball through our digital, camera-phone-baring culture, and algorithms favour the homegrown, organic, and cutting edge in media, CIRCA continues their collaboration with Dazed in celebration of red-hot talent in the world of filmmaking.
Today, as part of the CIRCA X Dazed Class of 2022 initiative, it has been announced that the work of 30 talents will appear on public screens around the world (including London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights). One of these finalists will win the £30,000 grand prize, and a new special prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the finalist who receives the most public votes.
The initiative was co-created last year in an effort to support and empower the next generation of moving-image artists and introduce them to communities on a global scale, as well as offering invaluable exposure through the combined networks of CIRCA and Dazed. With a brief to create a two-and-a-half minute film responding to the theme ‘A Future World’, 30 talents were selected from an astonishing 1,000 applications.
The finalists will have their films screened on London’s Piccadilly Lights, in Berlin’s Limes on Kurfürstendamm, in COEX K-Pop Square in Seoul and in Fed Square in Melbourne - each on a dedicated day throughout this coming September, as well as having a special premiere on Dazed’s channels. The winner will be selected from a jury of industry experts including Martine Syms, Precious Okoyomon, Honey Dijon, Arca, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Dazed Media’s co-founder Jefferson Hack.
Since launching in 2020, CIRCA (The Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Art) have commissioned new work from an impressive roster of seminal talent, including Ai Weiwei, Patti Smith, David Hockney, Yoko Ono and Marina Abramović. Each month, CIRCA sells limited edition prints by exhibiting artists to generate funds for the #CIRCAECONOMY, which generates profits to circulate back into funding life-changing opportunities for young artistic talent to unlock their potential, as well as levelling the playing field for a more diverse and equal creative community.
“The #CIRCAECONOMY £30,000 prize exists to create life changing opportunities for the next gen and wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our exhibiting artists and everyone who purchased a print this past year,” says CIRCA founder Josef O’Connor. We couldn’t be prouder to partner again with Dazed and help lift up these 30 emerging talents, whose work shines a bright light into our future world.”
Jefferson Hack adds: “The level of work is truly mind-blowing - I can’t wait to see the future visions of the selected artists on Piccadilly Circus. The films tackle hard hitting issues from climate change to knife crime; they set out new agendas from Black trans representation and queer narratives to feminism and reclaiming space. This is futurism writ large on the biggest ad screen in Europe.”
The CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2022 are:
Riffy Ahmed; Omar Al-Nakib; Zeina Aref; Bhebhe&Davies; Daria Blum; Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley; Toby Cato; Max Colson; Nadia Coppola; Harriet Davey; Nina Davies; Theo Ellison; Oliver Elphick; Sandi Hudson-Francis; Katayoun Jalilipour; Andrea Khôra; Guilherme Santos; Laila Majid and Louis Blue Newby; Leah Clements; April Lin; Mary Martins; Marissa Mireles Hinds; Andy Picci; Alen and Robi Predanič; Daria Pugachova; Agnes Questionmark; Spencer Ratanavanh; Yukako Tanaka; Guillaume Vandame and Brody Mace-Hopkins; Sophie Vickers.
Visit circa.art to cast your vote for the special public prize before October 10.