Olivia Erlanger

A body, a neighbourhood, a continent, a planet, an idea—home takes many forms. Projects have looked at the impact of the development of suburbia and its relationship to the American Dream, the subsequent failure of its promise for social mobility via property ownership, and its illusion of safety. Recently, research into the history and mythologies of domestic appliances resulted in a play, installations, a book, and a film. These extend the metaphor of the home as a body to the body as an appliance and complicate ideas around agency and gender roles, particularly around historical notions of hysteria.

HOW DOES YOUR SUBMITTED WORK RESPOND TO THE CIRCA 20:25 MANIFESTO?
Refugia brought me back to a recurring question in my practice: what happens when our first home—the body—can’t be a refuge? When we can’t care for it? As climate catastrophe increases, our environment toxifies, leading to greater rates of disease and illness. If individuals are increasingly disenfranchised from their own well-being by for-profit medical systems, then community becomes both necessary and radical: a powerful antidote, a salve for the fragmentation of our physical and psychic worlds. This is a vital subject to interrogate as the world shifts towards privatized models of care that view human bodies as capital.

IF AWARDED THE £30,000 CIRCA PRIZE, WHAT 10-MINUTE WORK WOULD YOU CREATE – AND HOW WOULD IT EMBODY THE SPIRIT OF REFUGIA?
My video, 3992, will explore how the state pathologizes desire and how legislators and private companies systematically trivialize the libidinal body. Found footage and archival imagery will accompany interviews with lawyers, researchers, and activists working towards more equitable forms of care. The Circa Prize will allow me to pay my interview subjects, travel to different research hospitals, and edit hours of archival footage. My project embodies the spirit of refugia by insisting that bodies are “more‐than‐representational” and have affective capacities that can not be reduced solely to productivity.

FOLLOW OLIVIA ERLANGER ON INSTAGRAM

Funding for the CIRCA PRIZE is generated entirely by the #CIRCAECONOMY, a circular model that reinvests proceeds from affordable art sold on CIRCA.ART into new public art commissions, charitable causes, art education and prizes. Since launching in 2020, the initiative has raised over £1 Million, placing artists and communities at the centre of an economy that continually reinvests in the future of art and culture.

The CIRCA PRIZE 2025 winners will be revealed LIVE in Piccadilly Circus on Monday 13 October, with a special 30-minute award ceremony starting at 20:00 BST. Don’t miss it!