Gilbert & George, The Believing World

For more than half a century, Gilbert & George have transformed the details of everyday life into a vast and singular artistic universe. Working together since 1967, they have built one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary art, examining the hopes, fears, contradictions and desires that shape modern society. From their home and studio in London’s East End, they have consistently explored the complexities of human experience through a visual language that is at once provocative, humorous, direct and deeply human.

At the centre of their work lies a simple but radical proposition: Art for All. Rejecting the idea that art should belong only to specialists, institutions or collectors, Gilbert & George have spent decades creating works that speak to the widest possible audience. Their art addresses universal questions of identity, belief, mortality, sexuality, politics, faith and belonging, inviting viewers to confront both themselves and the world around them.

Created especially for CIRCA, The Believing World continues this lifelong investigation. Filmed in the courtyard of the artists’ eighteenth-century home and studio in Spitalfields, the work takes the form of what Gilbert & George describe as a “living sculpture”. Seated side by side, dressed in their familiar suits and occupying the role they have long played as both artists and subjects, they deliver 144 handwritten statements that circle around one of humanity’s most enduring and complicated ideas: belief.

The statements are contradictory, playful, confrontational, absurd and profound. Belief appears as a source of comfort and division, hope and delusion, strength and vulnerability. One moment it offers certainty, the next it dissolves into doubt. Rather than providing answers, Gilbert & George expose the instability of belief itself, revealing how deeply it shapes our understanding of the world and our place within it.

The work arrives at a moment when questions of truth, faith and conviction increasingly define public life. Across politics, religion, culture and technology, belief remains one of the forces that connects and divides us. In The Believing World, Gilbert & George approach this subject not through ideology or argument, but through observation. Their statements accumulate into a portrait of contemporary life that is at once intimate and universal, reflecting the confusion, humour, contradictions and uncertainties that accompany being human.

Visually, the work draws upon the formal language that has defined much of Gilbert & George’s practice. Multiple camera angles are arranged within a gridded structure that recalls their monumental picture works while also echoing the fragmented architecture of the public screens on which the commission appears. Individual frames combine to create a single image, mirroring the way individual beliefs coexist, collide and overlap within society itself.

Presented across public screens in London, Berlin, Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles, The Believing World transforms the city into a temporary forum for reflection. In places ordinarily dominated by commerce, advertising and distraction, Gilbert & George offer a space for contemplation, inviting audiences to consider what they believe, why they believe it and how those beliefs shape the world around them.

Broadcast to mark three years of CIRCA and its commitment to supporting artists and cultural communities through the #CIRCAECONOMY, The Believing World is both a celebration and a challenge. Characteristically witty and uncompromising, Gilbert & George remind us that belief remains one of the most powerful forces in human life: capable of creating meaning, inspiring hope and bringing people together, while also generating conflict, prejudice and misunderstanding.

More than fifty years after first declaring their ambition to make art for everyone, Gilbert & George continue to ask difficult questions with extraordinary clarity. In The Believing World, they invite us not simply to observe, but to participate in an ongoing conversation about what it means to believe.

Gilbert & George are among the most influential and recognisable artists of the past half-century. Since meeting at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London in 1967, they have worked as a single artistic entity, dissolving the distinction between individual authorship and collective practice. Declaring themselves “Living Sculptures”, they transformed their lives into an ongoing artwork and developed a body of work guided by their enduring belief in “Art for All”, creating art that speaks directly to audiences beyond the confines of the traditional art world.

From their home and studio in London’s East End, Gilbert & George have built a singular visual language that examines the complexities of contemporary life through themes including identity, religion, sexuality, race, politics, mortality and belief. Their large-scale picture works, often characterised by vivid colours, bold graphic structures and provocative text, transform everyday experiences into powerful reflections on the human condition. For more than five decades, they have chronicled the changing social and cultural landscape of London while addressing questions that resonate far beyond the city itself.

In 2023, Gilbert & George collaborated with CIRCA on The Believing World, a specially commissioned “video sculpture” presented to mark CIRCA’s third anniversary. Broadcast nightly across Piccadilly Lights and CIRCA’s global network of screens in Berlin, Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles, the work transformed one of the world’s most iconic advertising screens into a platform for reflection on the nature of belief. Filmed in the courtyard of the artists’ eighteenth-century home and studio in Spitalfields, The Believing World featured Gilbert & George reading 144 handwritten statements that explored the contradictions, comforts and dangers of belief in contemporary society. Structured as a multi-screen composition that echoed both their celebrated picture works and the historic geometry of Piccadilly Lights itself, the commission brought their practice into dialogue with public space on an unprecedented global scale.

Presented in collaboration with The Gilbert & George Centre, the artists’ gift to the people of London, The Believing World reflected the values that have defined their work since 1967: accessibility, directness and a commitment to engaging audiences from all walks of life. Through humour, provocation and candour, the commission invited viewers to confront uncomfortable questions while celebrating art’s capacity to function as a universal language.

Gilbert & George have exhibited internationally since 1970 and have been the subject of major exhibitions at institutions including Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Moderna Museet and the Venice Biennale, where they represented Britain in 2005. Awarded the Turner Prize in 1986, they continue to occupy a unique position in contemporary culture. Through an unwavering commitment to their shared vision, Gilbert & George have created one of the most distinctive and enduring artistic collaborations in modern history.