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 Sir Norman Rosenthal, ‘LONDON ZEITGEIST’ comprised of five independent films by Larry Achiampong, Alvaro Barrington, Matt Copson, artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, 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.” – Sir Norman Rosenthal

I looked at a lot of clouds over the last few 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. -Alvaro Barrington

Alvaro Barrington is an artist whose expansive practice explores the ways culture is formed through community, migration, music, history and exchange. Working across painting, sculpture, textiles, performance and public projects, he creates works that draw together personal experience and collective memory, examining how identities are shaped through the networks of people, places and traditions that connect us.

Born in Venezuela and raised between Grenada, the Caribbean and Brooklyn, New York, Barrington’s work reflects a life lived across multiple geographies and cultural influences. Rejecting distinctions between high and popular culture, he draws inspiration from sources as diverse as hip-hop, jazz, carnival, modernist painting, social history and everyday life. His works often combine unconventional materials and references, creating layered compositions that celebrate the creative potential of community while foregrounding stories that have historically been overlooked within dominant cultural narratives.

In 2021, Barrington participated in London Zeitgeist, a group exhibition curated by Sir Norman Rosenthal for CIRCA. Conceived as a contemporary response to Rosenthal’s landmark 1982 exhibition Zeitgeist, the project brought together a new generation of artists living and working in London whose practices reflected the spirit of the city at a particular moment in time. Broadcast across public screens in London, Seoul and Tokyo, Barrington’s commission considered clouds, weather systems and the natural world as forces that move freely across borders and beyond human control. Accompanied by the time-limited edition Trust Ur Global Stranger, the project reflected his enduring interest in connection, movement and the possibility of finding common ground across cultural difference.

Barrington’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including Tate Britain, the Hayward Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Venice Biennale. Alongside his studio practice, he has developed projects spanning music, fashion, education and public programming, reflecting a belief that art is inseparable from the communities that sustain it. Through a practice rooted in generosity, collaboration and cultural exchange, Alvaro Barrington continues to expand contemporary understandings of what art can be and who it can speak to.