Press Release: Anne Imhof, YOUTH
CIRCA 20:23 PRESENTS YOUTH BY ANNE IMHOF
Press Release
(Piccadilly Circus, London) 1 February, CIRCA 20:23 ➳ The Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA) continues its 20:23 programme on hope with the artist of a new generation, Anne Imhof. Launching 3 – 28 February 2023 across a global network of digital billboards, YOUTH will appear for the very first time on Asia Pacific’s largest LED outdoor screen in Hong Kong and broadcast every evening as usual in London’s Piccadilly Circus, Berlin, Milan, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul and Tokyo.
Imhof, an artist who draws on cultural history, from Greek mythology to underground culture, whilst examining the dynamics of power, notes ➳ “When I first saw these horses running through a deserted suburbia, I was thinking: What if Youth is freedom? What if Youth is hope? What if Youth is peace? One year later, watching them gallop around the world, the questions still remain the same.”
YOUTH was originally intended to be shown at the Garage Museum, Moscow, but was cancelled due to the start of the Russian-Ukraine war on 24 February 2022. With this CIRCA 20:23 presentation marking one year since the conflict began, CIRCA collaborates with Anne Imhof to organise a 24-hour fundraiser. Taking place on Friday, 24 February 2023, proceeds will aid youth affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Visit CIRCA.ART/YOUTH to register for updates.
Filmed in Moscow, YOUTH presents a group of horses running and communing together in an open field covered in freshly fallen snow. They seem to nurture one another, moving beautifully and freely through the natural environment to the baroque strains of J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. As the day moves slowly into night, the film reveals the site as an urban one, a historical, social housing development located at the city’s edge. Severnoye Chertanovo, built in the late 1960s, was developed as an experiment in mass housing after the Stalinist era. Humans are absent from the film, which touches on ideas of space, displacement and disorientation.
#CIRCAECONOMY PRINT
CIRCA has collaborated with Anne Imhof to develop a signed, limited-edition print in support of the #CIRCAECONOMY – a circular model that funds the CIRCA free public art programme and creates life-changing opportunities for the wider creative community. Available to order here.
Sir Norman Rosenthal, CIRCA Advisory Council Chairman, comments ➳ “Anne Imhof is, to my mind, one of the archetypal artists of this generation. She encapsulates through performance, through choreography, through painting, through drawing and just through being the necessary dreams and bottomless troubles of this age. She stares into the black hole and, through what she does, finds routes for escape and even hope. CIRCA is honoured to be showing this film of her horses galloping in the deep snow whilst hopefully raising vital funds for the ‘Youth’ of Ukraine. In the music and words of J. S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion – ‘have mercy on all of us’. We sure need it. And we need the art of Anne Imhof!”
Anne Imhof has risen over the past decade to become one of the most renowned artists of her generation. The winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale (2017), Imhof has exhibited globally at Tate Modern, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Based between Berlin and New York, Imhof spent her formative years in Frankfurt am Main, where she taught herself to draw and make music while working as a bouncer at a local nightclub.
CIRCA 20:23 presents YOUTH by Anne Imhof coincides with the largest presentation of the artist’s work in the United States to date and her first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Sprüth Magers from 15 February – 6 May 2023. Coinciding with Frieze LA (16 – 19 February), YOUTH will be screened every evening at 20:23 on Pendry West Hollywood and hourly on Marriott LA Live. See below for more details.
NOTES TO EDITORS
CIRCA 20:23 FEBRUARY PROGRAMME
YOUTH by Anne Imhof, 3 – 28 February, CIRCA 20:23
20:23 GMT ➳ London, Piccadilly Lights
20:23 HKT ➳ Hong Kong, CVISION – SOGO
20:23 CET ➳ Berlin, Limes, Kurfürstendamm
20:23 EST ➳ New York, Times Square, EssilorLuxottica
20:23 CET ➳ Milan, Cadorna Square, EssilorLuxottica
20:23 KST ➳ Seoul, COEX K-Pop Square
20:23 PST ➳ Los Angeles, Pendry West Hollywood (14-19 February during Frieze LA)
Hourly PST ➳ Los Angeles, Marriott, 901 W Olympic Blvd
Hourly JST ➳ Tokyo, Shibuya Crossing (6-12 February)
CIRCA MAP OF GLOBAL SCREENINGS
ABOUT ANNE IMHOF
Anne Imhof (born 1978, Gießen) lives and works in Berlin and New York. Her paintings, sculptures, and performances have been shown internationally since 2012. Imhof’s work has been the subject of monographic exhibitions at Tate Modern, London (2019), The Art Institute of Chicago (2019), the German Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2017), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2016), Kunsthalle Basel (2016), MoMA PS1, New York (2015), Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes (2014), and Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (2013). She represented Germany at the 2017 Venice Biennale, where she was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, and won the Absolut Art Award (2017) and the Preis der Nationalgalerie (2015). Imhof co-writes the music for her performance pieces, including Angst, Faust (both together with Franziska Aigner, Billy Bultheel, Eliza Douglas) and Sex (together with Bultheel, Douglas, and Ville Haimala). In 2017, Galerie Buchholz released her debut single, Brand New Gods. Her debut album, Faust, was released by PAN in 2019.
ABOUT CIRCA
The Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA) is a digital art and culture platform with a purpose. Every evening at 20:23, CIRCA stops the clock across a global network of public screens and mobilises the world’s greatest creative minds to broadcast unique works of art that consider our world, circa now. Driven by purpose, funds generated from artist print sales enable the #CIRCAECONOMY – a circular model that supports the CIRCA free public art programme whilst also creating life-changing opportunities for a global creative community. Since launching in October 2020 on London’s Piccadilly Lights, CIRCA has distributed over £500,000 in cash grants, scholarships and donations.
Previous CIRCA commissioned artists include Ai Weiwei, Cauleen Smith, Eddie Peake, Patti Smith, Tony Cokes, Emma Talbot, Vivienne Westwood, Yoko Ono, Marina Abramović, James Barnor, David Hockney, Cassandra Press, Shirin Neshat, Dalai Lama and more. (www.circa.art)
SUPPORTERS
CIRCA has been made possible by Landsec, landlord of Piccadilly Lights. This February, we are especially grateful to our global screening partners Sogo Hong Kong, Limes OOH, EssilorLuxottica, Neo Shibuya TV, StandardVision, Pendry Hotel West Hollywood and Marriott for their support of our free public art programme.
CIRCA would especially like to thank Anne Imhof and her studio for their trust and continued support.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram ➳ @anne_imhof | @circa.art
Twitter ➳ @circa__art
Facebook ➳ @circa.art.fb
#ANNEIMHOF
#CIRCA2023
PRESS
To preview the film, click here.
To download the media pack, click here.
For press enquiries, please contact:
Svetlana Leu | svetlana@circa.art