Press Release: Björk Launches CIRCA PRIZE 2025
BJÖRK LAUNCHES CIRCA PRIZE 2025
WORLDWIDE OPEN CALL FOR EMERGING ARTISTS
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(Piccadilly Circus, London) 1 May, 2025 ➳ CIRCA PRIZE 2025 launches with a live presentation by Björk on London’s Piccadilly Lights. Announcing a global open call for artists, the prestigious prize invites early career artists to submit a 2.5-minute video work for the chance to win £40,000 – and the opportunity to realise a major public commission in 2027.
Now in its fifth year, CIRCA PRIZE invites submissions in response to REFUGIA — the 2025 manifesto from CIRCA. Rooted in ideas of ecological rupture, forced migration, and collective memory, REFUGIA offers a poetic and political framework for reimagining public space in a time of planetary crisis. This year’s prize challenges artists to consider sanctuary not as retreat, but as resistance — inviting them to propose new ways of seeing, surviving, and shaping our collective future.
Thirty finalists will be selected by this year’s Curators’ Circle – selected annually by CIRCA to uphold the integrity of the prize – to have their work screened throughout September on London’s iconic Piccadilly Lights and broadcast across the CIRCA global platform. This year’s Circle includes Amal Khalaf, Ben Broome, and Samantha Ozer — each representing curatorial practices that reflect and support the wider creative community.
A distinguished jury of cultural leaders — including Multidisciplinary Artist Alvaro Barrington; Musician and Artist Björk; Industry Game Changer Edward Enninful; Curator and Gallerist Ebony L. Haynes; Arts Patron Nicoletta Fiorucci; Cultural Force Michèle Lamy; Founder and Artistic Director of CIRCA Josef O’Connor; Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries Hans Ulrich Obrist; Curator and Historian Norman Rosenthal; and Director of Programme at Tate Modern Catherine Wood — will select one finalist to receive the 2025 CIRCA PRIZE: £30,000 to support their practice and realise a major new public commission, premiering in 2027. The winner will also receive a trophy specially designed by Ai Weiwei.
An additional £10,000 will be awarded to one finalist through a global online vote, powered by Piccadilly Lights — giving the public a direct voice in shaping the future of public art.
Submissions are now live for a 50-day window, closing at midnight on 20 June 2025. The prize welcomes early-career artists worldwide who have not yet realised a public art commission, working across any medium — including moving image, performance, sound, dance, poetry, and digital practices. “CIRCA PRIZE is about platforming bold new voices who see public space not as a backdrop, but as a platform for urgent ideas, shared experience, and radical imagination,” said Josef O’Connor, Artistic Director and Founder of CIRCA. “We’re grateful to everyone who purchased a print this past year, and to the artists who created them — their generosity fuels this prize and powers the possibilities we’re able to offer.”
The CIRCA PRIZE 2025 Award Ceremony will be held LIVE! in Piccadilly Circus on Monday 13 October 2025, marking five years of CIRCA turning city screens into cultural stages.
Previous CIRCA PRIZE winners include Bernice Mulenga (2024), Cemile Sahin (2023), Mary Martins (2022), and Joseph Wilson (2021).
Submissions are free and open now until Midnight, 20 June: https://circa.art/circa-prize/2025
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT CIRCA
CIRCA is a cultural platform for the 21st century. Founded by Josef O’Connor in 2020, CIRCA connects art and technology with the public to create new rituals for a global audience. Hijacking the world’s most iconic city screens, CIRCA commissions leading artists to pause the adverts — and the noise — creating spaces for urgency, imagination, and dialogue. Sales of artist editions fund a circular economy of public art, scholarships, grants, and the annual CIRCA PRIZE — reinvesting creativity back into the community. CIRCA is a movement, a question, a mirror to the world we live in — and the world still to come.
Since launching in 2020, CIRCA has commissioned and exhibited works by some of the world’s most influential and visionary artists, including AA Bronson, Agnes Denes, Ai Weiwei, Alfredo Jaar, Alvaro Barrington, Anne Imhof, Arca, Cauleen Smith, the Dalai Lama, David Hockney, Douglas Gordon, Emma Talbot, Frank Bowling, Gilbert & George, Hetain Patel, Laurie Anderson, Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, Patti Smith, Pussy Riot, Shirin Neshat, Vivienne Westwood, and Yoko Ono. For more information, visit circa.art
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