Press release: CIRCA PRIZE 2021

CIRCA, DAZED AND A COMMUNITY OF JURORS INCLUDING MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ, JEFFERSON HACK, CAULEEN SMITH, FRANK LEBON, HUGO COMTE, SIMONE ROCHA, DEXTER NAVY, HANS ULRICH OBRIST, IB KAMARA, PRIYA AHLUWALIA, CALEB FEMI, LAWRENCE LEK, SABINE GETTY AND JENN NKIRU ANNOUNCE THE CLASS OF 2021 

LONDON, 18 August, 2021 – After receiving 2,000 applications, 700 submitted artworks and watching 30 hours of best-in-class film making CIRCA and Dazed announce the 30 artists who will become the CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2021. The public call out for the inaugural CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2021 asked audiences to respond to the theme ‘Communion’ with a two and a half minute film. 

Expanding on their commitment to support the talent of tomorrow, CIRCA and Dazed have appointed a jury that represents the length and breadth of the international creative community featuring some of the world’s most important creative leaders across art, design, film, photography, music, movement, fashion and culture including Cauleen Smith, Jefferson Hack, Frank Lebon, Hugo Comte, Simone Rocha, Dexter Navy, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ib Kamara, Priya Ahluwalia, Caleb Femi, Lawrence Lek, Sabine Getty and Jenn Nkiru. 

One lucky finalist will be selected by Marina Abramović to receive the #CIRCAECONOMY cash prize of £30,000. Generated from the sale of affordable prints by CIRCA artists including Patti Smith, Ai Weiwei and David Hockney, #CIRCAECONOMY profits are circulated back into helping build an economy that commissions new public art in our communities, nurtures more diverse cultural industries, and supports emerging creative potential. 

Class of 2021 L-R: Alfie White, Athena Vlachos, Bart Seng Wen Long, Ben Cullen Williams, Brin Schoellkopf, Carla Fernández, Christina Anagnostou, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Diane Cescutti, Edd Carr, Ewelina Węgiel, Flavian Berar, Gabriel Massan, Heliena Hagos and Hoa Dung Clerget. 

This September, all 30 artists – the CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2021 – will see their work join the CIRCA public art programme and appear daily on London’s Piccadilly Lights, Seoul’s Coex K-Pop Square and at Tokyo’s Yunika Vision. Alongside having their work and stories platformed to a global audience of millions on CIRCA.ART and Dazeddigital.com, each of the final 30 artists have also been offered annual access to the Dazed Space, a new multimedia studio complex at 180 The Strand in London. 

Class of 2021 continued L-R: Hogan Schia, Joseph Wilson, Josh Spindler, Ksenia Ili, Lucy Loader, Michael and Chiyan Ho, Miles Greenberg, Mojmir Bures, Nicolás Barrera Martínez, Ning Zhou, Rhea Storr, Seulgi Lee Kang, Susu Laroche, Wes Viz and Zongbo Jiang

The CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2021 was co-created by CIRCA and Dazed to spotlight and support the next generation of artists working in moving-image. With public art spaces diminishing, investment in arts education being cut and artist communities at risk, the joint initiative aims to empower youth through creativity and platform new voices and points of view from local communities on a global level, giving them unrivalled media exposure and access to CIRCA and Dazed’s combined networks. 

With special thanks to the CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2021 jury: 

Ahmad Swaid, Head of Content at Dazed Media; Alexander Fury, Fashion Features Director, AnOther; Angel Rose, Visual Artist and Lecturer; Antonia Marsh, Director at Soft Opening Gallery; Bafic, Artist and Director; Caius Pawson, Founder Young, Director XL Recordings; Caleb Femi, Writer, Director; Caroline Norbury, Chief Executive of Creative Industries Federation; Cassie Beadle, Curator, Cob Gallery; Cauleen Smith, Filmmaker and Interdisciplinary Artist; Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director, Acute Art; Derek Manns, Commercial Media Director, Landsec; Dexter Navy, Filmmaker and Photographer; Ellie Grace Cumming, Fashion Director, AnOther; Ellie Pennick, Director and Founder, Guts Gallery; Ferdinando Verderi, Creative Director, Vogue Italia; Frank Lebon, Artist; Gareth Wrighton, Art Director, Dazed; Greg Hilty Curatorial Director, Lisson; Greta Hewison, Film London Jarman Award; Hannah Barry, Director, Bold Tendencies & Hannah Barry Gallery; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries; Holly Blakey, Choreographer; Hugo Comte, Image Maker; Ib Kamara, Editor-in-Chief, Dazed; Ivan Blackstock, Multidisciplinary Artist; Jefferson Hack, Co-Founder, Dazed; Jenn Nkiru, Artist and Director; Jess Kohl, Filmmaker; Jordan Hemingway, Photographer, Director and Cinematographer; Josef O’Connor, Founder, CIRCA, Julia Peyton Jones, Senior Global Director: Special Projects, Thaddaeus Ropac; Julianknxx, Artist; Katie Metcalfe, Video Commissioner, Nowness; Katie Shillingford, Fashion Director, AnOther; Kay Pallister, Curator, Gagosian; Lawrence Lek, Artist; Leonn Ward, Director; Lulu Kennedy, Founder and Director of Fashion East; Lynette Nylander, Executive Editorial Director; Marc Macdonald, Communications Executive, Dazed Media; Norman Rosenthal, Art Curator and Writer; Priya Ahluwalia, Designer; Rafael Pavarotti, Photographer and Director; Rhea Dillon, Artist; Ruth Waters, Studio & Editions Manager, CIRCA; Sabine Getty, Editor-at-Large, Tatler; Sean Bidder, Creative Director, The Vinyl Factory; Sharna Osborne, Photographer/Director; Simone Rocha, Fashion Designer; Sophie McElligott, Head of Communications, Dazed Media; Susannah Frankel, Editor-in-Chief, AnOther; Tony Tremlett, Digital Curator, CIRCA; and Yinka Ilori, Artist & Designer. 

The winner of the #CIRCAECONOMY cash prize of £30,000 will be announced at an event during Frieze London in October. 

@circa.art @dazed #classof2021 

ENDS

 

DAZED CONTACT 

Sophie McElligott, Head of Communications, Dazed Media
sophie.mcelligott@dazedmedia.com

CIRCA CONTACT 

Tony Tremlett, CIRCA
press@circa.art

NOTES TO EDITORS 

ABOUT DAZED
Launched in London in 1991, Dazed is the world’s leading independent fashion, culture and arts publisher with a global reputation championing radical fashion, music, art, film, politics and ideas and youth culture.

Dazed is the world’s most trusted voice in fashion and youth culture. Online, in print, on social channels and through campaigns and events, Dazed empowers global youth through creativity. From its London HQ, Dazed operates Dazed Digital, Dazed magazine, and social channels including Dazed and Dazed Fashion. Outside the UK, Dazed has offices in China and Korea, both with digital channels and print editions. 

In 2021, Ib Kamara became editor-in-chief and Lynette Nylander became executive editorial director with a mission to represent the times and question the future — bringing to light a global point of view and perspectives that reflect our growing and diverse world. 

ABOUT CIRCA
CIRCA is a pioneering art platform that commissions and streams a monthly programme of art and culture, every evening at 20:21, across a global network of billboard screens in London, Tokyo and Seoul.

The largest public art project in Europe, CIRCA commissions new work that considers the world in response to the present year: circa 2020, 2021, etc. Since launching in October 2020, CIRCA has commissioned new work from rising and established names including Ai Weiwei, Cauleen Smith, Eddie Peake, Anne Imhof, Patti Smith, Tony Cokes, Emma Talbot, Vivienne Westwood, James Barnor, and David Hockney. 

Rooted in time and bringing people together, CIRCA offers an innovative new way for the public to engage with art and support creative communities through the sale of limited edition #CIRCAECONOMY prints — realised through this life changing partnership with Dazed to award one artist with £30,000.