Youth

Anne Imhof

Anne Imhof is among the most influential artists working today. Across performance, painting, film, music and installation, she has developed a singular visual language that captures the emotional atmosphere of contemporary life, exploring desire, vulnerability, power and alienation through works that unfold somewhere between choreography, concert, ritual and social encounter.

Often bringing together musicians, performers and long-time collaborators within immersive environments, Imhof creates situations in which tension accumulates slowly and meaning emerges through gesture, movement and presence. Her works are less concerned with narrative than with sensation, producing experiences that feel simultaneously intimate and monumental. This distinctive approach reached international prominence with Faust, awarded the Golden Lion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, and has since been presented at institutions including Tate Modern, Palais de Tokyo, Hamburger Bahnhof and MoMA PS1.

Imhof’s relationship with CIRCA began at a moment of profound global uncertainty. On New Year’s Eve 2020, ONEtransformed Piccadilly Lights into a cinematic meditation on endings and beginnings, broadcast in the final moments before the arrival of 2021 alongside Patti Smith’s midnight performance. She returned the following year with YOUTH, extending her exploration of freedom, longing and collective identity into public space through a month-long commission experienced by audiences across CIRCA’s growing international network. Together, these projects brought Imhof’s distinctive world beyond the museum and gallery, placing it within the rhythms of everyday urban life.

Whether working with a single image, a live body or an entire architectural environment, Imhof continues to create works that capture the psychological conditions of the present moment, revealing both the fragility and intensity of contemporary existence.