ABOUT

CIRCA is an evolving portrait of the present moment, created by artists.

Founded by Josef O’Connor in 2020, CIRCA commissions and presents new works by some of the greatest artists and thinkers of our time. Together, these works trace the ideas, tensions and possibilities shaping life in the twenty-first century, creating a living record of our age as it unfolds.

The name CIRCA is derived from the Latin word meaning “around” or “about” a particular point in time. Often used when certainty is impossible, the word reflects a simple proposition: that artists can help us better understand the moment we are living through. Rather than looking backwards from the distance of history, CIRCA invites artists to engage with the world as it is now, while the future is still being written.

Since its launch, CIRCA has collaborated with artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers and thinkers including Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, Marina Abramović, David Hockney, Patti Smith, Frank Bowling, Alvaro Barrington, Arca, Vivienne Westwood, Kandis Williams, Michelangelo Pistoletto and many others. Through moving image, public exhibitions, publishing, live experiences and social engagement, these works explore some of the defining questions of our time. Freedom and authority, technology and humanity, identity and belonging, peace and conflict, memory and change.

CIRCA operates across public space, publishing, moving image and live experiences. Its commissions appear on public screens, in books, exhibitions, performances, classrooms and digital platforms, creating opportunities for culture to circulate beyond the boundaries of traditional institutions. What begins as a commission often expands into something larger, connecting artists, audiences and communities through shared experiences, public dialogue and collective participation.

At the centre of CIRCA is the #CIRCAECONOMY, a circular model that transforms cultural engagement into future cultural production. Publications, editions and partnerships generate support for new commissions, public programmes, prizes, scholarships and purpose-led initiatives worldwide. In this way, one commission creates the conditions for the next, ensuring that the portrait continues to evolve.

Since 2020, CIRCA has generated more than £1 million in support of artists and social causes, demonstrating how culture can create value beyond the artwork itself.

Part cultural institution, part publisher and part public platform, CIRCA exists to connect artists with the present moment and audiences with the ideas shaping their time.

The portrait is never complete. Each new commission adds another perspective, another question, another way of understanding the world around us, circa now.

 

AA Bronson + General Idea
Agnes Denes
Ai Weiwei
Alfredo Jaar
Alvaro Barrington
Anne Imhof
Arca
Cassandra Press
Cauleen Smith
Dalai Lama
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
David Hockney
Dick Jewell
Douglas Gordon
Eddie Peake
Emma Talbot
Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press
Frank Bowling
Gilbert & George
Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings
Hetain Patel
James Barnor
Kembra Pfahler
Koo Jeong A
Larry Achiampong
Laure Prouvost
Laurie Anderson
Marina Abramović
Matt Copson
Michèle Lamy
Nikita Gale
Olafur Eliasson
Patti Smith
Pussy Riot
Shirin Neshat
Simon Fujiwara
Slawn
Sojung Jun
Tony Cokes
Vivienne Westwood
Yoko Ono