A global open call is now live, inviting emerging artists to reimagine sanctuary as resistance. Submissions close June 20.
On May 1, Björk and Michèle Lamy introduced the 2025 CIRCA Prize at London’s Piccadilly Circus with a screening from Björk’s film Cornucopia, marking the start of this year’s open call for emerging artists. The prize, now in its fifth year, invites early-career artists worldwide to submit a 2.5-minute video work responding to the 2025 manifesto, REFUGIA, which explores themes of ecological rupture, forced migration, and collective memory.
Thirty finalists will be selected to have their work displayed on London’s Piccadilly Lights and across CIRCA’s global platform in September. A distinguished jury—including Björk, Michèle Lamy, Alvaro Barrington, Edward Enninful, Ebony L. Haynes, Nicoletta Fiorucci, Josef O’Connor, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Norman Rosenthal, and Catherine Wood—will award one artist £30,000 to support their practice and realize a major public commission premiering in 2027. Additionally, a public vote will grant £10,000 to another finalist, with the winner announced at a live ceremony in Piccadilly Circus on October 13.
Submissions are open until midnight on June 20, 2025. Artists working across mediums, including moving image, performance, sound, dance, poetry, and digital practices, are encouraged to apply.
For more information and to apply, visit circa.art.
