Screening
Piccadilly Lights (London, UK)
September 16, 2023

Screening at Piccadilly Lights

As a CIRCA2023 Prize finalist, EMERGE:NCY (2023) was screened on the Piccadilly Lights.
Screening at Piccadilly Lights

EMERGE:NCY (2023) was selected as one of 30 CIRCA2023 Prize finalists from over 1,000 global submissions, and screened on the Piccadilly Lights in London at 20:23 GMT on September 16, 2023.

The site-specific film responds to the CIRCA2023 Manifesto (HOPE: THE ART OF READING WHAT IS NOT YET WRITTEN), positioning a monumental figure struggling to physically break out of Europe’s largest commercial LED billboard. Drawing from Rebecca Solnit’s reading "inside the word 'emergency' is 'emerge'", the work converts a dominant site of public advertising infrastructure to a temporary canvas of relentless physical struggle through uncertainties.

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The CIRCA 2023 edition is juried by a panel including Sir Frank Bowling, Douglas Gordon, Anne Imhof, Michèle Lamy, Shirin Neshat, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Josef O’Connor, Olu Odukoya, Sir Norman Rosenthal and Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, alongside an international public vote powered by Piccadilly Lights.

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Xin Wen and JJ Agcaoili operate as XJ: a Chinese-American and Filipino artistic duo grown out of London, now working internationally. Their award-winning practice reckons with the human subject in collision with the material and digital structures that determine contemporary life. This focus is embodied in their expansive body of work across experimental video, kinetic sculpture, and immersive installation, which has been exhibited in Stockholm, San Francisco, Taiwan, Linz, Singapore, London, and more.

Exhibitions & Appearances

2026 Solo exhibition, MVR Gallery (Ithaca, NY, USA)
2026 Solo exhibition, Helix Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden)
2026 Artist Talk, Helix Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden)
2025 Silent Interference, Turtle Chamber Projects (Taoyuan, Taiwan)
2025 Alternative Roots, Hoxton Hall (London, UK)
2025 Speculum Artium Festival (Trbovlje, Slovenia)
2025 Artist Talk, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA)
2024 Solo exhibition, Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA, USA)
2024 Into the Future, Whitespace Gallery (Edinburgh, UK)
2024 Artist Talk, Technarte Conference (Bilbao, Spain)
2023 Royal Society of Sculptors (London, UK)
2023 CIRCA2023, Piccadilly Lights (London, UK; also: Berlin, Milan)
2023 Ars Electronica Festival 2023 (Linz, Austria)
2023 ART-ACT Festival, Singapore Art Week (Singapore)

Awards & Commissions

2025 Kakilang Commission
2024 Artsted 99 Future Blue-Chip Artists
2023 CIRCA 20:23 Public Vote Prize
2023 Interplay Kinetic Design: Major Award & £1K Grant
2023 Media Architecture Biennale 2023 Finalist

Press & Mentions

Xin Wen and JJ Agcaoili