This year’s national Koestler Arts exhibition is called No Comment and is co-curated by Jeremy Deller & John Costi. It runs from 1 November – 15 December 2024 at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre and is free to view.
There were over 5,000 entries sent to Koestler for consideration. Seven pieces
created by Elysium service users from The Spinney, Thornford Park and Arbury Court were chosen for the exhibition. One gentleman successfully had two chosen for the exhibition.
Koestler Arts’ 17th annual exhibition of artwork from the criminal justice system features over 200 artworks entered in to the 2024 Koestler Awards, from prisons, secure hospitals, secure children’s homes and immigration removal centres, as well as those on probation, community sentences and youth offending teams.
This year, Koestler invited Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and former prisoner-turned-artist John Costi to co-curate the exhibition. Both artists have a long-standing relationship with Koestler Arts: Deller has supported the charity as an Awards judge for over 15 years, giving prizes to, and writing feedback for, artworks entered in to the programme; while Costi started as an award-winning entrant before becoming a mentee, scholar, member of staff, Awards judge and now curator.
In this year’s film we worked hard to represent the staff members who support patients in secure settings to engage in art and enter pieces in Koestler. The driver for the film is John Costi one of the curators who generously spoke to three Elysium pieces and spoke about the power of art and the importance of having something created inside, shown on the outside.