NO COMMENT

No Comment

Co-curated with Jeremy Deller 2024
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre

Koestler Arts’ 17th annual exhibition of artwork from the criminal justice system returned to Southbank, featuring over 200 artworks entered into 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.
We 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 into the programme; while Costi started as an award-winning entrant before becoming a mentee, scholar, member of staff, Awards judge and now curator.
Both Deller and Costi’s involvement with Koestler Arts and work in the criminal justice sector was reflected in the design of the exhibition. Visitors experienced artworks that focus on the realities of life in prison – some artworks touched upon the idea of experiencing a lack of voice and finding a way to overcome this in a challenging environment, mirroring the title of the exhibition, No Comment. Further into the space, a smaller section of artworks celebrated finding art and the role art classes and education can play, which Deller has contributed to over the years by giving workshops and talks in secure settings. Here, visitors could also read about Costi’s own experience of engaging in art programmes while in prison, and the impact this had on him. Finally, the largest section of the space was given to artworks that reflect the freedom of expression that comes with engaging with the arts, and celebrate the boundlessness of the imagination. Therefore, as you moved through the exhibition you followed a representative journey: from feeling restricted and voiceless to finding a sense of freedom beyond the environment through creativity; a journey Deller has seen and one that Costi has lived.
Deller and Costi also introduced a collaborative aspect to the exhibition, by inviting six guests to choose a selection of artworks to be on display among their own selections: Abbas Zahedi, Aindrea Emelife, Larry Achiampong, Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, Jonny Banger and Zakia Sewell. As creatives with different roles in the art world, the guests brought in different viewpoints and choices of artworks to the exhibition. To celebrate their curatorial approach and their guests’ involvement, Deller and Costi asked Koestler Awards entrants to create portraits of each curator and guest involved. A selection of these portraits were on display in the entrance of the space.

https://koestlerarts.org.uk/exhibitions/no-comment/