Koestler Arts is proud to present its sixteenth annual London exhibition at the Southbank Centre this November, curated by T.S. Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor. In Case of Emergency will feature nearly 200 artworks across visual, writing and music categories entered into the 2023 Koestler Awards for art in the criminal justice system, by individuals in prisons, secure mental health facilities, immigration removal centres, young offender institutions and on community sentences across the UK.
“When I see these cases, it makes me think of what happens when we break the glass, what happens when ideas escape,” said Joelle Taylor, curator of the show, a previous Koestler Awards judge and a familiar face to the Southbank Centre, with Out-Spoken being a particular cross-artform, calendar highlight. With an underlying feeling of emergency throughout, questions and thoughts such as these will surface when engaging with the variety of artworks in this year’s exhibition. Some of the artworks on display are for sale and will be available to purchase through the Koestler Arts website from 2 November. There will also be opportunities for visitors to write feedback on their favourite pieces in the exhibition space, which will be sent directly to the artists after the exhibition.
In addition to curating the exhibition, Joelle Taylor is also the foreword writer for Koestler Arts’ fourth volume of poetry, Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons. The anthology, which features thoughtful, humorous and moving poetry written by those in criminal justice settings over the past two years, will be published in the Autumn and available to buy at the Pop-Up Shop in the exhibition space. Poems from the fourth anthology, as well as poems entered into the 2023 Koestler Awards, will be performed at Koestler Arts’ annual event, Voices from Prison, on 8 November at the Southbank Centre. Tickets will be available through the Southbank Centre website later in the year. Free, pre-booked exhibition tours will be available for the public at set times of the day (Thursday to Sunday) by specially trained guides who have personal experience of the criminal justice system. The guides will be happy to talk more about the important role creativity plays in the criminal justice system and to supply more information about the wider work of Koestler Arts.
For further information, visit the Southbank Centre website
Image Credit Joelle Taylor at Out-Spoken, Southbank Centre, October 2021. Photo by Pete Woodhead, courtesy of Southbank Centre
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