TO MAKE YOU THINK, TO MAKE YOU FEEL
TO MAKE ART THAT INCITES CHANGE
we dream
to create
the impossible
WATCH ARTIST INSIGHTS FROM WORD IN MOTION
When the recession struck in 2009, we were motivated to found Smile for London, the first ever digital art exhibition on the Underground that invited artists to create films that engage and boost the mood of London's Tube commuters.
The exhibition smashed the January recession bitten blues with 34 silent films by celebrated artists and emerging talent, during weekday rush hours from 17th to 28th January 2011 and picked up an award for Best Non Advertising Outdoor Content at the Love Screen awards. Kiera Knightly made a guest appearance in the film by artist Stuart Pearson Wright.
The submissions were judged by Stephen Bayley, Neville Brody, Shane Walters (onedotzero), Jeremy Boxer (Vimeo) and Gavin Lucas (Creative Review) with the winners announced at the launch night at the Museum of London, which ran a tandem overground exhibition of the films.
SMILE FOR LONDON
Our second exhibition Word in Motion, took it’s cue from the seeming indifference shown to literature during the London youth riots. It's aim was to inspire an interest among young people in poetry and prose as a form of creative expression, as well as amuse and visually inspire commuters during the bleak month of January.
The exhibition united some of the UK's finest poets, writers and lyricists (including Ray Davies, Cerys Matthews and Benjamin Zephaniah) with leading artists (including Malcolm Garrett, Hexstatic and Why Not Associates) in a collaborative project that was screened for two weeks during the rush hour on the London Underground.
The illustrators, typographers, animators and filmmakers picked their poems blind with no knowledge of which writers’ work they chose to bring to life. This selection process was designed to ensure the artists had an emotional engagement with their chosen poem and weren't influenced by the popularity of the poet.
Fantastic submissions from budding writers in response to our online request were judged by Bang Said The Gun, Jarvis Cocker, Cerys Matthews, Murray Lachlan Young and Mark One, BAFTA winning director and creative director. The films were premiered at the launch night at XOYO in Shoreditch where several renown contributing poets performed live and Maxy Jazz spun discs at the after party.
YOU CAN SEE THE FILMS AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS & CONTRIBUTERS AT
WORD IN MOTION
