No Comment: Prison Art Exhibition at London's Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre in London will host the annual Koestler Arts exhibition from November 1 to December 15, 2024, featuring works by prisoners, mental health patients, and detained immigrants. Curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and former inmate John Costi, the show titled 'No Comment' presents 200 works selected from over 7,500 submissions. Costi, sentenced in 2007, discovered art in prison, later graduated from Central St Martins in 2022, and completed a residency at South London Gallery before opening a studio at Somerset House. The curatorial team includes artists Abbas Zahedi and Larry Achiampong, art historian Aindrea Emelife, activist Jonny Banger, new British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan, and broadcaster Zakia Sewell. Koestler Arts, founded in 1962, runs the Koestler Awards, receiving over 4,000 entries annually from incarcerated individuals. The exhibition aims to highlight hidden talent and challenge prejudices, featuring works across painting, sculpture, music, design, and writing on themes from political satire to personal narratives. In 2022, Ai Weiwei curated the exhibition 'Freedom' after visiting UK prisons. The Southbank Centre event attracts 10,000 visitors yearly, with free guided tours, opportunities for public comments, and sales via the Koestler Arts website.