Stephen Willats's 'Artwork as Social Model' at Victoria Miro examines community networks and digital alienation.

Stephen Willats's exhibition titled 'Time Tumbler' will be on display at Victoria Miro in London from 22 November to 13 January. The show focuses on his conceptual approach known as 'Artwork as Social Model,' which involves gathering testimonies from local communities to produce visual pieces that merge photography, diagrams, and text. A notable example is 'The Compartmentalised Cliff' (1977), which involved residents of a Paris tower block. Willats's art investigates community dynamics within the context of late twentieth-century global economies, suggesting that art can influence behavior and reshape history. His earlier works reflect a nostalgic utilitarian aesthetic, while recent pieces like 'Omni Directional Search Engine Drawings' (2018–22) utilize hand-drawn diagrams to explore digital complexities and alienation in today's information-driven society. The exhibition emphasizes Willats's empathetic understanding of people, standing in contrast to current art movements, as it seeks to conceptualize societal issues amidst technological reliance and abstract labor.