In summer 2016, Turner Contemporary presents the first UK exhibition to explore how artists have responded to the phenomenon of the circle, the disc or the sphere. This exhibition explores the ways in which artists have used this universal and recurring form, and the very idea of ‘roundness’. Seeing Round Corners showcases more than 50 works, presenting a variety of processes and media including painting, sculpture, film and photography, alongside design objects and historical artefacts.

Whether in the form of a disc, a sphere, a void or an arc, the circle is central to our experience of the natural world and to artists’ depictions of nature. The exhibition includes works by JMW Turner, whose swirling, circular vortex of paint evoked the power of natural forces in his late seascapes and history paintings. The majority of works in the exhibition are from the 20th century onwards, exploring the circle through the prism of modern and contemporary artistic practice, with works by Barry Flanagan, Anish Kapoor, Barbara Hepworth, Paul Nash, David Batchelor, Richard Long and Ben Nicholson, amongst others.

Drawing on a wealth of concepts and subjects from the atomic and the cosmic, geometry and optics, to time, rotation and visual perception, Seeing Round Corners will also include a selection of objects and images from world cultures, religions and history such as scientific instruments, technological images and works from spiritual and mystical traditions.

Seeing Round Corners is curated by artists David Ward and Jonathan Parsons with Turner Contemporary. 
 

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Design

    The arrangement of elements or details in an artefact or a work of art.

  • Film

    A transparent, flexible plastic material, usually of cellulose acetate or polyester, on which light-sensitive emulsion is coated, or on which an image can be formed by various transfer processes.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.

  • Sculpture

    A three-dimensional work of art. Such works may be carved, modelled, constructed, or cast. Sculptures can also be described as assemblage, in the round, relief, and made in a huge variety of media. Contemporary practice also includes live elements, as in Gilbert & George 'Living Sculpture' as well as broadcast work, radio or sound sculpture.