Saatchi know how to put on a show and “Civilization: The Way We Live Now” promises to feature new and diverse images that showcase the material and spiritual cultures of the world today. It will explore different subjects, including our collective achievements and failures, highlighting the complexities and contradictions of contemporary civilization. Photographers from all five continents are participating, showcasing their works on topics such as leisure parks, high school subcultures, insane work habits, wealth, water resources, megacities, past civilizational glories, and electronic wastelands. The exhibition brings together powerful imagery to create a unique and challenging discourse.
A collaboration between Saatchi Gallery and the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, with curators William A. Ewing and Holly Roussell, the highly-anticipated exhibition has toured in major museums across Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, France and Italy and includes a new selection of works curated especially for this London edition at Saatchi Gallery. In addition to the photographers with decades of experience, Civilization features the work of many in mid-career, as well as emerging talents.
“Photographers are at work everywhere, photographing everything, using their eyes and their minds to seize telling moments in the rapid flux with sharp, vivid images. Photographers are our civilization’s eyes… Ironically, it may be that many of these photographs will last longer than the monuments and artefacts that they depict. London has always been a great centre for the celebration of photography from all corners of the globe, filled with collections, archives, museums and galleries deeply committed to the promotion of this vital art form. We curators have been privileged to benefit from many loans from these sources, and welcome Saatchi Gallery’s invitation to share the fruits of our research with a London audience.”
Curator William A. Ewing explains
The exhibition is organized into eight chapters that take the viewer on a journey through different aspects of civilization. These include HIVE, which focuses on urban environments; ALONE TOGETHER, which explores social relationships; FLOW, which looks at the movement of people, goods, and ideas; PERSUASION, which examines strategies used by politicians and merchants to influence behavior; CONTROL, which deals with authority and power; RUPTURE, which highlights societal breakdown and conflict; ESCAPE, which showcases people seeking relief from the mundane; and NEXT?, which hints at the new world emerging in the 21st century.
Tickets £16; Concessions* £10; Children Under 6*, Free; Children Aged 6-16 years, £10; Family Ticket*, £38*; *T&Cs Apply. Advanced booking is strongly advised. Tickets available to book now: saatchigallery.com/tickets