UVA unleashes its largest exhibition ever at 180 Studios

It’s 20 years since Matt Clark founded United Visual Artists, and to celebrate this momentous milestone, the London-based arts collective is back at 180 The Strand for a bumper exhibition of its immersive audio-visual works.

Commissioned and curated by 180 Studios, in collaboration with Julia Kaganskiy, Synchronicity takes over the labyrinthine concrete spaces of 180 The Strand with eight new site-specific artworks designed to trigger the senses and push our perception of space and time.

UVA draws on diverse subjects ranging from architecture, biology and psychology to quantum physics, data science and technology, and Synchronicity brings together their most immersive works.

At the centre of the exhibition is a new piece commissioned by 180 Studios, dubbed Polyphony, that explores the entanglement of humans and the animal kingdom. It features an immersive soundscape created by bio-acoustician Bernie Krause using recordings by ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno that memorialises nature’s songs and sounds that are being lost to deforestation, industrialisation and species extinction.

Alongside new works are some pivotal artworks from UVA’s back catalogue, adapted especially for the show. Present Shock II is the project that launched UVA’s career, created for Massive Attack’s 100th Window tour in 2003. The artwork – an ever-changing algorithmic news ticker that bombards the viewer with data and information – features a new score by Robert Del Naja using a specially developed audio system.

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Those who missed UVA’s last solo outing at 180 The Strand will also get a second chance to see some of the exhibition’s most instagramed artwork, Our Time. The multi-sensory environment evolved from UVA’s 2013 Barbican commission, Momentum, and features kinetic pendulums swinging in and out of phase to light and sound. It’s been restaged and adapted for the new space and features a soundtrack by late electronic musician Mira Calix.

‘Synchronicity ‘runs from until 25 February 2024 at 180 Studios, 180 The Strand, London, WC2R 1EA. Tickets cost £25 (concessions are available – more info at 180 Studios)