Artist Ai Weiwei reads Dalai Lama’s new letter to the world: ‘The Art of Hope’

A message of hope from the Dalai Lama is being launched today. Commissioned by the London-based Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (Circa), the official letter ‘The Art of Hope’ will be screen on London’s Piccadilly Lights digital billboards tonight.

Here, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei reads the message: “We must continually consider the oneness of humanity, remembering that we all want to be happy. And indeed, everyone has a right to a happy life. Along the way we may be faced with problems, but we must not lose hope. We must keep up our determination without being impatient to achieve quick results.”

‘The Art of Hope’ will also be broadcast daily throughout January at 20:23 local time across a global network of screens in London, Berlin, Melbourne and Los Angeles.

Inaugurating the Circa 20:23 programme, the Dalai Lama’s exhibition, The Art of Hope was developed with Circa in response to the 2023 manifesto, ‘Hope: The Art of Reading What Is Not Yet Written’. Throughout 2023, a series of commissions around this theme will be presented across Circa’s global platform.

The public has also been invited to participate throughout the year by visiting CIRCA.ART to answer the question: ‘How Do We Create Hope?’ Published alongside a response from the Dalai Lama, an edited selection of these contributions will be collected in Circa’s first book.