‘8 x 8 Mah Jong Re-imagined’

In 2016 Vital Arts collaborated with furniture designer Roche Bobois and international contemporary art magazine ArtReview to host a joint charity art auction at Barts Hospital. This special event saw eight artworks based on Hans Hopfer’s iconic 1971 ‘Mah Jong’ sofa go under the hammer to benefit Vital Arts and Gasworks.

The eight artists commissioned to make new work were Pio Abad, Larry Achiampong, Cornelia Baltes, Patrizio Di Massimo, George Eksts, Lauren Godfrey, Peter Liversidge and Joby Williamson. ArtReview produced a standalone supplement profiling all eight artists and their completed works, as well as texts by Alessio Antoniolli and Catsou Roberts. It was distributed in the UK with the April 2016 issue of ArtReview. You can see the eight artworks here, or watch the short video made by ArtReview on the below.

The works were on view from 5–10 April 2016 at Roche Bobois Chelsea, 286 Fulham Road, London SW10 9EW, before Vital Arts hosted the auction event in the atmospheric 18th Century Great Hall at Barts, which is accessed via a historic stairwell painted by William Hogarth on 21 April.