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Project Overview

Film and Video Umbrella, Somerset House Studios and HOME Manchester are pleased to announce a newly commissioned film and installation by artist Jenkin Van Zyl. 

Enclosure is an immersive film installation that explores a culture where technological advancement has outpaced our ability to make sense of it. 

Set within a decaying facility that once allowed tourists to inhabit replicas of other people, Enclosure unfolds over a single day known as Founding Day, the annual window in which Donors must renew or terminate their corporeal doubles, known as Cherubs. When the film's protagonist Mercy, a starlet who lent her likeness to the programme, arrives to terminate her double, the ritual intended to sever their connection instead draws them closer.

At its core, the work asks what happens when systems built on desire and self-preservation outlast the conditions that created them. In a world where meaning erodes faster than systems can adapt, Enclosure presents maintenance as a form of denial, as institutions, technologies, and individuals persist in upkeep beyond its purpose.

The installation extends Enclosure into a large-scale immersive environment where audiences move through the material remains of the facility — fairground signage, office debris, decaying ephemera — a world still performing long after the system it served has collapsed. 

Project details

Current exhibition

Enclosure

Somerset House (Lancaster Rooms),
Strand, London WC2R 1LA.

24 September 2026 – 29 November 2026

More information

Enclosure is commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, Somerset House Studios and HOME, Manchester. 

The film is produced by Film and Video Umbrella. 

Developed in residence at Somerset House Studios. 

FVU and HOME are supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

After premiering at Somerset House Studios, Enclosure will open at HOME, Manchester from 26 February to 16 May 2027.

Media

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Press

Dazed | Jenkin van Zyl on deepfakes, replication and rogue AI agents

23 September 2026
Link to article

Time Out | The 10 London art exhibitions we’re most excited about in autumn 2026

5 October 2026
Link to article

FAD Magazine | FAD NEWS: Jenkin van Zyl to transform Somerset House Studios with new immersive film installation Enclosure

14 July 2026
Link to article
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