CYLINDER Turns Sir Devonshire Square Hotel Into a Volume of Art, Fashion and Sound

There was a feeling of rotation to CYLINDER, as though the entire evening was designed to move in continuous motion around a central idea. Held at Sir Devonshire Square Hotel  in the artistic heart of the city, the event curated by contemporary artist Ola Badiru transformed the hotel into a shifting cultural structure where music, fine art, fashion and conversation revolved around one another in seamless cycles. Known for a practice that explores identity, power and modern society through visual art and wider cultural collaboration, Badiru brought together multiple disciplines under one roof, continuing the same expansive vision that has seen his work exhibited across London and Paris alongside collaborations with brands such as Off-White and Nike. 

Photography by Seyi Opesan

The venue itself played a major role in shaping the atmosphere of the night. Part of the wider Sircle Collection ecosystem, with locations across Amsterdam, Vienna, London and Barcelona, Sir Devonshire Square Hotel carries a unique balance of refined hospitality and cultural awareness. The hotel feels intentionally designed for modern creative communities, offering both intimacy and internationalism at once. Its architecture and interiors created the perfect vessel for CYLINDER, a private and curated environment where every corridor, room and social pocket felt connected to the event’s evolving rhythm. Much like the cylindrical motif within Badiru’s work, the space encouraged constant movement, drawing guests from one experience into another without interruption.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

From the moment guests entered the exhibition environment, the evening had already begun to unfold. Sound filled the room before conversations did, with music curated by Vivendii Sound, Peter Xan, Cryptic Reefs and Oshunda, Siett creating a continuous sonic landscape that shifted subtly throughout the night. The crowd reflected London’s interconnected creative ecosystem, with artists, designers, musicians, stylists and cultural figures circulating naturally through the space. This concept was not a traditional gallery opening or party, CYLINDER functioned as a social sculpture, carefully designed for interaction and exchange. Guests gravitated toward one another as naturally as they did toward the art itself.

As media partners for the evening, New Wave Magazine played an important role in documenting and translating the atmosphere of CYLINDER beyond the walls of the event itself. With a long-standing focus on the intersections of fashion, music, art and youth culture, our presence felt aligned naturally with the intention behind the night. Much of the cohesion and progression of the night was driven by producer Alexander Hala, whose vision helped shape CYLINDER into a fully immersive experience The event carried a clear sense of intentionality throughout. Hala’s production approach allowed each element of the evening to transition organically into the next.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

The focal point of the room was Ola Badiru’s triptych of paintings, each work orbiting around his recurring cylinder motif in different forms. The pieces blended painted imagery, collage and layered text, creating surfaces that demanded close attention. English and Yoruba phrases appeared throughout the works like proverbs or coded reflections, reading as fragmented parables on identity, resilience and contemporary life. The cylinder became both a visual object and a metaphorical one, representing continuity, cycles of power, repetition and movement through modern society. Even within the stillness of the paintings, there was a sense of momentum.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

The visual language of the evening extended beyond the canvas. Supported by The Expedition Whisky, one of the event’s most striking objects arrived in the form of their Macallan 33 bottle created in collaboration with Slawn. Displayed within an elegant black casing layered with Slawn’s unmistakable artistic markings, the bottle took space almost like another installation piece within the room. Guests gathered around it repeatedly throughout the evening, drawn equally to its rarity and visual presence. Like much of the event itself, it sat at the intersection of luxury, art and storytelling.

As the night continued, the static energy of the exhibition gradually rotated into live performance. In front of the artworks, Peter Xan stepped into the space accompanied by his guitarist for an intimate three-song performance centred on themes of unity, resilience and progression. The decision to place the performance directly in front of Badiru’s paintings collapsed the boundary between visual art and music entirely, making the works feel temporarily animated by sound. The audience fell into attentive silence, absorbing both the lyrics and the wider emotional atmosphere building inside the room.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

That energy shifted again when Ky Vinci took over the space. Bringing a smoother and more sensual energy to the evening, the R&B and pop artist serenaded guests with songs drenched in themes of love, lust and euphoria. The performance softened the room while maintaining the intimacy that had defined the night from the start. As people gathered closer toward the performance area, the event once again felt cylindrical in structure, guests continuously pulled inward toward a central emotional core before dispersing outward again into conversation and movement.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

Fashion became the next point of rotation through a live presentation curated by ASL Studio. Standing for Age, Sex, Location, ASL Studio reinterprets the familiar internet phrase as a wider meditation on identity within the digital age. The brand exists at the intersection of fashion, art and subculture, producing emotionally driven pieces that feel simultaneously archival and futuristic. Introduced by model Ange Jose, the live presentation centred around an ASL toy box installation as two dancers performed a ballroom-inspired choreography in front of the crowd. Their movements felt synchronised in motions that echoed the exhibition’s wider themes of repetition, identity and connection.

Photography by Seyi Opesan

By the final stretch of the evening, CYLINDER had fully transformed into a social and sonic experience. DJ sets from Cryptic Reefs and Jimmy Ayeni of Vivendii Sound carried the room into its closing hours as conversations expanded across art, fashion, music and future collaborations. What Ola Badiru achieved with Cylinder was an ecosystem of interconnected cultural moments rotating around a shared creative energy. The night never felt static. Every conversation led into another interaction, every performance unfolded naturally from the last, and every artistic discipline fed directly into the next. In that sense, Sir Devonshire Square Hotel proved to be the perfect setting, a refined yet culturally aware space capable of holding the constant motion and layered intimacy that defined one of London’s most thoughtfully curated creative gatherings.