Bloomberg Space
Mark Manders
The London Mithraeum, Bloomberg SPACE commissions contemporary art that responds to the unique history of its site, which incorporates a mid-3rd-century Roman temple dedicated to the god Mithras, 7 metres below today's street level.
Room with All Existing Words, a new site-specific commission by Dutch conceptual artist Mark Manders, transforms the gallery above the ancient Roman artefacts into a space suspended between past and present. Running from January to July 2026, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how history, memory, and language are constructed from surviving fragments.
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The Brief
Bloomberg approached NextShoot to produce an artistic documentary film about Mark Manders’ commission, Room with All Existing Words, to be hosted on the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE website and featured on the Bloomberg Connects app.The primary objective was to offer a closer understanding of how Manders developed the work, as well as his artistic process, specifically his lifelong project, Self-Portrait as Building. The commissioners required a non-corporate, cinematic narrative that traced the evolution of the work from its origin in Manders' studio to its final installation alongside 2,000-year-old Roman ruins in the heart of the City of London.
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Our Approach
Filming in Ronse, Belgium: To capture the genesis of Manders’ practice, our film crew travelled to Ronse, Belgium, to shoot inside the artist's massive 4,000-square-metre industrial studio complex. Designed by Coussée Goris Huyghe Architecten, this vast concrete-and-wood space serves as the physical engine for his imaginary architecture. We captured b-roll of Manders surrounded by ongoing sculptures, raw materials, clay forms, and notional newspapers.In-Depth Artist Interview: During an insightful interview with Manders, we explored the core themes of his 30-year practice. He discussed how he navigates the contrast between the complete and the unfinished, the creation of timeless objects that resemble recently excavated relics, and how language informs his spatial installations.
On-Site Gallery Capture: Back in London, our crew documented the site-responsive installation at Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE. We focused on how Manders' monumental head sculpture sits alongside the site's history, which dates back to 240 AD.
Cinematic Aesthetic & Post-Production: The grade, lighting and sound design were developed to reflect the stillness and material qualities of Manders' sculptures, and to mirror the contemplative ambience of the gallery space and the artist's studio.
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The Results
By connecting the industrial studio in Belgium with the historical depth of the London Mithraeum, the final film takes viewers directly inside Manders' studio and process, and illustrates how Room with All Existing Words challenges perceptions of time, preservation, and history.NextShoot is a video production company in London, but with global clients and is the go-to video production company for the Arts sector. Our work features contemporary artists including Christo, Olafur Eliasson, Mark Wallinger, Michael Craig-Martin, Ron Arad and Sonia Boyce, and we offer video production services to museums and galleries like the National Gallery, the Whitechapel Gallery, the Serpentine Galleries, Tate Britain, The Wallace Collection, The Belvedere, The Rodin Museum, Tate Modern, the South London Gallery and the Prado. We are truly a video agency specialising in the Arts.
For more information on the London Mithraeum, Bloomberg SPACE visit the website.
For more information on Mark Manders visit his website.
