• CELEBRATING DIGITAL ARTS –
A major exhibition Digital Revolution celebrating digital creativity across the arts – featuring work from will.i.am, Chris Milk, Christopher Nolan, an immersive installation by Umbrellium and DevArts – a collaboration with Google
New Curve commission by United Visual Artists
Theatre projects Kiss & Cry by Charleroi Danses and Zero Point by Darren Johnston
Tim & Barry present Just Jam
The Barbican Weekender explores art and technology
A special co-commission with History Pin
The tenth Wikimania conference is presented in association with the Centre
• INNOVATIVE FILM PROJECTS –
Including a Jean Paul Gaultier curated film season complementing the spring Art Gallery exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk
Blow The Bloody Doors Off – film and music concert celebrating music in the films of Michael Caine
• BEYOND OUR WALLS –
Major grant to establish ambitious new East London and City Culture Partnership
The Barbican takes a lead in developing a cultural hub in the heart of the City of London
The Barbican today announces a stellar programme of events for spring and summer 2014, pushing the boundaries of all major art forms for its diverse audiences. This new programme builds on the most successful year ever for the Barbican, with attendances for events at the Centre exceeding 1 million for the first time, an increase of 36% on 2011/12. In this Olympics year, box office receipts also rose 33%, and the Barbican’s commercial income increased by 35%.
Following this, the Barbican also had a landmark summer in 2013, with the Beyond Barbican offsite programme reaching 116,000 people in east London, including over 50,000 visitors to Dalston House and around 50,000 attending the Open East Festival in the Olympic Park on the first anniversary of the Games. Research showed that 26% of attendees at Beyond Barbican events had previously low arts attendance, demonstrating the Barbican’s ability to attract significant new audiences to the arts.
Also announced today is a major grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to develop an east London and City Culture Partnership. This ambitious new partnership between the Barbican and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and six music education hubs aims to create plans to give every young person in east London the chance to experience the best of musical and cultural education.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican, said:
“Where else can audiences encounter artists ranging from will.i.am to Fiona Shaw, Jean-Paul Gaultier to Bernard Haitink or Toni Servillo to Wynton Marsalis? The Barbican’s commitment to offer world-class arts and learning for all is taken to a new level in this season. It reflects the Barbican’s commitment to presenting an outstanding international programme featuring the best artists and performers from across the globe. It also demonstrates the diverse partnerships the Barbican has built, ranging from lasting relationships with leading companies, to supporting the artists of tomorrow. The latest of these partnerships is an ambitious new collaboration that aims to develop plans to give every young person in east London the chance to experience a high quality musical and cultural education. At the Barbican we think this is the right of every child and we’re hugely grateful that the Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation has generously supported us to help develop this ambition.
“We’re also working with our partners in and around the City of London to transform the area into an exceptional arts and learning destination. The opening of new Barbican cinemas and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Milton Court are just two of the exciting recent development of this, alongside the welcome announcement from the City last week, that the area surrounding the Barbican will be given special planning status to allow for street improvements that will improve access and enliven the area to create a more welcoming environment for visitors as Crossrail approaches. The future here has huge potential.”
Louise Jeffreys, Director of Arts, Barbican, said:
“The immersive new exhibition at the heart of our spring and summer programme is the latest chapter in the Barbican’s rich history of championing pioneering artists across all art forms that use digital technology within their work – a history which takes in Merce Cunningham, Robert Lepage, Ryoji Ikeda, Brian Eno, Complicite and Aphex Twin, as well as the recent phenomenon, Rain Room by Random International. It also reflects the Barbican’s increasingly close relationship to the artists, businesses and entrepreneurs of nearby Tech City, which led to the recent Hack the Barbican collaboration between artists and technologists. Our new season follows an extraordinary summer for the Barbican, where we continued to increase our reach in east London with large-scale events that reached huge new audiences for the arts.”
Burble by Umbrellium
CELEBRATING DIGITAL ARTS
Digital Revolution:
An immersive exhibition of art, design, film, music and videogames
Digital Revolution explores and celebrates the transformation of the arts through digital technology since the 1970s. The exhibition brings together for the first time a range of artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians and game developers pushing the boundaries of their fields using digital media. It also looks to the future considering the impact of creative coding, DIY culture, digital communities and the creative possibilities offered by technologies including augmented reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technologies and 3D printing.
The exhibition includes new commissions from artists Umbrellium (Usman Haque and Nitipak ‘Dot’ Samsen); Universal Everything; global music artist and entrepreneur will.i.am; and a collaboration with Google in the form of digital art installations called DevArt, pushing the possibilities of coding as a creative art form, featuring four new gallery commissions, an online inspiration hub and a competition for undiscovered creative coders. It also presents work by Oscar-winning VFX Supervisor Paul Franklin and his team at Double Negative for Christopher Nolan’s groundbreaking film Inception; artists and performers including Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin, Fred Deakin & Company, Amon Tobin and Philip Glass and game developers such as Harmonix Music Systems (Dance Central).
Digital Revolution comprises immersive and interactive art works alongside exhibition-based displays. Usman Haque and Nitipak ‘Dot’ Samsen from Umbrellium, known for their large-scale mass-participatory outdoor events will produce their first work within a theatre setting. This immersive experience takes over The Pit, filling the space with a series of magical interactive laser sculptures, set within an otherworldly sound environment. Universal Everything, one of the UK’s leading media art studios, will produce a piece for the Barbican’s Silk Street entrance. Taking digital drawing as its theme, visitors will be able to contribute the work both in the venue and online. Film-maker and artist Chris Milk’s major interactive work The Treachery of Sanctuary is presented for the first time in the UK. This three-screen shadow play installation explores life, death and rebirth through a moving onscreen narrative which visitors can interact with. Also a UK premiere, Electricity Comes from Other Planets by Fred & Company (Fred Deakin) invites people to jam with each other in a playful audio-visual piece that creates new musical arrangements through their movements. A new commission by will.i.am explores the interface between analogue and digital music in a live gallery experience.
Digital Revolution is the most comprehensive presentation of digital creativity ever to be staged in the UK. Digital Revolution takes place across the Barbican with ticketed and non-ticketed elements, and will include an offsite commission.
It is accompanied by a talks and events programme and a dedicated catalogue.
The exhibition builds on the Barbican’s rich history of championing pioneering artists using technology. It is the focus of a series of events presented by the Barbican throughout the spring and summer of 2014 that focuses on artists using digital media. Projects include:
“Reinventing the Wheel” by United Visual Artists
United Visual Artists (UVA): Momentum
Multi-disciplinary art and design studio United Visual Artists have been commissioned to create a new work for The Curve. Coinciding with their 10th anniversary, UVA present Momentum, an installation that combines light, sound and movement. Drawing on physics and digital technology, UVA are turning The Curve into a spatial instrument, installing a sequence of pendulum-like elements throughout the 90 metre long gallery to create an evolving composition of light and sound. The pendulums – sometimes moving in unexpected ways – project shadows and planes of light across the six metre-high walls and curved floor of the space. Visitors are invited to explore the room at their own pace, and their movement through the gallery shapes their individual experience. UVA are an art and design practice based in London, creating work that lies at the intersections of sculpture, architecture, live performance and installation.
Tim & Barry: Just Jam
For the past three years, online music channel Just Jam has been celebrating the current thriving electronic music scene, showcasing cutting edge talents of the UK’s underground Bass, House and Grime scenes. Tim & Barry, the photographers and film-makers behind Just Jam, will curate an evening of live performance, video and audience participation with the musicians and performers who have built and solidified Just Jam’s reputation, including Loefah, Chunky, Big Narstie, Newham Generals, Kurupt FM, Marawa the Amazing, and more to be announced. Influenced by cult music TV shows like The Word and Dance Energy, Just Jam’s joy in the chaotic and improvised will ensure an unpredictable evening.
Barbican Weekender We Create: technology for self-expression
In March 2014 the Barbican Weekender returns to explore image and identity through arts and technology. This theme is explored with a host of digital tools and activities including 3D printing with Black County Atelier, mixing tunes with Music Jelly and the physics meets dance installation Dance Spectroscopy. From music and art, to dance and fashion the free, two-day event offers workshops and games for all ages.
Charleroi Danses: Kiss & Cry
Alone on a station platform, a woman recalls her great, lost loves. Her memories take shape in a miniature world where toys, figurines and everyday objects have the power to delight.
Scaled-down sets provide the backdrop for a duo of dancing hands that flirt and intertwine, becoming tender characters in their own right. This innovative and poetic performance from prizewinning filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael and choreographer Michèle Anne De Mey uses digital technology and captures the most minimalist expressions of emotion and intimacy. Caught on camera by a bustling film crew with sound effects created by onstage foley artists, the ballet of hands is projected on a panoramic screen, lending dual perspectives to an event in which artistic disciplines collide.
Darren Johnston: Zero Point
Artistic experimentation is given free rein as Darren Johnston takes up residency for a week in the Theatre. Known for controversial, multifaceted work that blurs the boundaries between dance, theatre and the visual arts, the British choreographer puts his innovative software through its paces. Using motion-sensing technology, it bathes the bodies of dancers with graphic texture and light. Audiences are invited to share the results of his exploration; a kaleidoscope of projections, choreographed performance and electronic soundscape from a piece presented mid-creation.
Historypin: Barking and Dagenham 1914 – 2014 We Are What We Do
A community project focused on an area in Barking and Dagenham in east London, History Pin will gather 100 years of history from 1914 to the present day, resulting in an in-depth online archive and a number of public events in east London. Commissioned by the Barbican and Create London, History Pin will work with local people and both local and national organisations, inviting participants to contribute pictures, videos, memories and stories of the area via an online space where they can interact and immerse themselves in local history. Community events will also take place around the area including schools, community centres and local spaces, gathering information and using both digital tools and live performance to explore themes including migration, industry and employment, architecture and regeneration. Bringing together people from the community, across all generations, and celebrating the local history, the project aims to provide both a greater understanding of the area and a learning resource for all to enjoy. The project will culminate in August 2014 with a public event. A local space will be transformed into a virtual time machine exploring the contributions of over 5,000 materials and memories from over 2,000 people and organisations. This experience will use digital projection, audio visual presentations and live performance to bring to life the events and stories revealed throughout the project.
Wikimania
The tenth annual international Wikimania conference, produced in association with the Barbican, brings together the worlds of academia, culture, technology experts and enthusiasts and will include a multi-track programme of lectures, discussions, workshops and hackathons over the course of five days.
INNOVATIVE FILM PROJECTS
The Film World of Jean Paul Gaultier
Complementing The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk in the Art Gallery, the Barbican presents a film season curated by the celebrated French couturier. Jean Paul Gaultier’s selection includes films in which he worked as costume designer, from early titles such as Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) to his extensive collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar in films such as Kika (1993), Bad Education (2004) and The Skin I Live In (2011). The season also includes films which have inspired and influenced Gaultier’s life and work, such as Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Jacques Becker’s Falbalas (1945), Robert Hamer’s Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954) and Satyricon (1969). The programme will be crowned with a ScreenTalk with Jean Paul Gaultier when he will formally open the season.
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first major exhibition devoted to Jean Paul Gaultier opens in the Art Gallery on 9 April 2014. This dynamic installation of more than 140 cutting-edge couture and ready-to-wear garments explores Gaultier’s fashion world, from his witty and boundary-pushing designs to his ceaseless interest in society, identity and a beauty borne of difference. The exhibition includes costumes for film and performance including iconic pieces such as the conical bra and corsets Madonna wore during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, stage costumes designed for Kylie Minogue as well as pieces created for the films of Pedro Almodóvar and Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. The exhibition also features a wealth of photography by collaborators such as Miles Aldridge, Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, Pierre et Gilles, Herb Ritts, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol, as well as footage of catwalk presentations, concerts, music videos, films, dance performances and Gaultier’s cult television show, Eurotrash. Tickets for the show have just gone on sale.
BEYOND OUR WALLS
East London and City Culture Partnership
The Barbican Centre Trust has been awarded a major grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to establish an East London and City Culture Partnership, a new partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama together with six music education hubs in east London. This ambitious partnership aims to develop plans to give every young person in east London the chance to experience the best musical and cultural education. The eight partners will work together to address the following areas: entitlement – giving every young person opportunities to experience the arts; progression – giving every young person the chance to develop their creative and technical skills as far as they can; professional development – ensuring the arts and education workforce have the skills and tools to provide the best possible experience to young people.
The partners will combine the local knowledge and expertise of the music and cultural education hubs with the Barbican and Guildhall School’s world class arts and learning programme. This will include creating new projects and initiatives that deliver high quality, inspiring learning opportunities for all young people across eight east London boroughs and the City of London. The partnership also aims to ensure opportunities are delivered strategically where they are most needed, and where they will have the broadest and deepest impact. The project’s impact will be shared widely in order to support all arts and education organisations in their efforts to achieve the shared goal of strengthening cultural provision for all children and young people in England.
Developing a cultural hub in the heart of the City of London
The Barbican is working with partners in and around the City of London to transform the area into an exceptional arts and learning destination. With the Barbican, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Museum of London at its core, the growing cultural hub around the Barbican area offers a richly varied range of venues and performance spaces – the Barbican Cinemas and Guildhall School’s Milton Court the newest additions. Situated between the dynamic areas of Tech City, Whitecross Street, Clerkenwell and east London it is at the heart of new urban development, supported by the arrival of two new Crossrail stations in 2018. The Centre welcomes the recent announcement from the City of London that the area surrounding the Barbican will be given special planning status to allow for street improvements that will improve access and enliven the area to create a more welcoming environment for visitors.
