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.”
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 forChristopher 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:
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.
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.
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.”
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 forChristopher 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:
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.
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 asKika (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.
New film programmes: Who’s Afraid of… and Cinema in Depth
Starting in April 2014 the Barbican introduces two new strands to the cinema programme. Who's Afraid of... is a provocative bi-monthly series, providing a spotlight for debate and the revisiting of essential film classics and contemporary work. Always fearlessly themed, the first installments will feature controversial German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and the French Situationist theorist whose work became a foundation stone of psychogeography and urban wandering, Guy Debord. Cinema in Depth is a new monthly thematic programming strand looking at film in a deeper context. The subjects covered relate to the world of cinema – and beyond. Upcoming themes include Desperate Housewives, Gumshoe America, The Paris You Don’t Know and Cinema’s Baddest Girl Gangs. The series will feature films from the classic, mainstream and avant-garde of European, American and world cinema, as well as contemporary films not in UK distribution. All screenings will take place on Saturday/Sunday matinees in the Barbican Cinemas on Beech Street.
