What’s on

Mon 10 Feb –Wed 31 Dec 2025

This free installation invites visitors to orient themselves in the buildings and their complex, fascinating histories in an exciting new display at the heart of the Barbican’s Foyers.

Thu 14 Aug 2025 –Mon 5 Jan 2026

An exhibition celebrating Martyn Goddard’s most famous images of Blondie taken during their breakthrough year

Wed 3 Sep 2025 –Sun 11 Jan 2026

Works by contemporary artist Mona Hatoum and 20th century sculptor Alberto Giacometti are seen together for the first time in this ground-breaking exhibition, part of Encounters: Giacometti.

Thu 25 Sep 2025 –Sun 25 Jan 2026

Rebel against conventional beauty and take a look at the dirty side of fashion. 

Thu 2 –Fri 31 Oct 2025

Discover how leading poets, artists and writers express what matters most through endangered texts, new poems and striking visual scripts in this foyer exhibition.

Thu 9 Oct 2025 –Sun 4 Jan 2026

Journey through landscapes reshaped by extreme force in a new exhibition that brings together film and sculpture by North American artist Lucy Raven.

Thu 16 Oct 2025

Calling all teachers! Join us for an introduction to Dirty Looks, a bold new exhibition in our Gallery that questions what is beautiful, and what the future of fashion can be. 

Mon 20 Oct 2025, 11:00

An Audio Described tour of the exhibition, for blind and partially sighted visitors, led Harry Baxter, who will describe key works on display.

Thu 23 Oct 2025, 19:00

Join us for a lecture by architect Adrien Verschuere, in which he discusses recent projects by his office, the Brussels-based Baukunst.

Wed 29 Oct 2025, 18:30

A British Sign Language tour of the exhibition, exclusively for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors, highlighting key artworks.

Wed 29 Oct 2025, 19:00

Jessam Al-Jawad and Dean Pike join us to discuss their architecture practice and their 2024 Stirling Prize-shortlisted Chowdhury Walk, a terrace of affordable social rent homes in Hackney.

Mon 3 Nov 2025, 18:30

A British Sign Language tour of the exhibition, led by John Wilson, exclusively for D/deaf and hard of hearing visitors, highlighting key artworks.

Wed 19 Nov –Wed 10 Dec 2025

Icons from fashion, art and music reveal the fashion subculture moments that shaped them, tracing a legacy of identity, resistance and freedom, from club to couture.

Sat 29 –Sun 30 Nov 2025

Across the weekend in the main foyers, dive into a bold celebration of desire, style and subculture with workshops, an intimate installation and an erotic literature and ephemera market.

Sat 29 Nov 2025, 17:00

Join us for this evening of boundary pushing live presentations from the world of fashion with two designers leading the way for inclusive, interesting and meaningful approaches.