Autumn Highlights

IAMISIGO, clay-dyed barkcloth dress, Shadows, Spring/Summer 2024. Photograph by Fred Odede. Courtesy of IAMISIGO. Dirty Looks at the Barbican.
This season we’re exploring fashion, sustainability and how artists are rethinking our relationship with the natural world.
In our largely urban world, artists are renewing their connection with nature and discovering how the landscape tells stories of who we are. Designers are rejecting the short-term buzz of fast fashion in favour of more sustainable production and discovering centuries-old practices. Musicians are taking inspiration from the natural rhythms of the seasons. Elsewhere artists tackle environmental damage, from the Amazon to the Suffolk coast, and share their hopes for regeneration.
Sustainability and the natural world
Explore our relationship with the natural world and enjoy events by artists who take inspiration from planet earth and the burning challenges of our time.
Exhibitions
Rebel against conventional beauty and take a look at the dirty side of fashion in a bold new exhibition, and see sculptures that forge new dialogues in our intimate new gallery space.
Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Company return with two spellbinding productions, Wendy & Peter Pan and Twelfth Night.
Dystopia is Not the Future
A series of talks and screenings that ask how we move from this darkening moment and allow ourselves to be emboldened by hope, community and collective action.
Music
Musical theatre, spiritual jazz, and concerts with Sir Antonio Pappano – there's all this and more to look forward to in our autumn music programme.
Screentalks
See screenings paired with discussions by leading filmmakers as the most important voices in the cinema industry unpack film.
Fashion
Take a look at the cost of fashion, western ideas of perfection and how artists are turning preconceived notions of dirt and desirability on their heads.