Press room

• Reimagining the Barbican’s programming model with ideas-led seasons that find synergies across its many artforms – cinema, creative collaboration, immersive, music, theatre and dance, and visual arts
• Building on the Barbican’s legacy as a design icon, with a renewed focus on fashion and design
• Expanding the Barbican’s role on the international stage as a centre for contemporary discourse, literature and bringing together diverse voices
• A commitment to learning, artistic development, community and public programmes, positioning the Barbican as a civic space at the heart of the City of London

The Vision is reflected in the Barbican’s 2025 Autumn season, which renews the Barbican’s purpose as a leading space for contemporary discourse and critical conversations in our changing world. The season will include a cross-disciplinary focus on the environment in all its aspects, inviting audiences to explore decay and destruction; sustainability, renewal and ecological restoration; the right of land ownership, its story, memory and language; and the rise of authoritarianism in our current global political moment. The season will also bring audiences bold, joyful experiences, the opportunity to gather and connect, and share in the transformative potential of art.

Season highlights include:

• The launch of Dystopia is not the Future, a series addressing our current geopolitical moment, with a talk by Andreas Malm, a ScreenTalk with filmmaker Asif Kapadia, and a panel debate with emerging filmmakers, alongside the second instalment of Encounters: Giacometti with artist Mona Hatoum.
• The UK premiere of Vietnamese-French director Caroline Guiela Nguyen’s exploration of fashion and labour in a gripping and cinematic theatre piece LACRIMA
• Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion, the first Barbican fashion show since 2017, a daring new exhibition that challenges what is beautiful, featuring icons like Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Maison Margiela
• Fragile Earth, a major new concert series running through to March 2026, which explores our relationship with the natural world, with works by, John Luther Adams, Sandeep Bhagwati, , Kathy Hinde, Monthati Masebe, Anna Meredith, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Julia Wolfe, and featuring BBC Symphony Orchestra, Renee Fleming, Ligeti Quartet, Robert Macfarlane, Gabriela Montero, Theatre of Kiribati, and many more
• Voiced: The Festival for Endangered Languages, the first festival in the UK celebrating the creative impact art has on languages, and the endangered dialects and languages from around the world

This ambitious autumn programme reflects the Barbican’s Artistic Vision for the next five years. Developed by Director for Arts & Participation Devyani Saltzman alongside the Barbican’s arts and participation teams, it aims to find synergies between artforms, creating cross-disciplinary conversations, that provide not only extraordinary cultural experiences but invite audiences to look at our increasingly complex world from multiple vantage points. Other prominent strands of the Vision [see full summary below] include a focus on commissioning and co-commissioning new projects from artists around the globe.

Devyani Saltzman, Director for Arts & Participation, says:

“In an increasingly challenging world, cultural institutions have a responsibility not only to present the best new work, but also to create brave spaces for contemporary discourse, embracing the ideas and conversations that artists are constantly grappling with. As well as being open and welcoming spaces of gathering, joy and respite in difficult times.

“I'm delighted to be able to share the first seasonal programme that brings to life our Artistic Vision for the next five years, crafted collaboratively with the Barbican’s arts and participation team. It combines the best of our long tradition of world-leading creativity across our many artforms, with a new seasonal, cross-disciplinary approach to programming. In addition to continuing to present our distinct disciplinary strands, we are also finding new synergies between dance, music, theatre, cinema, immersive, creative collaboration and visual arts, to explore vital topics relating to our world, our society and ourselves. This will allow audiences to experience critical ideas from multiple vantage points in the way only a multi-arts cultural centre can truly achieve.

“At a time of deep international geopolitical and technological change, our ideas-led, seasonal approach allows us tangibly to respond to the world today, through a programme that allows audiences to see the world holistically, in a wholly new light: interconnected, and always evolving.”

Sir William Russell, Chair of the Barbican Board, says:

“The Barbican has always been a place that breaks boundaries and this new vision will do just that, while bringing people together, from every part of society, through the power and joy of art. As we embark on this exciting chapter, alongside the restoration and revitalisation of our building, the Barbican is reaffirming its position as one of the world’s most dynamic and relevant cultural institutions and a core part of the City of London Corporation’s offer to international business and contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation.” 

Barbican Autumn season 2025

Working in collaboration with artists and companies from around the globe, the Autumn programme is rooted in themes exploring vital topics relating to our world, our society and ourselves.

Supporting this cross-disciplinary, thematic lead approach, Barbican looks at sustainability and the environment through multiple programmes, including Fragile Earth, a major new concert series running through to March 2026, which explores our relationship with the natural world in the concert hall and the conservatory, with works by John Luther Adams, Sandeep Bhagwati, Kathy Hinde, Monthati Masebe, Bint Mbareh, Anna Meredith, Lemi Ponifasio, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Julia Wolfe, and featuring BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Renee Fleming, Hand to Earth, TheHermes Experiment, Ligeti Quartet, Robert Macfarlane, Gabriela Montero, Louis VI, Stevens & Pound, Theatre of Kiribati, and Hayden Thorpe.

Alongside the concerts, Writing Ecologies, a series of five monthly salons and writing workshops set in the Barbican Conservatory, brings established authors and local writers to create work centred on ecology and the rich diversity of our natural world.

In the Curve, Rounds, the upcoming commission from Lucy Raven, brings together moving image and sculpture to examine themes of cyclical violence and unrelenting force in the formation of the Western United States.

In October, Barbican presents Voiced: The Festival for Endangered Languages, a visual, music and literature festival exploring the world’s endangered languages and the people who speak them. The first of its kind in the UK, Voiced will host leading poets, artists, and writers to explore how we say the things that are most important to us through endangered texts, newly commissioned poems and unique visual scripts.

Barbican Cinema presents Land Cinema, a four-part film series presenting works by non-fiction filmmakers and film collectives spanning the 1970s and 80s based on a forthcoming publication by Dr Becca Voelcker, who funded environmental justice in the face of extractive capitalism, with selected features and shorts exploring an expansive array of themes from indigenous land, ecological as opposed to economic growth, through to organicism, and 70s back-to-the-land initiatives.

Meanwhile, in the monstrous weekend All Kaiju Save the World! special guests introduce a selection of their favourite Kaiju films through an ecology lens, where un-natural mutations abound, including the rarely screened Godzilla vs Biollante. 

As part of the seasonal focus on contemporary discourse, autumn also launches the series Dystopia is not the Future, addressing the current change in the world order, the rise of authoritarianism, and its resistance, challenging the supposed inevitability of a dystopian future. Its first season features a talk with Swedish writer Andreas Malm, a Screentalk between Carole Cadwalladr and Asif Kapadia on his new film 2073 and a panel debate with emerging filmmakers.

Linking to these conversations, Encounters: Giacometti sees the second instalment of this series exploring themes of displacement, exile and homelessness in the work of Alberto Giacometti and Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum. 

Additionally, the Barbican’s renewed commitment to fashion and design sees our material world come under the spotlight. In October, Barbican Art Gallery launches Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion, a major new fashion exhibition challenging what is beautiful, featuring icons like Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Maison Margiela, alongside emerging designers such as Elena Velez, Yuima Nakazato and IAMISIGO. Caroline Guiela Nguyen’s gripping and cinematic fashion and labour piece LACRIMA makes its UK premiere in the Barbican Theatre in September, with the Barbican hosting the World Design Congress the same month, while Dirty Weekend, a curated programme of talks, events and performances exploring the dirty side of life, love and identity takes over the centre in November.

Further autumn highlights and UK premieres include: trailblazing Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski’s ROHTKO, fusing theatre, tech and live cinema to create a monumentally spectacular production exploring art and authenticity in a fast-changing world; and New York-born, Tamil Nadu-raised singer ganavya, sharing a transcendent live journey through Daughter of a Temple, an immersive blend of spiritual jazz and South Asian devotional music. Coinciding with autumn’s hottest films releases in the lead up to awards season, Barbican Cinema ScreenTalks feature conversations with important voices in the cinema industry and beyond. 

This autumn also sees the UK premiere of Bushra El-Turk's music theatre Oum – A Son’s Quest for his Mother, a collaboration with the Dutch National Opera, starring Ghalia Benali and Gesualdo: Passione by Les Arts Florissants and Compagnie Amala Dianor, marking Barbican’s commitment to present new opera, dance and music theatre as a core pillar of its programme.

Finally, the Barbican is proud to continue its long-term partnerships with its Resident and Associate Companies, including the London Symphony Orchestra, whose 2025/26 season kicks off with four concerts with Sir Antonio Pappano, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, who are bringing two exciting shows for this year’s Theatre autumn/winter season, both of which will be announced shortly.

Tickets for the autumn season will go on sale soon.

Barbican Artistic Vision 2025-2030 – summary

A seasonal, cross-disciplinary approach 

Working within a clear seasonal framework (spring, summer, autumn, winter) the Barbican will introduce a topline cross-disciplinary approach to its programming, breaking down barriers between artforms to explore the vital topics relating to our world, our society and ourselves, allowing audiences to experience the critical ideas artists are grappling with from multiple vantage points in the way only a multi-arts cultural centre can truly do. This will be in addition to the longstanding strands of regular programming from classical and contemporary music through to the theatre, cinema and visual arts programmes. Barbican programmes will reflect the diversity of our city and our world, engaging boldly with the pressing issues and political discourse of our times.​  

Cementing the Barbican’s role as cultural and community hub 

In parallel, the Barbican will lean into its role as a civic and community space, one of a decreasing number of free public indoor spaces in central London. A place where local residents, Londoners and international visitors can gather and engage with each other and the Barbican’s artistic programmes.​ Public art, events and experiences will open-up the artistic experience for everyone and make the best use of the Barbican’s iconic public spaces. This includes its brutalist foyers, Conservatory and Lakeside, all of which will be renovated and restored in the coming years under the Barbican Renewal programme. 

New creative strands and artistic opportunities  

Building on its tradition of hugely successful cinema, dance, immersive, music, theatre and visual arts programming, and its sector-leading community and learning activities, the Barbican will build out new creative strands over the period 2025-30, including: 

COMMISSIONING: Commission and co-commission new projects from artists around the globe, building on recent successes such as works from Ranjani Shettar and Ibrahim Mahama, and the recently announced partnership between Barbican Immersive and Orion Capital Managers to showcase original digital moving artworks on a new 30m wide public LED screen at Orion’s Panorama St. Paul’s development at the heart of the City, set to launch in 2027. 

TAKEOVERS AND RESIDENCIES: Artists will be invited to curate, create and perform multidisciplinary takeovers, ranging from weekend-long events to extended programming residencies.

TALENT DEVELOPMENT: Across all arts and participation activities there will be a focus on artistic talent development, which is core to Barbican's vision and purpose, building on successful programmes such as Barbican Young Poets, Theatre Open Labs and Young Film Programmers, and taking forward a schools’ partnership with Harris Federation and City of London Academies Trust, ensuring opportunities are there for the next generation.

TOURING: Barbican exhibitions will tour the world, reaching new audiences. Collaborations with renowned global institutions will cement the Barbican’s status as an internationally leading institution for the arts. Recent and current examples include the critically acclaimed Noah Davis, which was initiated by Barbican and DAS MINSK, Potsdam, has just opened at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (on display until 31 Aug) and will travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2026. Barbican Immersive's exhibition experience Feel the Sound, which is currently running as part of this summer’s cross disciplinary programme Frequencies, is a co-production with Mon Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives, Tokyo, Japan, where the show will open later this year.

TALKS: The Barbican will become a pivotal space for contemporary debate, literature and conversations. The most interesting and perceptive speakers from around the world will be invited to address and discuss topics at the heart of contemporary discourse, with regular talks and ScreenTalks throughout the year. 

FASHION AND DESIGN: Fashion returns as a core programming strand that aims to nurture a boundless dialogue between fashion and other artistic disciplines. Kicking off with Dirty Looks in the Art Gallery, Barbican’s first fashion show since 2017, fashion will also spill out beyond the gallery into other artforms. Architecture and design will also feature prominently across the Art Gallery, Cinema and Talks programmes, and the hugely popular architecture tours will expand, introducing more people to Barbican's iconic brutalist design.

OPERA AND MUSIC THEATRE: Opera and music theatre will be further developed as a core pillar of Barbican programming, including through new collaborations, building on the success of recent productions including The Golden Stool and M. Butterfly in 2024. The LSO continue their ambitious programme of major concert operas with Sir Antonio Pappano and Sir Simon Rattle, and the Barbican Theatre will continue to host ambitious, large scale musical theatre productions. 

FAMILY AND INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMMES: A refreshed programme for families will ensure the Barbican is a place for all ages, while nurturing the next generation of culture lovers – whether as artists or audiences. Regular seasonal offerings aligned with school holidays will introduce young audiences all artforms, including Play, Make, Do in summer 2025, a festival of play, imagination and adventure for the whole family this summer with workshops on illustration, kite-making, filmmaking and drama, and circus aerial and ground tasters, as well as music and storytelling events, salsa and ceilidh dancing for all ages, and Tai Chi on Barbican’s Lakeside Terrace; with full details to be announced soon. 

About Devyani Saltzman 

Devyani Saltzman is a Canadian writer and curator and took up the post of Director for Arts & Participation at the Barbican in June 2024. She was previously Director of Public Programming at the Art Gallery of Ontario, North America’s fourth largest museum, Director of Literary Arts at the Banff Centre, one of the world's leading arts and creativity incubators, as well as a founding Curator at Luminato, Toronto’s international multi-arts festival.  

Key to her vision for the next chapter of the Barbican is the potential to create a new type of ethos in public institutions that is truly in service to their people and public, in addition to presenting the best of cutting-edge programming. 

She is the former President of the Toronto Arts Council and has written and spoken extensively about social change and leadership for The Walrus Talks, the Canadian Arts Summit, and the World City Forum. She hosted the podcast The Culture Shift and is a founding member of the think tank Public Imagination Network. 

Saltzman has a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University, combining sociology, anthropology, animal behaviour and evolutionary biology to look at the complex underpinnings of human experience.