Read, Watch & Listen

In the first of our series of 'How to' workshops focussing on traditional crafts, tapestry weaver Christabel Balfour invites us in her South London studio for a weaving demonstration.

Basquiat’s early graffiti experiments as SAMO© intertwined with the burgeoning hip hop, rap and graffiti scenes of the late 1970s and 1980s. Discover the sound of the era.

We look back at our May 2017 Instagrammer, Adeola Adeko to explore their Barbican shots.

The first in our Subject to Change series, Katie Hale presents, ‘Honey’, inspired by an incident on 2 January when a Virgin Trains East Coast customer complained on Twitter about a male staff member’s passive aggressive use of the word ‘honey’.

In the first of our year-long series of short films exploring The Art of Change, London-based, Swedish animation director Amanda Eliasson presents her interpretation of ‘Censorship’ in her hand-painted animation, Square Face.

Basquiat was a regular on New York’s downtown club scene. The faces he met often played a prominent role on his canvas - we explore some of the famous faces featured in the Basquiat: Boom for Real exhibition. 

We launch our 2018 annual theme, The Art of Change, by speaking to some of the artists from our programme to find out how they see art as a vehicle of change. 

Mercury-nominated Soul singer Carleen Anderson performs her song 'Before Me' from her latest album 'Cage Street Memorial'.

Poet and rapper Jack Miguel performs his piece 'Casino', inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat's work, in the 'Self-Portrait' room of the 'Basquiat: Boom for Real' exhibition.

London-based electronic musician felicita performs Track 6 from the 2016 'a new family' EP in our Conservatory.

We look at Basquiat's relationship to the artists and art he admired

Tim Lawrence remembers the cultural renaissance that was downtown New York's music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From SoHo warehouses to Mudd Clubb, we look at how Basquiat's passion for New York's music scene influenced his artistic style