Saved events

Brutal Worlds: Barbican Book Club

Part of Make! The New Brutal

 Image of High Rise Book by JG Ballard for Web part of Make the new brutal ballard book club

Introducing our very first Barbican Book Club, where we will be discussing the Brutally–inspired worlds of J.G Ballard

The Book Club will be chaired by Prof. Roger Luckhurst, who will be joined at each event by a different guest to discuss the sigificance of architecture in Ballard's storytelling. We'll be looking at a trio of Brutally–inspired books by Ballard; Crash (Monday 25 Februrary), High Rise (Tuesday 26 March) and Concrete Island (Monday 29 April). 

Readers can meet, discuss, share interpretations of the subject and debate whether the new Brutalist worlds of concrete are a utopia or dystopia...

  • Participants will need to purchase a ticket for each event. If you would like to attend all three please book a ticket for each date.
  • Session duration: 1.5 hours
  • Maximum capacity: 30
  • Age restriction of 16+

Event Details

For inspiration...

a beautiful black and white picture of the barbican when it was first being built

Building the Brutal

Photographer Peter Bloomfield was commissioned by the Barbican to document the final stages of building's construction. His beautiful images - which have never been shared with the public - capture the astonishing scale of the construction effort. 

Architecture Tours

See the Barbican from a new perspective

Barbican Shop