The Barbican celebrates growth, renewal, and transformation with a season of events workshops, talks and screenings.
Launching in February 2025, the Barbican presents Concrete Garden, a curated series of events including talks, live music and performances, workshops, exhibition tours, cinema screenings and wellness activities, drawing on themes of growth, reflection, gathering and renewal offering a rich tapestry of experiences to inspire, learn, connect and celebrate the beauty of everyday life.
The programme is built around Barbican’s new major exhibition focussing on the work of Noah Davis (Thu 6 Feb-Sun 11 May), an American artist whose work celebrated the power of art to elevate the everyday, and from Citra Sasmita’s Curve commission Into Eternal Land (Thu 30 Jan-Mon 21 Apr), which explores ancestral memory, ritual and migration. Davis’s ethos of making arts accessible to everyone can be found across the Centre through events ranging from films to talks, workshops, recitals and much more.
Central to Concrete Garden, Barbican’s iconic Conservatory will open for the public until 11pm on Fridays and 8pm on Sundays. This lush, green oasis is a serene space to simply unwind among 1,500 species of plants in the heart of the City, meet and have a drink to connect with friends, or to enjoy a series of all-day creative events featuring talks, workshops, and performances that ask questions about our place in the world, in nature, amongst others, and in time.
Concrete Garden events include:
- Discover the world of Noah Davis: An exhibition, music, films, workshops, curator tours and talks that uncover the magic in everyday life. Celebrating the late artist’s expansive creativity, this debut retrospective showcases Noah Davis as one of the most original and uncanny painters emerging in recent years.
- Music Performances: The acclaimed jazz pianist Jason Moran presents a talk and concert inspired by Noah Davis, 60-strong queer-led ensemble F* Choir, and MA.MOYO (Belinda Zhawi) responds to the radical work and philosophy of the visionary artist.
- The Conservatory: an urban oasis: The lush, green oasis in the heart of the City provides the perfect backdrop for a series of talks and engaging events planned over the coming months and now with extended opening hours on Friday and Sunday evenings.
- Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land: reimagined tales of ritual and ancestral memory in this free Curve exhibition, an Artist Talk and a film screening chosen by the artist.
- Community and Creativity Throughout the Spring, people are invited to come together to explore the Barbican, enjoy live performances and even take part. From the Young Barbican Takeover Festival, to the Chronic Youth Film Festival and our Community Choir, there's plenty to take part in this season.
Further Information: Concrete Garden | Barbican
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
For the Barbican’s full Spring 2025 programme: Welcome to the Barbican | Barbican