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TransPennine Express 185151 and 185123
1K18 Hull [12:03] to Liverpool Lime Street [14:31].
© 2024 Keith Jones. All Rights Reserved
by Carrie Mae Weems
Digital C-prints on paper and sandblasted text on glass.
Weems created this work after discovering a set of daguerreotypes (an early form of photograph) of enslaved men and women in Harvard University’s museum archives.
The daguerreotypes were originally commissioned in 1850 by Harvard scientist Louis Agassiz to support polygenism. This racist theory sought to reinforce white superiority through suggesting that human races have differing genetic origins. Placing these photographs alongside other appropriated 19th and 20th century images of African and African American people, Weems underlines how racial violence has historically been perpetuated through photography.
Weems made a series of changes to the original images.
She enlarged them, added a red filter, and framed them with a circular mount evoking a camera lens. Such interventions recur across Weems’s practice, inviting viewers to question how photographs are constructed to create meaning. Here, Weems restores humanity and agency to the subjects by adding texts which speak across the expanse of history.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
A sense of the history of the area.
The small London throughfare known as Lamb’s Buildings is named after a tenement built there about 1770 by a local businessman called Thomas Lamb (1752-1813), a cloth dyer and a manufacturer of buckram – a fabric of coarse linen stiffened with gum used both by tailors and bookbinders. The buildings currently at the junction of Lamb’s Buildings and Errol Street (shown below) also date from about 1770 but no direct connection with Lamb is known...
In 1815 a plot of land on Lamb’s Buildings was bought by the Associated Catholic Charities to establish an orphanage and schools. A school chapel dedicated to St Joseph was listed in the Catholic Directory from 1850, doubling as a public place of worship. The present St Joseph’s School building was erected in 1901 with a chapel in the basement.
The school closed in 1977
[AndrewPink.org]
A sense of the history of the area.
The small London throughfare known as Lamb’s Buildings is named after a tenement built there about 1770 by a local businessman called Thomas Lamb (1752-1813), a cloth dyer and a manufacturer of buckram – a fabric of coarse linen stiffened with gum used both by tailors and bookbinders. The buildings currently at the junction of Lamb’s Buildings and Errol Street (shown below) also date from about 1770 but no direct connection with Lamb is known...
In 1815 a plot of land on Lamb’s Buildings was bought by the Associated Catholic Charities to establish an orphanage and schools. A school chapel dedicated to St Joseph was listed in the Catholic Directory from 1850, doubling as a public place of worship. The present St Joseph’s School building was erected in 1901 with a chapel in the basement.
The school closed in 1977
[AndrewPink.org]
from The Louisiana Project
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
In these photographs, Weems appears in a tailcoat and masked as various animals. These works were originally made as part of ‘The Louisiana Project’, a multimedia series which addresses a long legacy of racism and colonialism in the state of Louisiana during the Antebellum period. The series was commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, a treatise which allowed the United States to colonise a vast area of land that doubled the size of the country. This land was mostly inhabited by Indigenous peoples.
‘Missing Links’ explores the white supremacism underpinning the Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans. A parade in 1873, themed ‘The Missing Links to Darwin’s Origin of Species’, was a direct attack on the increasing social mobility of Black people in the American South. Costumed in reference to the racist caricatures of that parade, Weems subverts their power and exposes their hollowness.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
Frobisher Crescent is the crescent-shaped building north-west of the Barbican Centre. Its design is based on Jewin Crescent that formerly stood here and was damaged during the Second World War. Chamberlin, Powell and Bon planned the area within the crescent as a ‘sculpture court’ but it has was never been used as such.
Frobisher Crescent forms part of the Barbican Centre. It links to the Barbican Centre itself on its east side, and some of the Barbican Centre facilities are underneath and form part of Frobisher Crescent. Frobisher Crescent also straddles the two levels or podia – north and south – of the Barbican Estate.
Frobisher Crescent was built at part of Phase V of the creation of the estate:
- The Barbican Centre (or Barbican Arts Centre)
- Frobisher Crescent
- Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The contract was awarded to John Laing Construction Limited at a price of just under £14,000,000. In terms of cost overruns however this phase outdid all others by a huge margin. The final cost by the time the Barbican Centre was ready to open in 1982 was £159,000,000 – a more than tenfold increase.
[Barbican Living]
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
from The Louisiana Project
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
In these photographs, Weems appears in a tailcoat and masked as various animals. These works were originally made as part of ‘The Louisiana Project’, a multimedia series which addresses a long legacy of racism and colonialism in the state of Louisiana during the Antebellum period. The series was commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, a treatise which allowed the United States to colonise a vast area of land that doubled the size of the country. This land was mostly inhabited by Indigenous peoples.
‘Missing Links’ explores the white supremacism underpinning the Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans. A parade in 1873, themed ‘The Missing Links to Darwin’s Origin of Species’, was a direct attack on the increasing social mobility of Black people in the American South. Costumed in reference to the racist caricatures of that parade, Weems subverts their power and exposes their hollowness.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
These works were photographed by Carrie Mae Weems in the wake of demonstrations in the artist’s birth town of Portland, Oregon, following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020. Over several months of protests, boarded-up storefronts were repeatedly painted over to erase demonstrators’ messages. Through her particular use of cropping and lighting, Weems transforms buildings into flat colour fields. Widely known for her photography which features the human subject, here Weems opens this exhibition with a radical body of work reflecting on the visual language of abstraction.
On the threshold between abstraction and representation, Painting the Town engages with art history. Black painters such as Norman Lewis were present in Abstract Expressionism since its inception, but their contributions have been historically overlooked. These artists explored how the abstract could be used to represent a range of concerns, from the aesthetic to the social. In Painting the Town, abstraction emerges directly from protest as a form of expression.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
These works were photographed by Carrie Mae Weems in the wake of demonstrations in the artist’s birth town of Portland, Oregon, following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020. Over several months of protests, boarded-up storefronts were repeatedly painted over to erase demonstrators’ messages. Through her particular use of cropping and lighting, Weems transforms buildings into flat colour fields. Widely known for her photography which features the human subject, here Weems opens this exhibition with a radical body of work reflecting on the visual language of abstraction.
On the threshold between abstraction and representation, Painting the Town engages with art history. Black painters such as Norman Lewis were present in Abstract Expressionism since its inception, but their contributions have been historically overlooked. These artists explored how the abstract could be used to represent a range of concerns, from the aesthetic to the social. In Painting the Town, abstraction emerges directly from protest as a form of expression.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
These works were photographed by Carrie Mae Weems in the wake of demonstrations in the artist’s birth town of Portland, Oregon, following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020. Over several months of protests, boarded-up storefronts were repeatedly painted over to erase demonstrators’ messages. Through her particular use of cropping and lighting, Weems transforms buildings into flat colour fields. Widely known for her photography which features the human subject, here Weems opens this exhibition with a radical body of work reflecting on the visual language of abstraction.
On the threshold between abstraction and representation, Painting the Town engages with art history. Black painters such as Norman Lewis were present in Abstract Expressionism since its inception, but their contributions have been historically overlooked. These artists explored how the abstract could be used to represent a range of concerns, from the aesthetic to the social. In Painting the Town, abstraction emerges directly from protest as a form of expression.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
On the podium
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
On the podium
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
Museum of London / Bastion House, City of London – Powell & Moya (1977)
The first post-war museum to be built in London and the largest urban history museum in the world, the Museum of London was designed when architects Powell & Moya were at the height of their reputation and prestige. Best known for the Skylon at the Festival of Britain they were one of the most significant practices in postwar Britain.
Housed within an angular and robust white-tiled concrete structure, the museum is skillfully placed on a considerably constrained site. Its solidity protects the interiors from the traffic noise outside and shelters a quiet courtyard garden, while a great dark brick-clad rotunda – referencing the nearby Roman city walls – rises from the centre of a busy roundabout, acting as an arrival point to the complex.
To the east is Bastion house, also by P&M, built as a speculative office development above the podium, as part of the new museum scheme. Standing on piers of biscuit-coloured concrete with Miesian bronzed curtain-walling, it is now a rare survivor of a hugely important part of the City of London’s post-war planning history. Both are now earmarked for demolition, as the museum prepares to move to a new cultural quarter in the renovated Smithfield Market and the City of London seeks to maximise the development potential on the vacated site, located on the corner of the Grade II listed Barbican Estate.
[C20 Society]
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
These works were photographed by Carrie Mae Weems in the wake of demonstrations in the artist’s birth town of Portland, Oregon, following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020. Over several months of protests, boarded-up storefronts were repeatedly painted over to erase demonstrators’ messages. Through her particular use of cropping and lighting, Weems transforms buildings into flat colour fields. Widely known for her photography which features the human subject, here Weems opens this exhibition with a radical body of work reflecting on the visual language of abstraction.
On the threshold between abstraction and representation, Painting the Town engages with art history. Black painters such as Norman Lewis were present in Abstract Expressionism since its inception, but their contributions have been historically overlooked. These artists explored how the abstract could be used to represent a range of concerns, from the aesthetic to the social. In Painting the Town, abstraction emerges directly from protest as a form of expression.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]