Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre
Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre

Author: Nicholas Kenyon

Publisher: Batsford Books

Published: 2022-02-10

Total Pages: 445

ISBN-13: 1849947805

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A beautifully designed celebration of the 40th birthday of the Barbican Arts Centre, in the heart of the City of London. It is the largest multi-arts centre in Europe, encompassing an art gallery, theatres, concert halls, cinemas and a much-loved conservatory, and regular collaborators include the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Compiled by Nicholas Kenyon, the Barbican Centre's Managing Director 2007–2021, this is an in-depth exploration of the centre, drawing on the vast array of material available in its archives, much of which has never been seen before. It includes plans and photographs from the centre's design and construction, original signage and branding, and brochures and programmes. All this is accompanied by a wealth of photographs of the huge range of performances and exhibitions that have taken place over the years, from early RSC performances to the popular Rain Room installation of 2012 to today's impressive programme of events put together in conjunction with schools and the local community. The book's authoritative and evocative text includes: Foreword by Fiona Shaw Introduction by Sir Nicholas Kenyon Cultural historian Robert Hewison on how the centre came into being Architectural historian Elain Harwood on its architecture Music critic Fiona Maddocks on music Writer and theatre critic Lyn Gardner on theatre Editor and creative director Tony Chambers on visual art Author and film critic Sukhdev Sandhu on film With listings of Barbican events from 1982 to the present day, and snippets of oral history from some of the many people associated with the centre over the years, this sumptuous book is an invaluable companion to one of the world's most important cultural spaces.

Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780500294666

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The Barbican Centre in the City of London is the largest multi-disciplinary arts centre in Europe. Designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon as part of the Barbican Estate and to provide homes for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, the building is internationally renowned not only as an example of radical, visionary architecture in the Modernist tradition, but also for its outstanding programme of more than 2,000 cultural events each year: plays, concerts, films, exhibitions and more. A new title in the Pocket Photo Books series of immersive visual guides to the experience of place, this compact album of more than one hundred photographs by Harry Cory Wright presents the dramatic spaces, rich textures and carefully selected materials of the Barbican Centre in all their detail. From the flowing, multi-level space of the foyer and the calm wooden-panelled concert hall to the surprising intimacy of the theatre and the soaring jungle of the conservatory, the Barbican Centre offers the visitor an extraordinary variety of experiences within a single building. This book captures their full range, providing exceptional insights into one of the most significant and exciting modern buildings in Britain and a thriving cultural hub in the heart of London.

Postwar Modern
Postwar Modern

Author: Jane Alison

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2022-07-26

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 3791379356

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This landmark volume offers a major re-assessment of the art that emerged in Britain in the twenty years following the end of the Second World War: a period of anxiety, profound social change and explosive creativity. Published to coincide with the Barbican Centre’s 40th anniversary, it draws together the work of fifty artists, exploring a period straddled precariously between the horror of the past and the promise of the future. Spanning painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and photography, Postwar Modern will explore a rich field of experiment which challenges the idea that Britain was a cultural backwater at this time. Through new texts by Jane Alison, Hilary Floe, Ben Highmore, Hammad Nassar and Greg Salter, the book looks afresh at celebrated artists such as Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Eduardo Paolozzi, shown in dialogue with lesser-known figures. These will include those, like Francis Newton Souza, Avinash Chandra and Robert Adams, who were acclaimed by contemporaries but neglected in subsequent history-making; others, like Kim Lim, Anwar Jalal Shemza and Franciszka Themerson, are only now attracting the attention they deserve. Throughout their work, vital shared preoccupations become visible: gender, class, race and nationhood; the body, the bombsite, and the home. It is a period resonating strongly with our own: as the UK emerges from more than a decade of austerity and confronts the challenges of post-pandemic reconstruction, society is asking similarly deep questions about who we want and need to be.

The Barbican Estate
The Barbican Estate

Author: Stefi Orazi

Publisher: Batsford Books

Published: 2020-10-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1849945667

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A beautifully produced book to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grade II listed brutalist icon, the Barbican Estate. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first residents moving into the Barbican Estate in London. This new book is a celebration of this unique complex – looking at the design of the individual flats as well as its status as a brutalist icon. Author and designer Stefi Orazi interviews residents past and present, giving an insight into how life on the estate has changed over the decades. The complex, designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, is now Grade II listed, and is one of the world’s most well-known examples of brutalist architecture. Its three towers – Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale – are among London’s tallest residential spaces and the estate is a landmark of the city. This is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive guide to the estate, with newly commissioned photography by Christoffer Rudquist. It will show in detail each of the 140 different flat types, including newly drawn drawings of the flats as well as original plans and maps. Includes fascinating texts by leading architects and design critics, including John Allan of Avanti Architects on the unique building materials and fittings of the flats, and Charles Holland of Charles Holland Architects (and FAT co-founder) on the home and how these concrete towers have become such an integral part of Britain’s domestic and architectural history.

Rise Up
Rise Up

Author: Stormzy

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2018-11-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1529119014

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*A 2018 BOOK OF THE YEAR* ‘An inspirational must-read.’ Evening Standard ‘A very important book.’ Will Gompertz, BBC ‘A motivational, inspirational oral history.’ Nikesh Shukla, iNews ‘Don’t sleep on it... the future is looking #Merky.’ Metro ______________________ ‘It’s been a long time coming, I swear...’ In four years Stormzy has risen from one of the most promising musicians of his generation to a spokesperson for a generation. Rise Up is the story of how he got there. It’s a story about faith and the ideas worth fighting for. It’s about knowing where you’re from, and where you’re going. It’s about following your dreams without compromising who you are. Featuring never-before-seen photographs, lyrics and contributions from Team #Merky, Rise Up is the #Merky story, and the record of a journey unlike any other. ______________________ Edited and Co-written by Jude Yawson Contributions by Team #Merky Images by Kaylum Dennis

Pilgrims
Pilgrims

Author: Elinor Cook

Publisher: Nick Hern Books

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781848425996

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A play about adventure, betrayal, and man's impulse to conquer the world. Dan and Will climb mountains. Aged eighteen, they climbed Everest. They became legends. Rachel isn't interested in being a character in Dan's story. She intends to make her own. But with the thrill of a climb just days away, it's not just principles, but people, in danger. Elinor Cook's play Pilgrims premiered at HighTide Festival 2016, in a co-production with HighTide, Theatr Clwyd and Vicky Graham Productions, directed by Tamara Harvey.

AI
AI

Author: Mark Fisher

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 9781527233454

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Key features include Margaret Atwood’s essay ‘Are Humans Necessary?’ tracing the history of robots in literature and culture; a fictional piece written by the late cultural theorist Mark Fisher in collaboration co-curator Suzanne Livingston; xenopoet Amy Ireland and computer generated 3D poems/ ‘modules’ that pose a challenge to the limitations of human language and Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind, and professional Go player, Fan Hui, describe how their experience of the Alpha Go program changed their perceptions of human vs artificial intelligence.

Barbican
Barbican

Author: David Heathcote

Publisher: Academy Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

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Representing a revolutionary approach to urban design, this volume sheds light on one of the most ambitious, significant and controversial architectural undertakings of the 20th century - the Barbican Estate in the City of London.

In Search of Sixpence
In Search of Sixpence

Author: Michael Paraskos

Publisher:

Published: 2016-03-17

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9780992924782

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As an art critic he had often written that the purpose of art is to soothe the pain of life. But his theory faces a real-life test with a death, that of his father, the celebrated artist Stass. Overwhelmed by feelings of anger, guilt and loss, Michael finds himself descending into a kind of madness in which the boundaries between fact and fiction break down. In a terrifying alternative reality, where even time seems unstable, he encounters the horrific figure of Pound, a murderous Nazi-sympathiser, determined to get his hands on Stass's diary. There too Michael finds the protean but beautiful femme fatale Miss Waites, and a Chandleresque companion, Geroud. But as art and life collide in this moving, often angry, but also funny book, the question remains whether art can ever really act as a cure for pain.