Conservatory events
Imagining Worlds
Conservatory
What ignites your imagination? How does the desire to create manifest itself? We invite writers, readers, collectives and artists to come together and think through in workshops, worldbuilding and speculative fiction.
Join us for readings by poets and writers Nikita Gill, Ariana Reines and So Mayer. The Feminist Duration Reading Group in collaboration with Silver Press, present readings and explorations of influential texts and under-represented voices, including Octavia Butler and more. And Big Dyke Bookclub, hosted by Sophie Crawford, will lead a drop in discussion of formative texts and queer speculative imaginaries.
There will also be opportunities to get involved via open mic sessions.
Free, but ticketed.
Discover more at our talks
Somatic Cosmologies
Frobisher Auditorium 1
Drawing on themes from Citra Sasmita's exhibition Into Eternal Land, poets and writers Nikita Gill, Daisy Hildyard and Ariana Reines on how mapping the body can help to understand and even change the world.
A ticket to this event also gives you access to the day's events in our conservatory.
Writing Worlds
Frobisher Auditorium 1
What is it to make a world – and why is storytelling important? Discover more at this panel discussion featuring guest speakers Season Butler, Chloe Aridjis, Sarah Shin, Sammy Lee and Siri Rodnes, chaired by Susanna Davies-Crook.
We explore feminist, queer and speculative strategies for envisioning how we might re-make our world through storytelling, gaming and film.
The panel discusses Steering the Craft – Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier bag of the tools of a writer’s craft: how, and why, to write – and the surrealist dream worlds of Leonora Carrington and Chloe Aridjis.
A ticket to this event also gives you access to the day's events in our conservatory.
Attend a writing workshop
Season Butler: Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop
Garden Room
Downfall: It's over. An empire falls, a tree is felled and spores disperse. Join Season Butler for this workshop about focus, tension, action and anticipation.
In this session, participants will harvest our histories and share the stories that we've kept close, using those as the germ to create something new, adding your own version to the story's story.
A ticket to this event also gives you access to the day's events in our conservatory.
Explore our Exhibitions
Noah Davis
Art Gallery
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.
Citra Sasmita
Into Eternal Land
The Indonesian artist transforms The Curve in her first solo UK exhibition. Via painting, installation, embroidery and scent, take a sensory journey exploring ancestral memory, ritual and migration.
Spring at the Barbican
Chiming with this time of year, our programming celebrates growth, renewal, and transformation. In this spirit, we have a season of events called Concrete Garden, offering opportunities to grow, learn and improve your wellness.
