The Barbican is turning one of its car parks into a temporary club this spring and summer.
The transformation will take place as part of a new multi-sensory exhibition at the London cultural institution titled Feel the Sound, which is based on the idea that "frequencies, sound, rhythmic patterns and vibrations define everything around us" and will run from 22nd May through 31 August. It'll take over several spaces across the famous brutalist site: the Silk Street entrance, The Curve, the public foyers, the Lakeside Terrace and, for the first time, the underground car parks. The exhibition is a co-production with Barbican Immersive and Tokyo's MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives. Following this debut London run, Feel the Sound will travel internationally, including a stint at the MoN Takanawa in Takanawa Gateway City planned for 2026.
It'll feature 11 commissions and installations in total, with six being exclusive and new commissions, all exploring the ways our bodies and minds experience the sounds and frequencies of our environments. As part of the exhibition, Dublin rave architecture collective Temporary Pleasure will take over Car Park 5 to present Joyride, which aims to blend "boy racer" subculture with DIY music communities by using modified car sound systems "as instruments of music, memory, and connection".
Domestic Data Streamers will also set up in Car Park 5 for Forever Frequencies, a series of monoliths that use AI and music boxes "to create future music memories that haven’t yet happened".
The world's first professional trans+ vocal collective Trans Voices, along with ILĀ and spatial sound art studio MONOM, have also teamed up on a project for the exhibition. Titled UN/BOUND, the project is described as "a holographic choral exploration, which invites visitors to add their voice to the ever-evolving chorus."
Other featured artists and collaborators include Miyu Hosoi, Evan Ifekoya, Boiler Room, MUTEK, Elsewhere in India's Murthovic and Thiruda and more.
MoN Takanawa director and curator Maholo Uchida described the exhibition's concert and intent in a press statement: "As the world is inundated with visual information, we believe that re-examining sound and music as the most and unified forms of expression with the human body, and reconnecting music and 'us' will provide an opportunity to imagine the future narratives of humanity. Everyone who visits the exhibition will experience a new world full of rich sounds and musical power."
Find more information and tickets for Feel the Sound on the Barbican's website.
Last year, the Barbican hosted a takeover by Jamz Supernova's Future Bounce and an "orchestral celebration of UK bass music" with the Guildhall Session Orchestra and Raiser.