As we await the opening of an exciting new exhibition at London’s Barbican Centre, titled Feel the Sound (May 22 – August 31), we had the chance to speak with Luke Kemp, Head of Creative Programme, Immersive.
Our conversation was an opportunity to reflect on the growing importance of immersive experiences in today’s cultural landscape, and discuss how they intersect with other art forms, and how the Barbican, a long-standing force in shaping London’s artistic and cultural scene, can serve as a platform for the distribution and promotion of immersive productions on a global scale.
Cover: Kinda Studios and Nexus Studios, Your Inner Symphony, 2025, concept image courtesy of the artists
An overview of immersive at the Barbican
LUKE KEMP – I run the department with my colleague Patrick Moran (a/n Head of Commercial Strategy and Partnerships), and there are two sides to the work we do.
There’s the creative side, which focuses on new productions that I’m now spearheading, and then there’s touring and commercial partnerships. We see our approach to immersive as closely tied to how we think about the business side of things too.
In many ways, in fact, immersive for us has grown out of years of programming, both in our department and across the wider Barbican Centre.
We’ve always embraced multidisciplinary and multiformat approaches. We don’t just work with artists; rather we collaborate with a wide range of people: scientists, academics, architects, engineers, video game designers, philosophers, writers. The list is long, and we want to keep expanding it. For us, if someone brings a perspective that aligns with a story we want to tell, we can come together and build something around that.
The big exhibitions we produce every two years at the Barbican are co-produced and commissioned. So we create original productions, generating our own IP and content that will then tour for at least five years.
Another important aspect of our approach right now is being deeply audience-informed. We’ve been collecting a lot of data and conducting research, not just to decide what to present, but to understand what our audiences are actually looking for.
That’s helping us bring new audiences into the Barbican, people who are seeking something different from what cultural centres and museums typically offer. We want to lead with experiential content, so that whenever people visit, they know there will be regular programming and access to XR experiences – starting next year and continuing into the future.
Immersive as the sixth art form
L. K. – In this regard, the Barbican has a new audience strategy. As part of the artistic vision of our new Director for Arts and Participation, Devyani Saltzman, there’s a strong focus on cross-arts programming. We have all the art forms here – music, theatre and dance, cinema, visual arts, creative collaborations – and now immersive, which we see as the sixth art form.
We’re also preparing to launch a new annual commission that we hope to introduce next spring. It will be a new civic offer, showing our commitment to consistent digital and XR programming at the Barbican.
All this is important, because as such a diverse cultural centre, we have the opportunity to truly cross-programme and think about how our audiences can engage with all areas of what we offer. We often think about it in terms of how we can welcome visitors when they arrive at the centre. From the moment you walk in, we want you to know you’re in a cultural organisation, and that you’re going to encounter art in many forms. And now we want to include digital as part of that first impression.
So, what’s really about is onboarding people into the Barbican experience. Of course, if you’re going to get lost anywhere, it’s probably going to be here – and people do get lost! (laughs) But there’s something quite lovely about that.
At the same time, we do want to help guide people through the space. This kind of big, cross-arts programming can really support that journey.
Feel the Sound: a new exhibition starting in Summer 2025
L. K. – Feel the Sound, our new exhibition coming Summer 2025, is being developed in partnership with the Museum of Narratives, a new museum set to open in Tokyo in 2026, designed by Kengo Kuma. They’ve been incredible partners, involved from the very beginning in shaping this kind of exhibition experience.
What we’re doing with this exhibition is really the first step in defining what our idea of immersive will look like. Feel the Sound is what we’re calling a tentpole of the summer. Around it, we’re building a whole season called Frequencies: The Sounds that Shape Us, which will explore how other departments across the Barbican are thinking about the ways sound shapes and defines us.
In the context of Feel the Sound, we’ll be presenting a new version of In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, Darren Emerson’s East City Films project. It’s a multiplayer version that will have its London premiere here at the Barbican, and we’re really, really excited about it. It’ll be taking place in our flexible space The Pit, marking a new kind of experience for that space.
In the program, there’s also a month-long, cross-arts programme Rebel Radio exploring radio as a space for community, creativity, and subversion, led by our Creative Collaborations team, and of course the Music team will be contributing, along with the Cinema team, with our Outdoor Cinema at the end of August from 21 to 31. All of them explore the different ways sound impacts us.
For our department, this is the first step into not just producing big exhibitions, but offering a wider range of content to visitors.
It’s part of a bigger approach, one that puts immersive and XR content on the same level as the other art forms. It brings that spirit of collaboration across departments, pulling things together. Of course, we’ll still have our individual moments, but when we can form these kinds of alliances, I think that’s really exciting and meaningful. And honestly, I think it’s what audiences want too.
When people come to the Barbican, they’re often coming for something specific because it is a destination space, but we’re thinking more and more about how we can broaden the offer we share with them. What we want to say is come hang out, spend time here, explore. Maybe get a little lost… but just enjoy it.
Challenges of an exhibition on sound
L. K. – One thing we’re really struggling with is how to talk about sound immersion.
When people think of immersive experiences, they often picture something highly visual. But what we’ve realised with Feel the Sound is that we hardly have any screens in the exhibition! There are a few, sure, but it’s really all about the sonic experience. And that’s posed a very practical challenge: even just getting press images has been difficult, because how do you visually represent sound?
But, at the same time, that’s also what makes it exciting: it means the audience has to be there. You can’t record it, you can’t replicate it. It’s not something you can stream at home or watch on a screen. You have to be in that space, in that moment.
And that, to me, is one of the most powerful aspects of immersive work: it invites people to switch off from everything else and just be present. Even if only for a moment, it gives you space to let go of things. And with this kind of sound experience, that’s what we’re trying to enable. It’s not just about hearing – it’s about feeling. It’s textured. It goes beyond audio and becomes something more. After all, sound is fundamental to all of us.
But, for this same reason, when we decided to do a show about music and sound, we had to ask ourselves: how do you capture something that vast? In the end, we decided to focus on the idea that we’re all essentially sonic beings. What happens when you listen with your whole body? Can that experience help you rediscover something about yourself as a musical being?
Another one of the works we’re showing in this exhibition is by Domestic Data Streamers and is based on a 2016 project originally called The Time Keeper, based on a work they originally created for Sonar Festival in 2016 and now titled Forever Frequencies. For this, we asked four collaborators composer Suzanne Ciani, Architect Kengo Kuma, electronic and techno music producer Max Cooper, and composer Maria Arnal two questions: ‘What is a memory involving music that you would like to relive?’ and ‘What musical moment would complete your life’s story?’. Those answers are turned into data, and then into music. So you’re hearing a sonified version of past and potential memories. That blend of nostalgia, music, and memory is incredibly exciting and important.
And then there’s one last piece, Joyride, and it will open up the Barbican’s car park for the first time. We’re creating a big sound installation with four cars, each fitted with sound systems, in collaboration with the rave architecture collective Temporary Pleasure.
This piece leans into nostalgia, because nearly everyone has a connection between cars and music. When we ran workshops, one of the most common first music memories people shared was being in the car with their parents, with the radio on. That sticks with you. So this installation is a kind of nod to that: to car subcultures, to sound systems, to the idea of creating our own dance floors and places to play.
Immersive directions shaped through audience collaboration
L. K. – One thing that’s really important for us is building a new kind of working model, even within our department. We work incredibly collaboratively. When we create a new production or exhibition, we workshop ideas extensively, not just with field experts but also with audiences, so as to really get to the heart of new and exciting concepts. That kind of collaboration brings in advisors and thought leaders from the start.
We obviously have a core audience in mind, which is typically made up of people aged 18 to 35. However, we engage with a much broader public too. And what’s really important is that we do not talk to the audience, but we invite them into the process. We’re not just speaking, we’re listening. And that’s a fundamental part of how we want to programme, collaborate, and create.
We’re currently exploring new commissioning opportunities to create a free digital and XR offer.
To be honest, we’ve historically been a bit hesitant about headset-based experiences. As much as we love them, we also work within a commercial model – even though the Barbican itself is nonprofit – and it’s been a challenge to find ways of making headset experiences viable. But that’s changing. These location-based experiences are evolving. New models are emerging that let more people take part, and that opens up possibilities we didn’t think were realistic for us just a few years ago.
So, we’re now looking more seriously at how we can bring those kinds of experiences to the Barbican.
We’re also thinking about supplementary programming to sit alongside our bigger exhibitions and co-productions, content we might want to bring in from external partners. We’re looking at what’s already out there and asking ourselves how we can host this content. As much as we love for our exhibitions to tour internationally, there’s real value in bringing global perspectives into the Barbican. That’s why we work with international partners: it gives us insight we simply can’t generate on our own in London.
There’s something really special about that exchange: we send our work out into the world, but we also bring global content in. It makes everything feel more like a conversation.
Starting in 2026, we won’t be just bringing in new international content, however. Though I can’t say too much yet, we’re also exploring ways of programming outside the Barbican walls. We’re asking ourselves how we can take content into the public realm and engage audiences across the city. That’s all still in the works, but it’s something we’re genuinely excited about!
The Barbican as a platform for XR distribution
L. K. – Something I’ve really come to understand from the wider XR network is how central the issue of distribution is. There are all these fantastic, amazing projects being made, and some incredible festivals showcasing them. But unlike in the film world, where festivals often lead to distribution and cinema runs, XR doesn’t have that kind of infrastructure yet.
That’s where I think we can come in. We can be a space that hosts this content – especially the work that premieres at festivals – and hopefully, in time, we’ll be part of developing talent and building long-term relationships with creators. In this sense, we see ourselves as a platform for immersive experiences.
In this regard, a lot of our funding is internal. It comes from the Barbican itself, and from the City of London, since the Barbican is technically a department of the City. There’s a huge amount of talent being developed, both in the UK and internationally. Of course, there are some funding challenges, and you can see the contrast, especially when looking at how certain parts of Europe support this kind of work. But I really believe there’s massive potential for the UK to step up.
Our role in this, I hope, is to be a space where this incredible content can be seen – and not just the safe stuff. We want to show bold, challenging work too. We want to surprise visitors and make them rethink what XR and immersive experiences can be.
Yes, there are challenges. But I also think there’s a huge opportunity for us, as an institution, to lead by making experiential content one of our central art forms. That’s a big stake in the ground for us. It’s how we contribute to the wider ecosystem and network.
As we grow this out, some of our commissioning could become a space for working with early-stage innovators, people we might eventually collaborate with on larger-scale exhibitions. As we expand our own programming, we can think more about where different collaborators fit in our timeline. And importantly, we can also offer them the opportunity to tour internationally.
Building on two decades of immersive
L. K. – We have a strong track record with touring: most of our exhibitions tour for at least five years, often longer. And then there’s Game On, which has been touring for over 22 years now – it must be a bit of a record holder, really. Of course we have updated it, so it’s not exactly the same show, but that exhibition really represents the Barbican’s long-standing commitment to this kind of work.
Back in 2002, Game On was pretty much the world’s first playable history of video games. To bring that kind of content into the Barbican at that time showed real intent. It was about embracing interactivity and engagement in gallery and exhibition spaces. There’s a real history here of wanting and pushing to explore this kind of content.
What we’re doing now is giving that legacy more focus and direction. If people understand our position, our perspective, and where we’re headed, then they can better see where we fit into the wider ecosystem.
Another key part of that is our co-production model for these bigger projects. There’s so much potential to think about how we might co-produce commissions or other works in the future, not just with creators, but with venues, too. Some places might be a bit tentative about stepping into this space, or unsure how to host immersive content. That’s where we can be partners.
We can collaborate with them, show how it can be done, share how we do it, and also work together to develop new content. In a way, we can help show venues what’s possible.
Barbican Immersive: a place where the digital and the physical can merge
L. K. – The thing about immersive for us is that it’s not purely digital. When you come to see Feel the Sound, we very much believe in bridging that sense of theatricality or physicality. We’re taking people into worlds and building project portals for them to step into. And while those portals often have digital elements, they don’t always need to. Creating a strong, physical atmosphere is just as important as the tech itself. And I think we’re seeing that more and more in international exhibitions as well.
It goes back to the idea of onboarding. You want people to feel like they’re being gently brought into an experience. They could’ve just stepped off the street five minutes ago: how do we create a transition into something that’s going to completely transform them?
I think part of what’s exciting right now is where the industry is at. There are so many brilliant, committed people working in immersive, but immersive is still in the process of defining itself. There’s a full spectrum of possibilities, and we’re starting to ask ourselves what is our take on immersive? What does immersive mean for the Barbican, and what can we contribute to the wider conversation?
And maybe for us, it’s about being almost theatrical, on really focusing on the audience, on how people feel inside the experience.
At the same time, headset technology is becoming more accessible, and we’re seeing major projects that are reaching big audiences, like TONIGHT WITH THE IMPRESSIONISTS – PARIS 1874 at the Musée d’Orsay or THE INFINITE by the Phi Centre. These shows are drawing people in and proving there’s a huge appetite for this kind of content. There’s an entire spectrum: from the cutting-edge, experimental work we see at festivals, to larger-scale, more commercial immersive experiences, like Frameless here in London, that show mass audiences are ready to engage.
What we’re wondering is how we operate in this context, bringing bold, surprising, challenging ideas to a wider public that’s eager for this kind of work but also being mindful of mainstream content.
I think the space between those two ends of the spectrum… that’s a really interesting place to be. And that’s where we see ourselves.
Feel the Sound @ Barbican, a line-up
Created especially for Feel the Sound, four new commissions resonate from the past, reverberate with the future and transform our understanding of space and time:
• Observatory Station by sound artist Miyu Hosoi, with contribution from global sound project Cities and Memory, mixes archive field recordings from around the world with sounds from across the Barbican to ask visitors arriving at Silk Street to imagine the daily life of a stranger.
• UN/BOUND by TRANS VOICES, ILĀ & MONOM, with contribution from Patty Ayukawa, invites visitors to wander through a holographic choral experience and connect to a vivid soundscape by listening or using their own voice. UN/BOUND reveals the voice as a means of true expression, illuminating new spaces of belonging and collective resonance, where deep listening acts as a catalyst for change.
• Your Inner Symphony, a collaboration between Kinda Studios and Nexus Studios, fuses neuroscience and design, making our internal vibrations visible to reveal the unseen connection between music, emotion, and the body’s response.
• Joyride by Temporary Pleasure is the first ever installation to spill out of the Barbican and into the car park to recall the Y2K era of boy racers and rave, modified car sound systems and DIY music.
Three further commissions are adapted by the artists for the exhibition:
• Resonant Frequencies created by artist Evan Ifekoya and adapted following their solo exhibition at Migros Museum, Switzerland, features two works – The Welcome and The Central Sun – which incorporate frequencies believed to have healing effects. With focused, intentional listening, visitors can synchronise their bodies with their surroundings to find harmony and repair.
• Resonance Continuum created by artists Murthovic and Thiruda of transmedia collective Elsewhere in India, imagines a musical odyssey that amplifies South Asian traditions and promotes a decolonised, hopeful vision of the future.
• Forever Frequencies created by Barcelona-based Domestic Data Streamers employs generative AI to craft unique melodies based on the answers to two questions: ‘What is a memory involving music that you would like to relive?’ and ‘What musical moment would complete your life’s story?
Feel the Sound also includes two experiential spaces titled Embodied Listening Playground and Sonic Listening Playground, co-created by Nicole L’Huillier with Sarah Mackenzie and the team from MUTEK, which encourage visitors to listen not just with their ears, but with their whole body, exploring how sound shapes our connection to ourselves, each other, and the environments we inhabit. Among the artists featured in these experiential spaces are Dame Evelyn Glennie, Holly Herndon, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Daito Manabe.
Completing the journey, Feel the Sound heads outside onto the Lakeside Terrace with Raymond Antrobus’ Heightened Lyric which is commissioned to acknowledge the gap often found between the hearing and non-hearing world. Seven kites flying high above the Lakeside serve as a heightened tribute to sounds that have gone unheard. Each kite carries an extract of poetry about (missing) sound, accompanied by the British Sign Language interpretation of the words. The physical space occupied by these sculptures in the sky is combined with a striking absence of audio.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.