Imagine the street of your dreams. A joyful and welcoming space where children and families play, make and dance, and communities come together through gaming, performance and conversation. This August, Our Street imagines such a place – a fun, participatory and free-to-enter takeover of the Barbican’s Curve Gallery, where children, families, young people, and the young-at-heart can get creative and connect through play. Our Street, which takes inspiration from the Barbican Art Gallery’s summer exhibition Francis Alÿs: Ricochets, is open daily from 10am – 6pm and is free to everyone.
Visitors are invited to travel the length and breadth of the route, taking in the familiar bus stops, London skylines, local shops and hopscotch courts, on a journey of encounter and surprise. From 1 to 23 August 2024, Our Street will wake early and close late, with the option to just drop in to explore, doodle and be playful, and the opportunity to take part in a programme of curated events including workshops, crafting, street parties, game nights and a family rave – all created in collaboration with a range of exciting community partners.
Pop-up programmes include: a dance session with award-winning hip-hop dance theatre company and Barbican Artistic Associates Boy Blue; sensory circus play with Really Nice Theatre; storytelling with Sierra Leonean performer Usifu Jalloh; Animanimals Short Flicks from Studio Film Bilder; make-a-paper-playground with Artizine; Rhyme Time with Barbican Library; and Play Cycles from Museum of London.
Inclusive children’s theatre company daryl & Co will lead a relaxed session of sensory play and exploration for Families of Neurodivergent and Disabled Children, dance company Corali will lead a workshop created for and by adults and artists with a learning disability; and sensory artist Natalya Martin will create a relaxed crafting workshop.
Over 18s also have their own chance to play: Thursdays will host Evening Lates on Our Street, including gaming and drag with SlayStation and Sappho Events (8 Aug); gaming and talk with Explorers Club present Open Dialogue Dey Play (15 Aug); and gaming and performance with Game Night with ESEA Community Centre, an opportunity to participate and connect over board games such as Dominoes, Ayo or Mahjong (22 Aug).
On Saturdays the communal spirit of carnival comes to Our Street with day-long Street Parties. On Sat 3 Aug, visitors can leave the tech behind and embrace the human in Pac-Man, Street Fighter and Space Invaders at the Immersive Arcade with comic art duo Hunt & Darton. On Sat 10 Aug expect banner-making, space hopper races, giant beach balls, street games and round-the-world hopscotch courtesy of London Play; and on Sat 17 Aug there are carnival hat-making and Bullerengue workshops with Accumulate and Bullerengue Circle.
And on Sun 18 Aug, Big Fish Little Fish (the 24-hour party people) will present the original and anarchic Family Rave for clubbers and their kids. Adults must be accompanied by a child.
Karena Johnson, Barbican Head of Creative Collaboration and Learning, says: “I’m so proud to share this ambitious project at the Barbican this summer – an extraordinary collaboration between inventive artists and our passionate community partners, including local schoolchildren. Taking inspiration from the Barbican Art Gallery’s summer exhibition, Francis Alÿs: Ricochets, themed around the universality and ingenuity of play, our aim is to offer visitors of all ages a safe and encouraging place to reignite imaginations and find joy in the simple, powerful act of playing together.”
Our Street is designed by West Port Architects in consultation with local school children and London artists. These creative collaborators include immersive experts (game-makers Goat & Monkey and interactive-floor designers A Line Art), murals from illustrator Matt Munday and London’s first female-led inking studio, Velvet Underground Tattoo, designer, theatre-maker and activist Paul Burgess, and cycle-powered inventions by sustainability innovators Electric Pedals.
Dates and times for all sessions are available on Our Street webpage. Booking opens on Thu 18 July at 10am.