Narrating the Barbican (2013)
performance, 20 mins

Narrating the Barbican brings together audio narration, immersive theatre and relational aesthetics in a promenade performance that moves throughout the foyers and public spaces of the Barbican.

Following the movements of 'a women in a blue dress and half worn-out shoes', her engagement with the Barbican is narrated via the public address system as she walks, listens, and plays with the building. In doing so, the Barbican itself is narrated and mapped, forming an alternative documentation of an iconic space.

Audiences are able to experience the work in several ways. Firstly, as a performance, following the woman as she moves throughout the building. Secondarily, as an audio narrative, heard throughout the Barbican's foyers via the public address system. And, thirdly, in fleeting moments, listening to the narration while catching glimpses of the woman as she passes by. This approach also allows audiences to join half-way through, using the audio narrative to locate the woman within the space.

Here, in the video adaptation of the piece, the absence of environmental sounds and views of the building allows the space to remain largely imagined, creating a cerebral map of the space and its soundscape.

This work was created in residence at the Barbican throughout August 2013 as part of 'Hack the Barbican', London’s biggest ever experiment in cross-disciplinary collaboration, bringing together artists, technologists and entrepreneurs, seeking to explore new boundaries and reinterpret one of the world’s great cultural centres.

More information about Hack the Barbican can be found here: http://hackthebarbican.org/