Alvar Aalto @ The Barbican

At long last, an exhibition devoted to one of Modernism's great hero's. Time Out

Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), is one of the masters of modernism, ranking alongside figures such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. In his first UK retrospective, Aalto’s work is presented through the eyes of contemporary Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

The exhibition examines the development of Aalto’s architectural style, featuring models, drawings, photographs and artefacts from 14 of his key projects, built mainly in Finland, Denmark and across Scandinavia. Spanning six decades, featured projects include Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium (1929-33), Villa Mairea (1938-39), AA-System Houses (1937-1945), Experimental House (1952-53), North Jutland Art Museum (1958-72) and the development of the urban centre for Seinäjoki (1952-87).

Aalto was as concerned with the interiors of his buildings as he was with the structure, and the exhibition also showcases his wide-ranging product designs. These include his famous stacking stool and other furniture, as well as glassware, light fittings and textiles, many of which continue to be manufactured today by the renowned Finnish design company Artek, founded in 1935.

Aalto admired the commitment to craftsmanship and sensitivity to natural materials that he found in Japanese architecture, and 60 years later this influence comes full circle in the work of Shigeru Ban. The exhibition showcases many of Ban’s key works which acknowledge a huge debt to Aalto’s organic approach to design.

Ban is famous for his use of natural and recyclable materials such as cardboard, bamboo and wood, and the exhibition features celebrated projects such as his Paper Log House (1995), Japan Pavilion, Hanover Expo (2000) and his recent design for the new Pompidou Centre in Metz.

This fascinating exhibition which explores the themes linking these two influential architects who, despite spanning a generational and geographical divide, share a visionary approach to architecture.


Curated by Shigeru Ban in collaboration with Juhani Pallasmaa and Tomoko Sato. Organised by Barbican Art Gallery in conjunction with the Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä.

Supported by Embassy of Finland and The Japan Foundation.

Jeppe Hein @ Barbican

Jeppe Hein
The Curve
1 February 2007 - 29 April 2007
The Curve

Part of 25th landmark events



Tickets: Free
Daily 11am-8pm
subject to availability





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Danish artist Jeppe Hein creates a dynamic site-specific installation for The Curve as part of Barbican’s new programme of commissions for this unusual space. Hein’s piece redefines the space of the gallery, involving and perplexing the viewer.

This young Danish artist has worked with fountains, moving walls and gravity-defying kinetic sculptures. His commission for The Curve is entitled Distance, and involves a very unusual roller coaster.

Jeppe Hein Talk
Why are you here and not somewhere else?
Tue 17 Apr/6.30pm
Admission Free
Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear this internationally renowned artist talk about his work.

The exhibition has been generously supported by Arts Council England, The Danish Arts Council Committee for International Arts, The Embassy of Denmark & ARUP.

Christian Marclay @ White Cube

Christian Marclay: Crossfire2 Feb—10 Mar 2007
Hoxton Square

White Cube Hoxton Square is pleased to present a new video installation and group of collages by Christian Marclay. Since the early 1980s, Marclay has been developing a distinctive body of work that explores the relationships between sound and image. Renowned for his exuberant and witty collages, Marclay has made use of everything from record covers to film clips to construct pictures, objects and installations.

The video installation Crossfire creates a charged, physical space in which the viewer is surrounded by four large projections playing a rapid montage of guns and gunfire. The gun is perhaps the most iconic image in the media, a constant presence in everything from newscasts about faraway wars and local crimes to its persistent role as a narrative device in movies. While guns always foreshadow violence, they also offer a false promise of safety from an outside threat. Marclay plays with this twin sense of dread and fascination. Crossfire features characters handling a variety of guns, from small pistols to unruly rifles – a man pulls back his jacket to reveal a thick handgun in a holster, fingers caress a steely gun barrel as if stroking a fetish object, a thumb pushes bullets into the cylinder of a revolver. When the shooting begins, the viewer is engulfed by a cadenced, pulsating violence that diminishes and intensifies with mesmerising rhythm. Although the viewer is under a continuous assault, Marclay’s precise arrangement of sound and image allows the gunfire to become a kind of percussion instrument, and Crossfire coaxes a strange music from the westerns, gangster flicks and war movies that the artist has used as raw material.

For the second part of the exhibition, Marclay has created a group of prints made from onomatopoeic words that he has torn from comic books and collaged before scanning and reprinting them at a large scale. Onomatopoeic words, with their huge letters and strings of unbroken vowels, blaze across the page at decisive moments in every superhero’s escapade, yet their forceful presence remains silent until interpreted and read aloud. Marclay treats these chunky words like objects, creating collages that emphasise the materiality of the paper and the ink of the original comic book. Removed from their narrative context, the words fizz with random violence and barely contained energy.

Christian Marclay has exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions. A mid-career retrospective began at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles in 2003 and concluded at the Barbican Art Gallery, London in May 2005. “Christian Marclay: Replay” will be at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, from 9 March – 24 June 2007.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, with a text by Tom Morton.

The Barbican transforms its public spaces

The Barbican has now completed the major £14 million redevelopment of its foyers and public spaces. The Barbican's entrances have been remodelled and the Silk Street entrance now features a new piece of public art, the Linklaters Commission, a dramatic 22m moving light wall installation by artist Alex Hartley. New routes have been created through the foyer spaces, greatly improving orientation and navigation. New bars, cafés, signage, cloakrooms, furniture, multimedia screens and lighting have all helped to open out and animate the spaces in new ways.For further information contact Helen Winstanley on +44 (0) 20 7382 7093.