Barbican Guide
December 2020

We Cover the Universe creates the joy of an interactive theatre experience, from the comfort of your sofa. Presented over Zoom, the 30-minute online adventure for under fives and their families follows the story of Dot. Dot lives in a small grey room and feels very isolated (many of us can relate to that at the moment) until one day, she finds a way to venture beyond her confined space into a world of vibrant colour.

‘The aim is to give people something magical in this strange time,’ says Rachel Lincoln, co-founder with Anna Beecher of Akin, which is behind the production.

The show is based on Beecher’s poetry. As the tale unfolds, Lincoln creates illustrations in real time, and families can take part in arts activities alongside her.

‘We’ll be building a world together,’ says Beecher. ‘As a company all our work is about taking audiences into a fantastical universe. In theatres we create a sensory environment involving smells and things to feel; this time we’ll be helping people create that experience in their own homes – or wherever they are.’

Lincoln adds, ‘We encourage people to use what’s in their own home and to look at, and play with them in a different way; it’s also for adults to explore space in a new way. Although people are looking at a screen, we want them to engage with the space they’re in, so they can take that magical feeling with them after the show for the weeks and months to follow.’

‘The screen is the gateway and the home is where the show happens,’ says Beecher.

‘When you’re in a theatre, you’re in a space that’s different to your home. We’re excited about being able to create that experience in people’s homes,’ says Lincoln.

As with all Akin shows, people who want to share what they’re doing will be welcome to do so: ‘We are excited about having moments when people can show the group what they’re creating,’ says Lincoln. ‘But no-one will be forced to. If you just want to sit there with the camera off, that’s also fine.’

This is the first time the pair have created a show over Zoom, but they’re very familiar with online video calls. With Beecher frequently in the USA, the two often develop shows using this technology.
Akin’s productions are developed to work with adults in mind too. ‘Anna’s poetry works on two levels: it’s playful for the children, but there’s a deeper meaning that adults will understand,’ says Lincoln. ‘It’s important to us not to patronise grown-ups with the storytelling.’

‘Ultimately, we want everyone to feel better when they come out of one of our shows than when they went in,’ adds Beecher.
And who couldn’t do with that after this year?

Members get unlimited free entry to all Art Gallery exhibitions, the chance to book before events go on sale to the public, plus great discounts in the Shop, on Music, Theatre and Cinema tickets – whether Cinema On Demand or in-person screenings – and special offers in our restaurants and cafes.

We also organise exclusive Members events, such as workshops, talks, and classes – most of which are currently online only.
Plus, at this time when arts organisations are under considerable financial pressure, you’ll know that giving a Barbican Membership helps support our work.

With people spending more time at home this year, many have found they’re listening to more podcasts and radio programmes.
If that sounds familiar, this year’s Soundhouse is for you. Conceived as a ‘cinema for the ears’, it’s online for free, featuring three audio loops of material to listen to. Each strand is curated by a guest: audio producer Arlie Adlington; multimedia artist and radio maker Ariana Martinez; and award- winning sound designer Axel Kacoutié.

Alongside the listening, there are essays to read and opportunities for discovering more audio content by delving into producers’ back catalogues or recommendations.

‘Rather than letting people listen to programmes on demand, we’ve adopted a “live listening” approach,’ says Eleanor McDowall (Falling Tree Productions) who’s co-produced the project with Nina Garthwaite (In The Dark). ‘That means whenever you tune-in, from wherever in the world, you’ll be having a communal listening experience.

‘Being online instead of in a building, also enables us to reach more audiences, and incorporate accessibility options, such as transcripts.’

A defining cultural figure, choreographer Michael Clark has been at the forefront of innovation in dance since the 1980s. Renowned for rigorous technique and collaboration across the fields of music, art, film, fashion, and graphic design, his work wins plaudits worldwide.

His ground-breaking approach is also inspiring some of today’s exciting young creatives.

London-based dance artist and choreographer Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome works with composers, visual artists, music producers, pop/ punk bands and others, and takes her work into galleries and alternative performance contexts.

She first encountered Clark’s work at the Theatre Royal in Bath 1998 where she saw current/SEE. ‘My main memory as a ballet obsessed, highly-disciplined, passionate thirteen year-old dancer was of Michael on the floor for very long periods of time, half on- half off-stage and a bass guitarist playing long slow repetitive resounding deep tones that rearranged time and reality,’ she recalls. ‘It really stayed with me as an image sensation and stirred something different inside me, something I did not expect to encounter in a theatre as “dance”. I began contemporary dance classes that same year.’

Adam Linder was a member of the Royal Ballet when he first saw Clark’s work OH MY GODDESS (2003) at Sadler’s Wells.

‘What appealed to me was this sense that he had thought about every little detail in the production – the gesamtkunstwerk approach to the work, from the font in the programme to the detail on the dancers’ tights. It was very striking to me. I felt all the elements pulsating together.’

A few years after leaving the Royal Ballet, Linder successfully auditioned for Michael Clark Company. He danced with the company on and off for three years from 2005.

‘It was a really exciting time for the company and for me,’ says Linder from his home in Los Angeles. ‘Michael’s work is so potent, rich and sharp, not only in what it does with dance but how it branches out into other spheres. He isn’t a choreographer that exists “in the dance world”; he’s in the dance world, but also in art, music, fashion, and that’s what had one of the strongest effects on me.’

Although he feels that his work is ‘formally very different’ to Clark’s, Linder says ‘the ability to have dance breach its context is something that’s been influential for me, and is something I hold close as a core value’. He adds, ‘The sharpness of his vision, that is across all the elements of sound, visuals, staging and social milieu is also very important to me.’

Muñoz-Newsome says: ‘Experiencing what Michael made through collaborating with artists, musicians, bands and fashion designers, was very inspiring to me as a younger dancer. It connected with me and has been part of my own adventure.
‘He was pushing boundaries of dance and art outside the dance world, bringing a presence of pop and punk culture into dance which was exciting as there was not much of that energy inside dance training. This energy is something that still fuels my making.’

Experience this energy for yourself at the first major exhibition dedicated to Clark, in our Art Gallery. Exploring his unique combination of classical and contemporary culture, it’s a portrait of the choreographer as seen through the eyes of legendary collaborators and world-renowned artists.