Barbican announces Project a Black Planet, a summer-long season highlighting Pan-Africanism’s influence on art, cinema, music and more
Chris Ofili, Union Black, 2003 © Chris Ofili. Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro.
Project a Black Planet: A Season
Barbican Centre
June – September 2026
This summer, the Barbican presents Project a Black Planet, a major season celebrating the rich influence of Pan-Africanism on contemporary arts and culture. From June to September 2026, more than thirty events across art, cinema, music, performance, talks, and more will unfold throughout the Centre, bringing together artists, thinkers, and communities from across the African continent and its global diasporas.
Coined around 1900, Pan-Africanism is popularly understood as an umbrella term for political and philosophical movements advocating for self-determination, anti-colonial resistance, and transnational solidarity among peoples of African descent. The season at the Barbican will explore how these ideas have resonated across artforms and geographies, celebrating legacies ranging from Creole culture in Cape Verde and Black Rights in the USA to the liberation philosophies of reggae and dub rooted in the Caribbean, and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in the UK.
At the heart of the season sits Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica (11 June – 6 September 2026), a multi‑site international exhibition that evolves in dialogue with each context and traces more than a century of artistic and cultural production shaped by Pan-African ideas. Featuring over 300 works drawn from Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, North America and Europe, the exhibition explores how artists and activists have used image-making, performance, design and collective practice to imagine emancipatory futures and articulate new political and aesthetic possibilities.
Complementing the exhibition, a dedicated film programme will chart the circulation of Pan-African ideas across the long twentieth century and into the present, presenting milestone works, rare archival material and contemporary moving-image practice. Together, these films consider how festivals, gatherings, resistance movements and cultural networks have forged solidarities and reshaped global imaginaries.
Beyond the Gallery and Cinemas, artists and collaborators will expand the season’s themes through installations, live music, dance, talks and gatherings.
A series of concerts and music events will trace the legacies of Pan-Africanism as expressed across different African diasporic communities and historical moments, showcasing artists working within musical traditions of activism and resistance. The programme opens with a specially commissioned immersive spatial audio presentation of a collaborative project between the late pioneering reggae and dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and electronic duo Mouse on Mars. It continues with a series of performances from leading international musicians and collectives such as Meshell Ndegeocello, Pat Thomas and Tyshawn Sorey, the Cesária Évora Orchestra with Mayra Andrade, and a new three-part sonic performance by Congolese artist Sammy Baloji.
Alongside these, public events throughout the summer invite audiences to explore the enduring legacies of Pan-Africanism. Inspired by the Akan philosophy of Sankofa – meaning to learn from the past to build a better future – the programme includes the summer-long installation In the Wake, reflecting on Pan-African solidarity and activism through the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in 2020 and beyond. A series of Reasonings will create an open space for discussion, debate and community, while the Sankofa Carnival Performance brings participants together in celebration of Carnival’s transnational roots.
Workshops, parties and gatherings – including a special edition of the Barbican’s anyone can dance late-night dance series – will further extend the season into spaces of social practice and collective celebration, highlighting the continuing impact of Pan-Africanism in music, dance and community organising.
Project a Black Planet: A Season takes place across the Barbican Centre from 5 June to 6 September 2026.
Full programme (further details to be announced):
PROJECT A BLACK PLANET EXHIBITION
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica
11 June – 6 September 2026
Barbican Art Gallery
Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica isa major international exhibition exploring the influence of Pan-Africanism on artistic and cultural production. Spanning more than a century, the exhibition brings together over 300 works – from paintings and installations to posters, journals and film – produced across Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe. While Pan-Africanism has long been recognised as a galvanising force in twentieth-century global history, this exhibition is the first to consider both its impact on visual art and culture, and the critical role artists have played in shaping Pan-African visions. Reflecting the movement’s shifting geographies and histories, the project takes on a new form at each venue, responding to the local context in which it is presented. The exhibition is co-organised by the Art Institute of Chicago and MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona in collaboration with Barbican London and KANAL-Centre Pompidou Bruxelles.
For further information, see the exhibition press release here.
Project a Black Planet: Film
8 July – 6 September 2026
Barbican Cinemas
Acompanying the exhibition in Barbican Art Gallery, the Project a Black Planetfilm programme traces the circulation of Pan-African ideas through cinema, art, and cultural practice across the long twentieth century and into the present. Bringing together landmark films, rare archival works, and contemporary moving-image practices, the programme explores how festivals, carnivals, museums, archives, and collective gatherings have shaped traditions of resistance, solidarity, and Black internationalism. Across 15 event screenings, filmmakers, artists, and thinkers engage questions of memory, colonialism, diaspora, and liberation, foregrounding cinema as a vital space for political imagination, cultural encounter, and communal renewal. Together, these works reflect on the enduring power of cultural exchange in forging new worlds beyond imperial legacies.
Lee “Scratch” Perry x Mouse on Mars Studio project
5 – 11 June 2026
The Pit
For one week, The Pit transforms into a specially commissioned immersive environment that explores a new collaborative project between the late pioneering reggae and dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and electronic music duo Mouse on Mars. Developed from studio sessions with Perry in 2019, the work reflects his lifelong pursuit of new sounds and ideas. Dub music is intertwined with Pan-Africanism through reggae’s roots in the Rastafari movement and its grounding in Black liberation and Afrocentric thought. This world-exclusive installation will present new works in spatial audio on a specially installed D&B Soundscape soundsystem alongside in-person events which foreground how the music became a resonant medium for Black consciousness, cultural resistance, and the expression of a shared African heritage across the diaspora.
Cesária Évora Orchestra with special guest Mayra Andrade
Saturday 13 June 2026, 7.30pm
Barbican Hall
Tickets from £25 plus booking fee
In this special concert, the very best of today’s Cabo Verdean artists come together to pay homage to the life and sounds of Cesária Évora: La Diva aux pieds nus (The Barefoot Diva) as the Cesária Évora Orchestra, comprising Ceuzany, Elida Almeida, Lucibela, Teofilo Chantre and special guest Mayra Andrade. Cesária Évora was a remarkable singer who passed away suddenly in 2011. Known for performing the Cabo Verdean ‘morna’ style of music, Évora was a key voice in Creole culture and brought the deeply rooted traditions of the Cabo Verdean archipelago to a global audience. Her life and music will be celebrated in this concert by unparalleled Cabo Verdean artists committed to preserving her enchanting legacy and keeping her repertoire alive. Coming together under the banner of Cesária Évora Orchestra they have performed all over the world and now bring their tribute to an icon of global music and her work – notably as an ambassador of Cabo Verdean music – to the Barbican Hall.
Saturday 20 June 2026
Barbican Hall
Visionary bassist Meshell Ndegeocello performs No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin in a powerful live set with her band. A genre-defying sonic exploration blending jazz, soul, funk and spoken word, the deeply atmospheric work draws on the writings and legacy of acclaimed author and civil rights activist James Baldwin. Weaving together Baldwin’s essays, novels and poetry, Ndegeocello creates a prophetic musical odyssey that moves through moments of intimacy, intensity and improvisation, anchored by her fluid basslines. The performance draws audiences into Baldwin’s meditations on race, sexuality, resistance and belonging, forming a profound dialogue between literature and music that celebrates his enduring influence nearly a century after his birth.
Saturday 20 June 2026
LSO St Luke’s
Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and drummer Tyshawn Sorey joins pioneering pianist Pat Thomas for a live set of improvised jazz in this rare opportunity to see two major artists create something entirely new on stage. Both radical exponents of Afrofuturism, their work draws on Black experimental musical traditions that imagine new cultural and political futures. Sorey, a drummer and multi-instrumentalist, has played worldwide with Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano and Vijay Iyer. Thomas, one of the UK’s leading pianists in jazz and free improvisation, is known for his control, range, and clarity. With no set list and no fixed outcome, the music in this unique performance at LSO St Luke’s is created in real time, shaped by experience and instinct. Tyshawn Sorey’s work also appears this season in Monochromatic Light: Afterlife (22 Jun) – part of Davóne Tines’ artistic residency.
Africa Oyé x Barbican: Patoranking, Ghorwane & Kizaba
Sunday 21 June 2026
Barbican Hall
Curated in partnership with Liverpool’s long-running and pioneering Africa Oye festival, this concert presents three of the continent’s most exciting artists, showcasing a remarkable breadth of sounds and styles. Ghorwanebring their masterly take on marrabenta – dance music from Mozambique which blends traditional dance rhythms with Portuguese folk influences. Kizaba channels the Congolese tradition of La Sape, following in the immaculately stylish footsteps of Papa Wemba, building on his rumba-rock heritage to craft a modern Afro-Electro-Pop. Headlining is Patoranking, the Nigerian superstar, whose style is rooted in Afrobeat but has expanded to embrace reggae and R&B influences, as well as collaborations with numerous high-profile African and international artists from Diamond Platnumz and Kizz Daniel to Major Lazer, Ludacris and Popcaan.
Sammy Baloji: Le Père Sauvage – A Poetic Memento of K(C)ongo
Sunday 5 July 2026
Barbican Hall
Music and art converge in a three-part performance exploring Congo’s history, Pan-Africanism, and the journeys of the Black diaspora, culminating in a sound cartography performed from the balcony. Congolese artist Sammy Baloji works with photography, video, and installation to explore memory, history, and colonial legacies, combining archival and contemporary images to reveal untold stories. This immersive performance unfolds in three acts, reimagining the traditional concert experience through shifting perspectives of sound and space. Part I features Szymon Brzóska’s composition for trumpet, cello, and piano, inspired by Heart of Darkness (1899). Part II presents Pytshens Kambilo’s ensemble work drawing on 1970s Pan-Africanism. In the final act, Satch Hoyt performs a sound cartography from the Hall’s balcony, inverting the traditional concert experience. By blending electric flute and percussion with contemporary synthesised sounds and antique African instruments, he traces the journeys of Black people across the Atlantic.
PROJECT A BLACK PLANET EVENTS & GATHERINGS
Sankofa Carnival Costume-making Workshops
30 April – 15 August 2026 (Thursdays & Saturdays)
Sankofa Carnival Dance Workshops
4 July – 15 August (Saturdays)
Across the summer, audiences are invited to step into the vibrant world of Carnival arts with a joyful programme of costume-making and dance workshops led by some of the UK’s most celebrated Carnival innovators.
From 30 April to 15 August, Mahogany Carnival Design hosts hands-on Carnival costume sessions every Thursday and Saturday, inviting participants to explore colour, texture and storytelling traditions rooted in Carnival heritage. On Saturdays from 4 July to 15 August, IRIE! dance theatre leads dance workshops inspired by Dance of the African Diaspora.
Together, these workshops culminate in a Carnival-inspired performance at the Barbican on Saturday 15 August, where the creative team present new work developed with the workshop participants. Please note, space for the workshops is limited but the performance is open to all.
In the Wake
15 June – 1 September 2026
Level G Hub Space
This evolving free installation in the Barbican’s Level G foyer reframes the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in 2020 as a moment of transnational Pan-African solidarity. Creating a space for collective memory and reflection, it situates contemporary activism within its historic lineage. The installation features artists working across visual art, sound and literature, alongside emerging young creatives and community contributors.
Reasonings
27 June – 19 July 2026
Barbican Centre
Inspired by London’s role as the birthplace of the Pan-African Congress, this conversation series creates an inclusive space for active debate on the Black experience across past, present and future imaginaries. Communities, provocateurs and creatives are invited to reflect on topics ranging from archives to activism and beyond.
anyone can dance
Saturday 25 July 2026
Level –1
The Barbican’s new late-night party series celebrating dance and diaspora returns with an instalment inspired by Pan-Africanism and rooted in African rhythms. Transforming the Level –1 foyer space into an intimate dancefloor open late until 3am, anyone can dance is a celebration of club music from around the world via the local diasporas in the UK.
Play Make Do
14 – 16 August 2026
Barbican Centre
Returning for a second year, the Barbican’s Play Make Do festival invites visitors of all ages to explore a programme of creative activities and performances. This summer’s edition includes special Carnival-themed events and invites attendees to take part in the Barbican’s Sankofa Carnival Performance on Saturday 15 August, alongside many other activities designed to spark playful imagination, connection and hands-on adventure.
Sankofa Carnival Performance
Saturday 15 August 2026
Barbican Centre
Inspired by the Akan ‘Sankofa’ proverb – learning from the past to shape the future – the Sankofa Carnival Performance is a vibrant, Centre-wide celebration of dance, costume and music. This Carnival-inspired performance is created by Mahogany Carnival Design, IRIE! dance theatre and Endurance Steel Orchestra together with participants from a series of summer-long workshops in costume-making and Carnival dance and music. Together, they present a bold and expressive showcase reflecting the heritage, traditions and creative energy at the heart of Carnival culture.