Lucy Raven Rounds exhibition at The Curve, Barbican Centre, offers a profound exploration of the industrial transformation of the American West through kinetic art and immersive video installations. Running from October 9, 2025, to January 4, 2026, this exhibition marks the premiere of Raven’s monumental kinetic light sculpture, Hardpan, co-commissioned by the Barbican and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, alongside the UK and European debut of her moving image installation, Murderers Bar.
Upon entering The Curve, visitors are greeted by Hardpan, a large-scale kinetic light sculpture that draws inspiration from centrifugal force mechanisms. The sculpture’s electronic arm sweeps light around an aluminum and concrete enclosure, simulating the extreme forces exerted on the human body during high-speed acceleration. This continuous movement alters the atmospheric conditions within the space, creating an immersive environment that evokes the physiological sensations associated with rapid motion.
Complementing Hardpan is Murderers Bar, the final installment in Raven’s series The Drumfire. This moving image installation begins with the detonation of dynamite inside a large-scale concrete dam, tracing the subsequent rush of the river 200 miles to the Pacific Ocean. The film then reverses direction, journeying upstream through the drained reservoir, revealing a stark landscape of sediment poised for ecological transformation. Through this work, Raven examines the cyclical nature of industrial processes and their profound impact on the landscape.
The Lucy Raven Rounds exhibition delves into themes of pressure, force, and cycles of violence in the formation of the Western United States. Raven’s practice encompasses film, installation, sculpture, photography, and drawing, investigating the dynamics of material transformation and the entwined histories of image capture technologies and infrastructural systems, particularly as they relate to land and landscape.
For those interested in a deeper understanding of the exhibition, the Barbican offers an exhibition walkaround on October 9, 2025, at 5:30 PM, where visitors can join artist Lucy Raven and curator Alexis Lowry for a walkthrough of the new exhibition.
The Lucy Raven Rounds exhibition is free to attend, with The Curve open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 7 PM. Please note that the gallery will be closed from December 24–26, 2025. For more information and to plan your visit, please refer to the official Barbican website.
