The Wick List

Viewing Encounters: Giacometti x Huma Bhabha at the Barbican Centre

The Wick Culture - Installation view of Giacometti x Huma Bhabha. Image courtesy of Barbican Centre

Above Installation view of Giacometti x Huma Bhabha. Image courtesy of Barbican Centre

The Wick Culture - Alberto GIACOMETTI Trois hommes qui marchent [petit plateau], Three Walking Men [Small Square], 1948. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

Above Alberto GIACOMETTI Trois hommes qui marchent [petit plateau], Three Walking Men [Small Square], 1948. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

The Wick Culture - Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Above Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Above Installation view of Giacometti x Huma Bhabha. Image courtesy of Barbican Centre

The Wick Culture - Alberto Giacometti, Femme debout
Standing Woman, 1957. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

Above Alberto Giacometti, Femme debout Standing Woman, 1957. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

The Wick Culture - Huma Bhabha, Feel the Hammer, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Above Huma Bhabha, Feel the Hammer, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Above Installation view of Giacometti x Huma Bhabha. Image courtesy of Barbican Centre

Above Alberto GIACOMETTI Trois hommes qui marchent [petit plateau], Three Walking Men [Small Square], 1948. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

Above Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Above Installation view of Giacometti x Huma Bhabha. Image courtesy of Barbican Centre

Above Alberto Giacometti, Femme debout Standing Woman, 1957. Image courtesy of Fondation Giacometti

Above Huma Bhabha, Feel the Hammer, 2024. Photo by Kerry McFate. Image courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner Gallery

Encounters: Giacometti x Huma Bhabha

Level 2
Barbican Centre
8 May – 10 August 2025

London’s big opening of the week is the first in the exciting new Encounters series, co-organised by the Barbican with the Giacometti Foundation, bringing three contemporary artists into scintillating dialogues with the iconic 20th century sculptor.

Inhabiting a new gallery space on the second floor – once the Barbican’s restaurant, now opened up as an exhibition space for the first time – twelve works by the Pakistani-American artist are displayed with ten pieces by Giacometti, highlighting similarities and differences between the two artists, and creating new tensions and conversations between them.

Bhabha has often cited Giacometti as an inspiration for her own eerie, ominous and enthralling assemblage-type figurative sculptures using found objects. This is the first time she has presented works together with the late Swiss sculptor, and her first exhibition in London since 2016. There is also a chance to see four huge, totemic bronze cast works by Bhabha for free, installed in the foyer between the exhibition space and the library.