British Library: Black British Music

We were appointed alongside JA Projects and Lombaert Studio (2D Design) to design and deliver an exhibition documenting the evolution of Black music in Britain for the British Library, staged across both the library’s exhibition spaces PACCAR 1 and PACCAR 2.

Spanning the course of half a millennium this exhibition will demonstrate how Music, for people of African descent, has been a means through which to express our heritage and rituals; a means through which we have internally negotiated our stories of struggle and oppression, spirit and strength.

Using the drum as a focal point - the curatorial approach explores how music, through its rhythm and dance, has given rise to an oral tradition that spans oceans and continents; of beats and breaths from which we, as a scattered people, can chart ancestral connections and honour our homelands.

Drawing on multiple streams of Black experiences, the exhibition will explore the people, spaces and messages that formed part of a British soundtrack. It moves beyond solely celebratory aspects of Black creativity to recover the complex social and political processes that transformed the landscape of British popular culture.

The philosophical principle of 'arguments from silence' underpins the design approach, with absence and pause, holding as much weight as sound and beat - using both to spotlight the presence and impact Black people have had on these islands.

Opening in Spring 2024, with several bespoke community commissions from across the UK, the exhibition will show how the sounds, imaginations and industries emerging from African and Caribbean visionaries in Britain radically reimagined the meaning of Blackness and repositioned Britain as an important location for creative expression.

Tags: Community, Heritage

Client
British Library

Architect and Lead Designer
Freehaus

Collaborating Architect
JA Projects

2D Design
Margot Lombaert Studio

Curatorial Team
Aleema Gray (Lead), Mykaell Riley (Consultant Curator)

Community Interpretation
Halina Kaszycka-Williams

Commissioned Designer (PACCAR 2 Gallery)
Touching Bass

Audiovisual
ADi Audiovisual

Sound Design
Coda to Coda

Branding
The Elephant Room

Status
Scheme Design