In Other Worlds by Liam Young Reimagines Cities, Landscapes, and Climate Futures at the Barbican Centre

Why It Matters

By turning speculative design into a public experience, the exhibition reframes climate and urban futures as tangible narratives, influencing both cultural conversation and the direction of architectural research.

Key Takeaways

• Exhibition runs May‑Sept 2026 across three Barbican sites
• Features 12‑meter projection "World Machine" exploring AI‑driven renewable landscapes
• Revisits "Planet City" concept of single global megacity surrounded by wilderness
• Includes Indigenous‑led "After the End" mapping 50,000‑year Australian futures
• Exhibition will tour internationally, amplifying speculative climate narratives

Pulse Analysis

Liam Young’s "In Other Worlds" marks a rare convergence of speculative architecture, cinema and climate science within a major cultural institution. Hosted at the Barbican Centre, the three‑site installation transforms the Brutalist venue into a narrative laboratory where LED walls, immersive sound and large‑format film invite visitors to inhabit possible futures. By collaborating with writers, scientists, musicians and Indigenous activists, the project demonstrates how interdisciplinary storytelling can make abstract environmental challenges feel immediate and personal.

The exhibition’s centerpiece, the 12‑metre "World Machine" film, visualises AI‑optimised renewable grids reshaping planetary landscapes, while "Planet City" revisits Young’s earlier vision of a single global megacity encircling reclaimed wilderness. "The Great Endeavour" expands the conversation to global carbon‑removal infrastructure, and "After the End" offers a 50,000‑year speculative timeline that foregrounds Aboriginal perspectives on land, colonisation and renewable futures. Together these works use cinematic scale to translate complex climate data into visceral experiences, encouraging audiences to contemplate the social and technological trade‑offs of large‑scale adaptation.

Beyond its artistic ambition, the exhibition serves as a catalyst for policy and design discourse. Immersive cultural events like this can shift public opinion, providing a shared visual language for climate action that architects, planners and technologists can reference. The planned international tour will amplify these narratives, seeding speculative design conversations in new markets and potentially informing future urban‑policy frameworks. As cities grapple with decarbonisation targets, "In Other Worlds" offers a prototype for how speculative media can bridge the gap between scientific research and public imagination.