INTO THE UNKNOWN

Barbican brilliance

OPEN UNTIL 1 SEPTEMBER

Venue Barbican Centre

Ticket info www.barbican.org.uk/intotheunknown

Now running at London’s Barbican Centre – itself a science fictional edifice that should have been used in a ’70s Doctor Who story – this superbly dense exhibition should immerse any SFX reader for hours, so allow plenty of time for it when you visit. It sets out to cover the whole spectrum of science fiction – literature, films, artwork, ads – with a jaw-dropping number of authentic artefacts. You’ll find Jules Verne manuscripts and Harryhausen model dinosaurs, pulp magazine displays and HR Giger art... and not just Giger’s Aliens, but also a painting for the legendary unmade Dune film by Alejandro Jodorowsky. That’s the kind of detail you can expect. You can listen to readings from SF texts, or play with the console from The Martian. The exhibit’s first section, “Extraordinary Voyages”, is especially good fun: exploring the genre’s roots in the likes of Swift and Shelley, it’ll put all you steampunk fans in heaven. There are loads of movie excerpts – we’ll wager even hardcore fans won’t have seen them all.

The art installations will divide opinion more. We weren’t really sure what the Wonder Woman one, which samples the Lynda Carter show, was trying to say. But then there’s a brilliant scroll-through infographic version of the original Star Wars, by artist Martin Panchaud, that’ll have you chuckling with fanboy delight.

Quibbles? Television SF doesn’t get much of a look in. The last section of the exhibit is a clumsy mishmash, vainly trying to check off too much – though it’s cool to see the Lost In Space robot share a stage with TARS from Interstellar. Most annoyingly, it’s often unclear which objects and artworks are referenced by the poorly placed labels, though fans worth their salt will find their way through!

Overall, it’s still a wonderful achievement. Andrew Osmond

related events include “conversations” hosted by New Scientist, book club discussions and outdoor screenings.

It covers the whole spectrum of sci-fi