Giacometti and Huma Bhabha at the Barbican.

What was once the Searcys restaurant on the second floor is now an intimate gallery space overlooking the lake with a splendid view across to St Giles church. It is now hosting its first series of groundbreaking exhibitions entitled Encounters:Giacometti.

‘One of the most significant European sculptors of the 20th century, Giacometti is known for his distinctive, elongated sculptures which experiment with the human form. Responding to the pain and devastation caused by the Second World War, his works proposed a new perspective on humanity and the collective psyche.

Organised in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti, the first of a series is now open with an exhibition of works by Huma Bhabha. This will be followed by Mona Hatoum in September and Lynda Benglis in February 2026. Their artworks resonate with and respond to Giacometti’s sculptures, opening up new intergenerational dialogues through the timeless themes of death, fragmentation, the domestic, memory, trauma, the erotic, horror and humour. This is the first time that their sculptures will be seen alongside Giacometti’s works’. You can read more about Huma Bhabha in this Guardian interview along with a review here.

Here are some of the images I took when I visited which will hopefully give you a flavour of the exhibition …

Giacometti The Glade, 1950