Beyond the Bassline

Beyond the Bassline at the British Library is the first major exhibition to document the 500-year musical journey of African and Caribbean people in Britain. Inspired by the British Library’s sound archive, the exhibition explores the people, spaces and genres that have transformed the landscape of British music. Freehaus were appointed alongside Lombaert Studio (2D Design) and JA Projects 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 millennia, this exhibition demonstrates 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 examined and made sense of 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.

Our design approach has been guided by the key words: echoes and premonitions, which have been translated into architectural devices such as repetition, layering and glimpses. This allows the five distinct periods of time within the 500-year period that the exhibition examines, to interrelate and respond to one another, whilst being read in isolation. The use of colour, texture and textiles, with subtle gradation and staining has been used to bleed between different periods of time – creating links to the past and inviting speculation into the future.

Care has been taken to fulfil the British Library’s and the designer’s sustainability ambitions. The exhibition design actively re-uses materials, display and frames from previous exhibitions at the Library, as well as utilising locally sourced materials that are high in recycled content, mechanically fixed and can be dismantled and reused.

A core ambition of the exhibition is to engage with Black British communities and to create an inclusive exhibition that invites new audiences to cross the threshold into the Library. Alongside a soundscape designed by sound designers, Coda 2 Coda that spans the exhibition and weaves through the distinct time periods, the exhibition features several spatial interruptions, moments of pause and reflection, that celebrate community commissions exploring pertinent themes such as dance, resistance, faith and ‘self-made’. These community commissions were integrated within the exhibition design and include new soundscapes, artworks, films and installations that explore Black British identity through the medium of music.