BIOGRAPHY
Barbara London is an internationally acclaimed curator, advocate for the arts, writer and consultant with a practice that revolves around media, installation, and sound art. Recent curatorial projects include the exhibitions Seeing Sound at Independent Curators International; Perpetual Motion at the Perez Museum, Miami; Dara Birnbaum at the Prada Foundation, Milan; and the podcast series, “Barbara London Calling.” London’s book, Video Art: The First Fifty Years, is in its third printing.
In the early 1970s, London joined the curatorial staff at The Museum of Modern Art, where she founded the video exhibition and collection programs. While at MoMA, she organized numerous exhibitions and one-person shows, while also leading the acquisition of works by such artists as Laurie Anderson, Nam June Paik, Shigeko Kubota, Zhang Peili, Rafael Lozano Hemmer, among many others. Her thematic shows include Soundings: A Contemporary Score, Music Video: The Industry and Its Fringes, Looking at Music, and Video from Tokyo to Fukui and Kyoto. London has taught at New York University, Yale University, Columbia University, and the School of Visual Arts. London is the fall quarter spotlight curator in The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies.
COURSES TAUGHT
London will be at UC Davis from October 20 - 23, 2026.
PUBLIC LECTURE
London will give a public lecture on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at the Manetti Shrem Museum from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Doors open at 4 p.m.
Barbara London. Photo by Antonina Konopelska.