Spice Girls Collection
1996: 30 years on Barbican Music Library, London, UK
Relive the 90s in all its iconic glory: music, fashion, football and the faces that made Cool Britannia cool.
Original costumes worn by the Spice Girls, previously unseen Oasis memorabilia, photography by Jill Furmanovsky and Derek Ridgers, and personal items from record producers and DJs Paul Oakenfold, Dave Pearce and Judge Jules are presented in a new exhibition marking thirty years of Cool Britannia.
Author, broadcaster and former editor of The Sun Dominic Mohan curates a must-see show featuring stunning memorabilia from the 90s when London felt like the centre of the earth and music, football, dance culture, fashion, art, food, politics and the media spectacularly collided.
A free exhibition at the Barbican Music Library, 1996 is presented by the City of London Corporation, with a programme of Q&As featuring key figures from the 1990s.
16 April—19 Sepember 2026
HOLY POP! Somerset House, London, UK
This summer, Somerset House presents HOLY POP!, an exhibition celebrating the world of modern shrines — the objects and collections through which we honour heroes, celebrities, and cult icons. Featuring art, memorabilia and photographs, HOLY POP! will uncover how community is created through the ritual idolisation of celebrities in an increasingly secular and individualistic society. Works in the show feature celebrities and figures such as David Bowie, Princess Diana, Andy Warhol and Harry Potter’s Dobby the Elf. In a fast-moving digital world, HOLY POP! offers a vibrant, thought-provoking celebration of human connection, devotion, and the objects that bring us together.
Set across three rooms at Somerset House, HOLY POP! reveals the power of these personal and collective shrines to offer comfort, connection, and belonging. Visitors will discover the intimate ways people express admiration, empathy, and solidarity to those they feel a spiritual connection to, while exploring the broader social forces behind our fascination with pop culture.
The exhibition will start with the examination of the deeply personal nature of devotion, before exploring the act of communal mourning and how people come together in moments of grief to share memories and commemorate their heroes. It will then move on to personal shrines, and how carefully placed objects in the intimacy of our homes hold a precious personal significance, creating everyday spaces for reflection.
21 May - 9 August 2026
