Nabihah Iqbal x Libby Heaney: Cascade
Musician Nabihah Iqbal and visual artist and quantum physicist Libby Heaney bottle the sounds, sights and meaning of water in an audio-visual performance.
This collaborative project is part of our Purcell Sessions.
Through field recordings of the Thames, AI-generated sounds and visuals, as well as music and words, Iqbal and Heaney plunge you into an immersive world of real and artificial water-scapes.
In Cascade, the Thames serves as a focal point for the pair, pushing them to explore the materiality and symbolism attached to London’s river.
Bringing to light different stories and experiences of the Thames that have been submerged by mainstream narratives, Iqbal and Heaney attempt to recalibrate the history surrounding the river, using artificial intelligence to scatter and interfere with biased, colonial histories.
By blurring the boundaries which preserve the romance and grandeur of London’s great waterway, they rethink questions of identity, and what the Thames means in the context of contemporary Britain.
The project features this performance and an installation. To find out more about the installation, follow the link in ‘Event information’, below.
This project follows on from their previous collaboration, The Whole Earth Chanting, which explored the transcendental nature of human and non-human voice through field recordings, AI-generated sound and meditative composition.
Need to know
Tickets are available to purchase on the door (subject to availability). The Ticket Office, Queen Elizabeth Hall, opens one hour before the start time of the event.
As well as the evening live performances on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 January, an accompanying installation is running across both days. Tickets to view the installation are £5.
Find out more
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entryFrom £15*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
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Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.
Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.
If you don't receive your e-ticket
Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch.
More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.
Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.
We're cash-free
Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site.
Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.
Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.
Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.