This Spring, the Barbican invites audiences to consider the work of contemporary women artists from Colombia, explore the relationship between land and lineages, and discover what art can teach us about creative traditions. In addition, this spring season spotlights three key strands – an Icelandic concert series, theatre in unexpected places, and documentary films celebrating global craft traditions. Alongside a roster of major highlight events across artforms, the season continues the Barbican’s commitment to cross-disciplinary programming that illuminates the world we share.
Devyani Saltzman, the Barbican’s Director for Arts & Participation, says: “As we move into Spring, we’re exploring land and lineages as it relates to contemporary Colombian women artists and the creative legacies that shape us. Artists and musicians draw on the rich history and cultural memory of their country, with the first UK retrospective of Colombian painter Beatriz González and, later in the year, a major outdoor commission from Delcy Morelos. We also throw light on the wealth of Iceland’s singular musical talent and introduce a series of site-specific performances as we futureproof our Theatre for the next generation during the Renewal of our building”.
Together, these programmes reflect the Barbican’s commitment to ideas-led seasons – a central pillar of its Artistic Vision for 2025–2030 – connecting artforms and exploring vital topics relating to our world, our society and ourselves.
Art and Music from Colombia
Coinciding with the UK’s first major retrospective of Beatriz González in Barbican Art Gallery, the Barbican’s Spring season shines a light on Colombian artists and musicians who draw inspiration from the rich traditions and history of their country, bridging Colombia’s past and its creative present. Through painting, installation, music and live performance, they revisit collective memory, tap into ancestral understandings of the land, and tear up the rule book to redefine music and sound today.
Opening in Barbican Art Gallery is a landmark retrospective of Beatriz González (25 Feb – 10 May 2026), her first UK solo show and the largest presentation of her work in Europe. Bringing together six decades of painting, sculptural assemblage and installation, the exhibition examines González’s extraordinary exploration of how images permeate the world and her radical reimaging of what art can tell us about power, grief and memory. Known as ‘la maestra’ in Colombia, González’s singular vision has influenced generations of artists and thinkers.
Extending the strand outdoors, the Barbican presents the first UK public commission by Delcy Morelos (15 May – 31 Jul 2026). Installed in the Sculpture Court, this site-specific work – informed by ancestral knowledge from South America – draws on the elemental power of soil to explore humanity’s deep relationship to land. The work, the third in a series of annual large-scale artistic commissions at the Barbican, marks a return of artwork to the Sculpture Court for the first time in 10 years.
In Barbican Hall (2 May 2026), Colombian experimental musician Lucrecia Dalt makes her Barbican debut with A Danger to Ourselves, her acclaimed new album. Joined on stage by Her Ensemble performing new arrangements, Dalt brings her music to life in a performance that represents the forward-looking edge of Colombia’s creative landscape, expanding the boundaries of sound.
The strand concludes with the return of La Línea festival across London (April – May 2026) and a special evening at the Barbican, Las Poderosas – Colombian Queens (4 May 2026), celebrating some of Colombia’s most compelling female voices in contemporary music. Including a free Bulleurenge dance workshop earlier in the day, the evening culminates with a fiery female line-up featuring Adriana Lucia, Nidia Gongora and the activist singer La Muchacha (Isabel Ramírez). Together, they offer a powerful snapshot of Colombia’s musical heritage reimagined for today.
Scene Change: Theatre in unexpected places
Scene Change (20 Jan – 21 Apr 2026) is a season of transformative performances and gatherings in unexpected places that brings the Barbican’s Theatre & Dance programme to new spaces across the Centre and beyond.
The programme – a first for the Barbican – invites audiences to rediscover the world around us and our place within it, through interactions with artists from the UK, Belarus, Republic of Ireland and North America. Whether dining, checking in to a hotel, browsing, or in an unexpected one-on-one encounter, these productions explore the relationship between artists and audience, and the moments of connection that performance can spark.
Dante or Die launches the season with the return of its hit production I Do (20 Jan – 8 Feb 2026, Malmaison London), a promenade jigsaw puzzle unfolding across six hotel rooms in the final minutes before a wedding. Fevered Sleep then makes its Barbican debut with This Grief Thing (12 – 22 Feb 2026, Barbican Studio), a public art intervention that transforms a themed pop-up shop into a space for connection and conversations around grief.
The programme continues with Theatre for One (12 – 22 Mar 2026, Barbican Hub), Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals’ intimate, one-to-one theatre experience featuring new miniature plays by leading Irish playwrights. Belarus Free Theatre presents Kitchen Revolution (31 Mar – 1 Apr 2026, Barbican Conservatory), a unique dining experience encouraging debate and inspired by underground democratic movements. Completing the spring programme, Barbican Artistic Associate Boy Blue revives its acclaimed, 5-star hip hop work Cycles (11 – 12 Apr 2026).
Ice and Fire: Icelandic Concert Series
Inspired by Iceland’s volcanic landscapes and glacial atmospheres, this season of music explores how environment shapes artistic imagination. Iceland, an island defined by its ever-shifting geological forces, has produced two generations of musical creatives like no others: from the unsettling, haunting film scores of Johann Johanssen and Hildur Guðnadóttir to the volcanic energy and epic ambition of Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Valgeir Sigursson and Bara Gisladottir.
The season launches with Jóhann Jóhannsson: Cinematic Suites (18 Feb 2026), a performance of the late Icelandic composer’s scores for James Marsh’s film The Theory of Everything (2014) and three iconic Denis Villeneuve films: Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015) and Arrival (2016), performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Anthony Weeden with film stills and lighting design. It continues with the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill (22 Feb 2026), a day-long deep dive into the country’s cutting-edge musical landscape. Composer and musician Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Where to From (21 Mar 2026) concludes the series with an intimate evening featuring the composer on vocals and cello, joined by a small ensemble.
The Old Ways: Cinema & Craft
In an age of accelerating digital production, The Old Ways (Mar – May 2026) speaks to the growing contemporary appreciation of things handmade. Through a selection of international short- and long-form documentaries celebrating crafts and artisanal traditions from around the world – from quilting and candle-making to indigo dyeing and flower arranging – this season highlights global craft practices and the stories of identity, place and community they embody.
It includes the UK premieres of feature-length documentaries Historjá – Stitches for Sapmí (Thomas Jackson, 2022), a portrait of artist Britta Marakatt-Labba whose large-scale embroidered art weaves together the political struggles and magical mythological worldview of the indigenous Sámi peoples; The Colour of Ink (Brian D. Johnson, 2022), about Jason Logan, a visionary Toronto inkmaker whose pigments are crafted from foraged materials and used by master calligraphers and illustrators around the world; and Shades of Indigo (Shigeru Yoshida, 2024), profiling a handful of the few specialist artisans left in Japan producing and working with non-synthetic indigo.
Expanding the season beyond the screen, audiences will be able to knit along to a bespoke selection of textile-themed animations and children can enjoy two special programmes of handmade cut-paper and wool-based animation alongside free crafting workshops.
Young Barbican Takeover Festival 2026
The Young Barbican Takeover Festival returns on Sunday 29 March 2026, celebrating emerging talent from across London’s creative communities. This one-day event – curated by and for young creatives – will bring together live music, DJs, workshops, film, literary performances, talks and more. Building on programmes such as Barbican Young Poets and Young Film Programmers, this annual celebration sees the Barbican continue its commitment to nurturing the next generation of cultural creators.
Further highlights
Spring 2026 also includes:
Julia Phillips: Inside Before They Speak (The Curve, 30 Jan – 19 Apr 2026): The UK’s first institutional solo exhibition of multidisciplinary artist Julia Phillips presents new works which draw from her interest in the body, conception, and human connection.
Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave (4 – 26 February 2026): Continuing the Barbican’s survey of pre-revolutionary Iranian film, this fresh season of ground-breaking Iranian cinema presents an even richer array of rare gems – many of them never before seen in the UK.
Encounters: Giacometti x Lynda Benglis (Level 2, 12 Feb – 31 May 2026): In the final instalment of the Encounters series, historic works by Alberto Giacometti meet unseen pieces by contemporary artist Lynda Benglis in the Barbican’s Level 2 gallery.
Ryoji Ikeda Weekender: Portrait (20 – 21 Feb 2026): Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda presents a special Barbican weekender of his music for acoustic ensembles, showcasing unique pieces across strings, percussion, and voice.
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan | Bowler, Ligeti & Strauss, with Bar Avni (Barbican Hall, 5 Mar 2026): LSO Associate Artist Barbara Hannigan, alongside rising conducting star Bar Avni, brings music by Ligeti and Richard Strauss, and presents the world premiere of a new work by Laura Bowler.
Mohopolo/Ancestral Memory Weekend: Abel Selaocoe & Friends (23 – 26 Apr 2026): South African cellist, vocalist and composer Abel Selaocoe returns to his roots for a specially curated Barbican weekend, bringing together artists from his homeland in a powerful act of remembrance and celebration of shared history.
