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Members of Shovel Dance Collective present an exclusive live performance within origo, Delcy Morelos’ monumental earth installation on the Barbican’s Sculpture Court, in an intimate outdoor concert surrounded by soil, sound and shifting light. 

Shovel Dance Collective are a nine-piece group whose work draws on traditional music from Britain, Ireland and beyond, combining folk with improvisation, drone, tape manipulation and field recordings. Their arrangements rework archival and oral source material into layered, contemporary performances shaped by both traditional and experimental music practices.

Performed inside Delcy Morelos’ installation origo, exposed to the elements, this special concert places audiences within the work itself, surrounded by earth, clay and fragrant spices. The collective’s focus on landscape, labour, memory and shared cultural histories connects closely with Morelos’ exploration of humanity’s relationship with the soil and the interconnected systems that sustain life.

Due to the nature of the installation, this performance will have a limited capacity and tickets will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Produced by the Barbican

Presented as part of the public programme for the Delcy Morelos installation, origo. 
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About Delcy Morelos’ origo

From 15 May – 31 July 2026, the Barbican presents a major public artwork by Colombian artist Delcy Morelos. Taking on a rounded shape, in a departure from the precise, angular forms Morelos has developed over the last decade, origo is configured as an ovular pavilion with multiple entry points, handbuilt from clay, soil, hay, plant seed and fragrant spices, including cinnamon and cloves.

origo invites the public to surround themselves with this mass of earth; to roam its tunnels, experience its shifting light and fragrant smells, rest in its central enclosure and become part of its ecosystem. Through this encounter between soil and cement, ancestral South American knowledge meets the utopian, humanist ideals that underpin the Barbican, opening a space to reconsider how we live in the world.

The opening of origo marks the first time in a decade that the Barbican’s Sculpture Court has been used for its original purpose. Measuring 24 metres by 18 metres in diameter, and reaching over three metres in height, this is Morelos’ most ambitious outdoor work to date.