Delcy Morelos creates 30-tonne earthen installation informed by a mother's womb for the Barbican
Colombian artist Delcy Morelos discusses how earth, darkness and the qualities of a mother's womb informed her installation for the Barbican Centre in London in this exclusive video produced by Dezeen.
The 24-metre-wide installation, named Origo, was built by hand using more than 30 tonnes of soil and clay. It takes the form of an organic oval containing a series of hollow passageways that visitors can enter.
Small openings allow light into the inner space at intervals, but the interior remains largely in darkness.
"[Origo] is a dark, humid and warm place," Morelos explained in the video. "When you were forming in your mother's womb, it had those same qualities."
"There are moments of darkness, and moments of finding the light."
Fragrant spices including cinnamon and clove were embedded within the walls of the installation to draw attention to senses other than sight while visitors move through the darkness.
"When we enter darkness and cannot see, other senses awaken," said Morelos. "Smell and touch awaken. Our skin feels and thinks. Our body dissolves into the whole."
Morelos also drew on cycles of decomposition and regrowth when creating the installation. The soil and clay contain organic matter that will support new plant life.
"The bodies of animals, the remains of plants, are present in the earth, as are the remains of insects," Morelos explained.
"Origo is also a seed that contains the information for a nourishing plant that will produce more seeds."
Morelos was commissioned to create the installation for the Barbican's Sculpture Court, marking the return of artworks to the space for the first time in a decade.
She drew on the brutalist architecture of the site, with both the Sculpture Court and Origo taking the form of rounded ovals with large central voids.
Origo follows previous Barbican installations, including Purple Hibiscus, a hand-sewn installation of bespoke pink cloth by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama that cloaked the building's brutalist lakeside terrace.
The institution also explored the potential of dirt to disrupt in its 2025 exhibition Dirty Looks.
Photographs are by Thomas Adank, courtesy of the Barbican Art Gallery.
Origo is at the Barbican Centre until 31 July 2026. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for the Barbican Centre as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.
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