Delcy Morales brings nature to room 9 of the MUAC

The installation belly spaceby the Colombian Delcy Morelos (Tierralta, 1967), made from earth, straw, wood, metal, cinnamon, cloves, corn and chia for room 9 of the University Museum of Contemporary Art (Muac), establishes a connection with its external environment; that is, with the Sculptural Space, the Cuicuilco pyramid, the extinct volcano Teuhtli and the pedregal, or volcanic area, where the museum is located.

It also takes root with the land arta current that uses nature as a material to intervene in itself, but from a feminine perspective. Contrary to their predecessors, mostly men and Anglo-Saxons, who began to intervene in nature since the late 60s, what happened in Morelos happens in the interior. Rather, “it brings nature to the museum,” says Alejandra Labastida, curator, along with Daniel Montero, of the installation.

It is a “somewhat inverse” operation that, of course, dialogues in many ways; However, at the same time there is a sensory and affective thing that Delcy considers “much more feminine.”

Originally, the idea was to have an exhibition as a review of Morelos’ work in other rooms of the museum, because she started out as a painter. However, with the arrival of Tatiana Cuevas as director of Muac, the idea was to “take advantage of room 9 in its scale, size and possibilities, that is, think about large projects, individual installations,” says Labastida, and thus begin a new line of commissioned works.

The idea excited Morelos because he would make a new piece. belly space It is the largest installation he has done so far, larger than the work titled Witch (2025), made of earth and clay on a wooden structure, which is currently exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as part of the group exhibition earth arts.

When undertaking a project, Morelos conducts research because his facilities are site-specific. “Delcy came to Mexico on several occasions, even for periods of a month or more. His travels through Oaxaca and Chiapas allowed him to land the piece. He always says that many years ago he discovered the Sculptural Space, which he considers to be a fundamental work.”

After visiting the Sculpture Space again, Morelos visited the Cuicuilco pyramid, where “they told him about the relationship between pre-Hispanic constructions as viewpoints to see astronomical phenomena, mountains and volcanoes.” The curator notes that the artist, when visiting the different places, “takes off her shoes, makes ground, as she says, asks permission, makes offerings, in short, dialogues with each of the spaces.”

Like the Sculptural Space, belly space It is a circular structure, but it consists of terraces that rise to the ceiling of the room, whose height varies between 6 and 12 meters. For its realization, soil was brought from a materials bank located in the surroundings of Otumba, state of Mexico, where it will be returned when the exhibition ends.

aromatic piece

Smell is a relevant part of the artist’s installations, since she always works with aromas. Labastida explains that the presence of cinnamon, cloves, corn and chia is due to the fact that they are natural fungicides that prevent the soil from being filled with fungi. On the other hand, the earth itself produces a certain smell due to the substances with which it is mixed. Morales even worked with a specialist to achieve the aroma that the facility gives off.

It is difficult not to feel something when entering the space converted into a cave that houses the installation. When talking about it, “with Delcy and the team we said: what a desire to not know about its existence and suddenly come across it. To have that first impression without knowing the whole process. At one point, being able to enter completely alone, it gave me the impression of an amphitheater. More than I saw the earth, she saw me. It was a sensation of being observed. Hence the importance of smell because there is an immediate emotional connection with the memories of the smells of wet earth, for example.”

belly space It is a living entity to the extent that small green leaves grow there.

For Morelos the piece is an “expanded painting.” Alejandra Labastida explains: “within the process, first they began with the layers, then they began to make the textures and put the straw that was then painted with the same clay from the earth. To his team of 20 people, Delcy was saying: ‘no, that mound, no, that goes further’, with a pictorial precision of the effect of the piece that is also part of that other universe that produces the effect. That is, at the same time it is a painting, not just an altar to the land, among many other readings. However, Delcy is an artist who works in a museum and it is necessary to emphasize that this is a piece.”

belly space It will remain until June 7 at the University Museum of Contemporary Art, in the University Cultural Center (Insurgentes Sur 3000, Coyoacán mayor’s office, Mexico City).