earth, straw, sand, water, and wood form The Weight of the Soil
The Weight of the Soil is a large-scale sculptural installation by Iranian-born, Brooklyn-based artists Saman & Sasan Oskouei, installed inside an abandoned school in Lisbon. The work gives physical form to the fleeting image of a bomb cloud, using adobe, soil, straw, sand, water, and wood to slow down a moment of destruction and give it material weight.
Constructed in situ, the sculpture uses a minimal wood structure covered with layers of adobe made from soil, sand, straw, and water. The earthen material was built up by hand into irregular, cloud-like masses, leaving the texture and character of the soil visible across the surface. Rather than depicting the explosion itself, the installation focuses on what follows: dust settling, material hardening, and the transformation of destruction into landscape.
all images ©Oskouei Studio
the installation is constructed in situ inside abandoned school
The use of earth introduces a central contrast within the work by artists Saman & Sasan Oskouei. A material traditionally associated with shelter, home, and permanence is shaped into an image of destruction. The installation’s earthen construction also connects the bomb cloud to the physical ground, turning an image usually encountered for only a few seconds through photographs, videos, and screens into a lasting spatial presence.
The work occupies an abandoned school that had been unused for approximately 15 years. Its worn architecture, tiled walls, damaged ceiling, and traces of former use become part of the installation. A building associated with learning and the future provides the setting for a form associated with destruction and its aftermath.
As the dust settles and the adobe hardens, the bomb cloud becomes a landscape. The work considers how violence extends beyond the moment of impact, becoming embedded in memory, architecture, landscapes, and the ground itself.
The Weight of the Soil occupies an abandoned school in Lisbon
the large-scale installation is constructed from earth, straw, sand, water, and wood
the texture and character of the soil remain visible across the surface
Saman & Sasan Oskouei give physical form to the image of a bomb cloud