Oct - Nov
Research: Artists and Collectives
*Extract from my research chapter - Underfoot: Soil and Emerging Energies
Artist’s interest in and interventions through and in soil has gained significant importance in recent years, particularly in light of developments in climate and environmental studies (Kurtz, 2019). While science remains the foundation of data-driven analysis, artistic practitioners will continue to play a crucial role in offering alternative perspectives and revealing alternative forms of visual, sonic and site rich data. As noted by Toland and Wessolek, ‘Art thrives as a realm of free experimentation where ideas can be independently and critically tested before entering mainstream discourse, reflecting shifts in cultural understanding of soils while actively reimagining “soil literacy” in public spaces’ (2016, p.31). Toland continues to express her views on the importance of artist’s practices stating that, ‘Artists contribute new insights on soil sensing by facilitating multisensory experiences, developing new vocabularies for what is sensed, raising awareness about soil ecosystems and their complexities, and producing innovative research on soil phenomenology that can be cited by artists and scientists alike and inspire new interdisciplinary collaborations’ (Toland and Daniel, 2023, pp.509–520). Framing the role of the artist in connection to a natural material (soil) in this manner highlights the artist's position within a specific time and context while showcasing the creative perspectives that artists bring to their research, enabling them to adjust or position narratives for a wider cultural debate. The important role of artistic research, as stated by Hannula, Suoranta, and Vaden in Artistic Research Methodology, is ‘(having) the freedom of choices and (enabling) the risks that it needs to take. At the same time, the researcher has to be personally present and take the responsibility for the choices and the interpretation of the conditions and the materials that he or she gathers and talks and walks with while turning that information into a work of art of any type or any other kind of cultural product’ (2014, p.4). I apply this framework surrounding the freedom of artistic research and perspectives to my work, as I believe it illustrates the opportunities artists have to explore and express ethical and creative judgement.
While early humans painted the walls of caves using soil, my attention is on contemporary practitioners. Land artist Walter De Maria is predominantly known for his site-specific earth works but on three occasions he explored the material of soil as an internal non-accessible installation. The Heiner Friedrich’s gallery in Munich (1968) and the Hessisches Landes Museum in Darmstadt (1974) were the first two spaces De Maria occupied with a hundred ton of soil. Six years later in 1980, at 141 Wooster Street loft, De Maria returned to the gallery space and placed one hundred and ten tons of soil horizontally into a pre-planned space named ‘The New York Earth Room’. Forty-four years on, the loft space remains occupied with several tons of soil as a permanent fixture. Observing De Maria’s form of minimalist soil sculpture as a non-accessible installation, brings forth pertinent issues of preservation and growth. Historically, land artists work in remote locations and go against the traditional mode of disseminating practice within the clinical gallery space, as a means to find connectivity with the natural world. Some would argue this was originally to counter the capitalist gallery setting (The Art Story, 2015). Did the fixed placement and preservation of one hundred and ten tons of soil horizontally into a pre-planned space contextualise soil as a worthy (art) object or was it installed to direct audiences towards a natural material containing multiple life-forms, essential to many environmental factors and yet overlooked.
Walter De Maria ‘The New York Earth Room’
To frame a natural material in such a way demonstrates the creative position of the artist to apply to their area of interest to a contemporary narrative or context to raise important issues and debate. Contemporary artists such as Natalie Taylor, Phil Lambert, Dara Montag and Hannah Fletcher are exploring the complex relationship humanity has with the natural landscape of soil. Their methods of conveying a visual understanding of soil engage with specific ecologies, site conservation, transitional energies, and the translation of nature into a language.
Lambert fosters an understanding of ecology, sustainability, and creativity through his engagement with soil, utilising methods such as painting, installation, and community workshops. Initially, he viewed soil as a form of protest, deeming it mundane, dirty, and often overlooked (Lambert, P. 2021). However, through extensive research and collaborative practice with soil scientists, researchers, and fellow artists, Lambert developed a protective relationship with this natural material, recognising its intrinsic value. He sought to explore the beauty, depth, complexity, communities, and life-sustaining potential of soil. Through a multi-layered practice, Lambert employs soil as a medium to engage in a dialogue about sustainability. With years of exploration into the properties of soil, Lambert highlights its fragility and insists it should not be overlooked; rather, it must be recognised as a crucial element of ecological concern, encompassing issues of identity and heritage, factors that are intertwined with economic discourse.
Phil Lambert ‘Soil Photography’
Taken from www.phillambert.co.uk/soil-photography.html
Natalie Taylor, a Scottish artist and self-proclaimed climate activist, explores the intersection of art and science to offer new perspectives on climate change and natural materials. Her collaborative approach involves a wide range of participants, including artists, researchers, farmers, greenkeepers, and religious leaders, all working together to address the climate crisis. Taylor uses art not only as a tool for raising awareness but also as a means of engaging communities in stories and local cultural knowledge, creating narratives that blend artistic expression with science-based perspectives. Her recent research focuses on soil health, using sustainably sourced materials, as showcased in her 2022 exhibition ‘Terra Infirma’ at Dunbar Town House Gallery, Scotland. Collaborating with the local community, Taylor aimed to shed light on soil as a vital yet overlooked natural resource. By utilising microscopic research through the ASCUS laboratory, she revealed the invisible, microscopic life within soil that supports 95% of the global food supply (Goodwin, S. 2022). Her photographic series ‘Keepers of the Soils’ highlighted the contributions of local people in protecting and preserving healthy soil. Through this collaborative practice, Taylor believes she has gained a deeper understanding of soil, shaped by the stories and knowledge shared by local communities. For her, sharing information is crucial in fostering a better understanding of how to protect this vital resource in a time of climate crisis.
Natalie Taylor ‘Most Life Depends’
Hannah Fletcher explores the intricate relationships between photographic and non-photographic materials, incorporating organic elements such as soils and roots into her work. By blending these natural materials with photographic mediums, she questions the life cycle and value of materials. Fletcher’s investigations and environmentally conscious approach invites collaboration between scientific techniques and photographic processes to create a conversation between the poetic and the political in her art. Her practice aligns with my research by bridging a gap between artistic expression and the natural processes within soil, offering a dynamic lens for examining the invisible forces present in landscape. Fletcher’s integration of organic materials such as soil into photographic mediums echoes my exploration of soil as both a living, energetic system and an artistic material.
Fletcher’s environmental approach resonates with my investigation of soil’s microbial activity and invisible energies, enhancing the sensory and emotional connection I aim to reveal through installation art. Her work can be seen as a complementary practice to my research as both approaches explore the unseen, transformative qualities of soil. While I use walking and presence in the landscape to engage intimately with the soil’s energies, Fletcher’s practice amplifies the material itself, highlighting its cycle and relationship with larger environmental concerns. Her 2020 installation ‘Made by Many Hands: A Botanical Photo Lab’ demonstrates the photographic connection between natural resource and natural climate concern. Fletcher attempts to rework the photographic chemical process by utilising natural fauna, algae and bacteria to activate the photographic reaction. In my exploration of natural material process, I discovered a method of creating imagery by utilising reactions of micro-organisms within soil on light sensitive paper.
Hannah Fletcher ‘Many Hands: A Botanical Photo Lab’
Richard Allaway Buried Photographic Paper
Daro Montag examines his relationship with soil through alternative photographic processes, such as burying developed film reels in soil for extended periods or applying organic matter directly to light-sensitive photographic film to create direct positives. This intimate engagement can be viewed as a performative act, allowing microbes to thrive and interact with the photographic chemicals, effectively embedding themselves into the material. In his 2007 project This Earth [fig 14], Montag placed film strips on various soil samples, inviting microorganisms to forge a reactive relationship with the film. As a result, the film transformed beyond a visual artwork into a record of the invisible living systems that exist beneath our feet. The imagery produced in This Earth evokes the appearance of a stellar universe, entwined with cosmic matter. Through his exploration of the micro-organic world, Montag frames his research and creative practice as a series of events generated by the natural world in subtle and often unseen ways, presenting a natural phenomenon.
Montag’s practice resonates deeply with my research as it highlights the intricate relationships between soil and the sensory experiences it evokes. This aligns with my exploration of soil as a dynamic medium that holds invisible energies and influences the sensations one experiences within natural landscapes. Through this lens, Montag’s work reinforces my investigation into how soil can serve as both a literal and metaphorical canvas for expressing the interconnectedness of life and the environment, ultimately enriching the emotional resonance of soil.
Dara Montag ‘This Earth 7’
Moreover, collaborative initiatives like the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Soil Culture (UK), Estudio Nuboso’s Suelo (Soil) project in Panama, and the Cargo Collective Soil LAB (France) have united multiple artists to connect, engage, and question the significance of soil as a natural material that deserves attention. Through these contemporary collective efforts, a shared network of artistic research, that enhances our understanding of the vital role soil plays in our ecosystems, is fostered.
Estudio Nuboso Suelo’s work emphasises the importance of soil as a vital medium for fostering connections between people and their environments, aligning closely with my research and its focus upon the intimate relationship between soil and emotional experiences. Estudio Nuboso Suelo’s mission, to restore the bond between humans and nature, is evidenced through one of their artists in residence, Ela Spalding. In her text ‘Suelo (Soil) as Meeting Point’, featured in Expanded Nature: Making the Invisible Visible, Spalding articulates her aim to develop a soil methodology that serves as a toolkit or roadmap for individuals, organisations, and communities to re-connect with their inhabited spaces. By employing the concept, metaphor, and materiality of soil, Spalding seeks to highlight the natural and cultural value of specific locations (2021, p.19). By treating soil as a key communication material, her initiative, and that of Estudio Nuboso Suelo, aims to highlight its natural and cultural significance, facilitating a collective understanding of how our interactions with soil can lead to regenerative practices and a deeper appreciation of our ecological responsibilities. My research, which investigates the invisible energies in landscapes and in particular the micro-organisms within soil, complements these efforts by exploring how these elements can enhance our understanding of soil’s role in shaping our experiences of the landscape. Together, we contribute to a broader dialogue that seeks to cultivate awareness and promote positive actions in our relationships with the earth.
In addition to examining the previously mentioned artists and collectives who engage deeply with soil, I have also researched those who perceive soil as a vital medium in the current environmental debate. These artists not only recognise the ecological value of soil but also discuss its worth in terms of economic gain and historical significance, highlighting its role as a powerful resource throughout human history. While my aim is not to assign an economic or political value to soil, I believe it is important to highlight artists who approach soil from these perspectives, bringing awareness to its broader implications.
New York and Berlin-based artist Asad Raza explores the degradation of soil within the context of the Anthropocene, inviting audiences to participate in discovering sustainable methods to maintain healthy and regenerative soils. His participatory practices involve a blend of man-made and natural materials, such as food waste, coffee grounds, clothing, and organic matter, to create what he calls ‘neo-soil’. This approach acknowledges historical practices dating back to ancient Greece, where waste like broken clay pots was buried in soil, gradually degrading and merging with the landscape. Raza refers to this anthropogenic process as ‘techno soils’, highlighting the soils shaped by human activity.
In his work Absorption [fig 15], Raza presents repeated soil installations that offer a full sensory experience, engaging with the sound, feel, and smell of soil. These installations have appeared in various locations worldwide, including the Sydney Carriageworks (2019), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2020) and the Centre of Contemporary Art in Glasgow (2022). In Absorption, Raza introduces sixty tons of artificial soil into the gallery space, echoing Walter De Maria’s 1980 Earth Room. However, Raza’s soil is distinct in that it is composed of local waste products and natural materials mixed in cement mixers, cultivated daily by participants who care for the soil’s growth.
Asad Raza ‘Absorption’
These cultivators interact with audience members who inquire about the work, and in exchange, they receive a bag of neo-soil to take home and utilise as they wish. Raza’s participatory events aim to engage with this endangered material (soil) and foster metabolic growth, a process without a definitive endpoint, balancing life and death for both the landscape and humanity. In relation to my own research, I observe a shared attempt to raise awareness of what soil can offer us, whether it be life-giving or the emotional experiences it evokes (feelings and sensations). Both approaches aim to provide audiences with the opportunity to connect more intimately with soil, on macro and micro levels, by bringing them closer to its essence. While his process is primarily based in galleries and location-based workshops, my approach involves walking directly in the environment, interacting with the soil underfoot, and subsequently collecting it to reveal its unseen qualities. By aligning my perspective with his, Raza brings forth his primary concern, communicating to audiences the vital importance of soil. He urges us to recognise the fragility of soil health, cautioning that ‘the disappearance of soil will doom most terrestrial life, turning our global political struggles about who owns what land into a dark, irrelevant joke’ (Raza, A. 2021).
Claire Pentecost has engaged with nature in diverse ways, but for over a decade, she has focused intently on soil and humanity’s relationship with it. Throughout this time, she has aimed to understand her own position within soil environments while fostering connections with individuals in agriculture and scientific fields. Her work addresses the urgent issue of soil erosion, emphasising how humans frequently overlook the essential role soil plays in sustaining life. Pentecost emphasises the microbes in soil, drawing parallels to the life forms found within the human body, a connection I previously highlighted when discussing Patrick Holden’s views on the biological relationship between soil and humans, particularly through agricultural consumption. From critically examining the effects of industrial farming, she argues that ‘agriculture has separated the human body from nature to sustain itself’ (Pentecost, C. 2018). By scrutinising the use of pesticides and chemical treatments, she questions the growing disconnect between the micro-organisms in soil and those within us, suggesting that such practices sever our relationship with nature and contribute to a social history that distances us from the interconnected systems of life.
Pentecost explores her relationship with soil through various artistic practices, including archiving soil samples in jars, creating ‘soil portraits’ through chromatography, and producing sculptural works like her 2012-piece Soil-erg. In this piece, she elevates soil as a form of currency, underscoring its significance amidst the current climate crisis. During her residency at the University of Kassel’s Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, Pentecost introduced initial works that assigned a monetary value to soil, recognising its importance for soil health and as a response to land exploitation. Soil-erg combined works that envisioned an alternative future currency, with soil shaped into gold bars. By valuing soil above other currencies, Pentecost proposes that if humanity continues to degrade the environment, soil may become the most valuable asset we have to exchange.
Claire Pentecost ‘Soil-erg’
My research and Pentecost's work both advocate for a re-evaluation of how society perceives the value of soil. While I focus on emphasising the need for a deeper understanding of soil as an essential yet often overlooked element of our ecosystem that evokes specific feelings and sensations, Pentecost critiques the commodification of land and the neglect of soil health. Together, we aim to contribute to an emerging discourse that seeks sustainable and regenerative practices, revealing soil as a vital component that influences both environmental health and our connection to nature.
Drawing inspiration from a selection of artist’s I am enriched by their close observation and engagement with soil and their chosen methodologies. Thinking through these practices informs the rigour of my practice and how to intertwine with the landscapes I traverse.
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