Soil soil material

Soil

15 items
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Mud Volcanoes

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Mel Chin, 1991-ongoing, plants, industrial fencing on a hazardous waste landfill. An ongoing project in conjunction with Dr. Rufus Chaney, senior research agronomist, USDA. "field test using special hyperaccumulator plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soil. Scientific analysis of biomass samples from this field confirmed the potential of “Green Remediation” as an on-site, low-tech alternative to current costly and unsatisfactory remediation methods. Despite soil conditions adverse to metal uptake, a variety of Thlaspi, the test plant with the highest capacity for hyperaccumulation, was found to have significant concentration of cadmium in its leaves and stems." - Mel Chin website

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Edible Earth

The Museum of Edible Earth is a cross-disciplinary project that brings together a global collection of edible soils, inviting the audience to question our relationship with the environment and rethink their understanding of the earth and cultural traditions. The museum asks: How do earth eating traditions differ across cultures? Where does edible earth come from? What are the possible benefits and dangers of eating earth? How do the material properties in earth affect its flavor?

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Djenne’s Great Mosque Djenne’s Great Mosque

Djenne’s Great Mosque

Almost 20m tall, built from sun-baked mud (clay-rich soil and sand), with palm beams as structural support and permanent scaffolding support. Because the walls are between 16 and 24 inches thick, it stays cool inside during the day. Each year during the Crépissage, the residents of Djenné gather together to repair and re-clay the mosque. Present are ‘the master builders who are revered for their expertise and artistry in Malian society’. “Mud is very malleable and it responds to the changing demographics of a home." - Trevor Marchand.

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Termite mound in Waterberg, Namibia / detail of the egress complex. Credit: D. Andreen. The climate controlled, stunningly sculptural structures of termites. Mounds enhance local plant/animal activity and elevate nutrient levels.

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Creatures of the Soil, Reborn

Tim Ingold, 2020, speaking in a video seminar The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish, Serpentine Gallery. ‘Human is an ancient word… But the concept of humanity is a modern invention. No one knows exactly where the old word ‘human’ comes from.’ Ingold describes how one source suggests it could stem from the latin ‘humando’ (burying), a word stemming from ‘hummus’ (soil). Tim Ingold’s talk, Creatures of the soil reborn, begins with this reflection - how this particular etymology would imply ‘humans would above all be people of the soil who bury their dead. They come from the earth, and will therefore return to it’. Ingold goes on to describe how the thinkers of the enlightenment ‘would eventually upend this logic, appealing instead to universal powers of reason or intellect, destined to emancipate humankind from earthly bondage, and to cut all ties to the ground, to place and to nature.’

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Soil: Common Ground

A 3 part podcast series presented by Somerset House Studios artist Shenece Oretha. “Soil is unsung, and largely hidden from view. What if we were to put it in the foreground? To think of it as a collaborator?” The series “traces the life cycle of soil, from it’s foundational role at the beginning of life with artist Asad Raza, through to its manifestation as one of the earliest creative materials, with ceramist and writer Jennifer Lucy Allan. We hear from artists Annalee Davis and Lauren Gault on the ways soil bears witness our difficult histories, before exploring decay and the regenerative powers of soil in our final episode, with the work of artist Mohamed Salah and radical undertaker Rupert Callender.”

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A handful of soil has more living organisms in it than there are people on the planet. Billions of organisms. That’s healthy soil. The soil is made up of particles that come together, and they are held together by a sticky gluey substance that is excretions and exudates from both plants and also insects and microbiology that live in the soil. The microorganisms that live in the soil depend on air as much as we do, and so having air pockets in the soil which comes from healthy roots, healthy plants, tapping down into the soil, allowing airways to develop. And also those airways being created by things like worms crawling their way through the soil.

— Journey Through a Cow, BBC R4 (2026)

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Permeance is a conceptual lens emerged through a rhizomatic artistic research which follows the traces of cadmium contamination upstream and into the past, unearthing a chain of events which talk about river ecosystems and soil pollution, extractive industries, and modern colonialism. The notion of permeability enables us to trace pollutants and understand the ruins we inhabit, encouraging us to notice the entanglements of earhtly life.

— Permeance, Steffie de Gaetano, 2022

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*Displace*, by the artist Elena Khurtova is a book which has been riso printed with soil. Taking soils from different locations around the world, each page of the book shows the tonal varieties of soils - due partly to the different ochres staining some redder and some subtly yellow. The book is filled with expertly printed photographs of Khurtova working with soil, as well as the landscapes which she collects soil. The appearance of the images are subtly faded, but other than this one might never immediately recognise that this book was printed with soil instead of typcial printer ink. The book contains an essay Khurtova, descirbing her sculptural practice of gathering soil to create her large spherical works. She writes "A handful of soil. I grind and wash, I sieve, I sieve gently, I shake and sieve, I sieve rigourously, I sieve some more. I like it. The finest particles float around me. I breath them in. I lick my lips and taste the red powdery land."

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