Detail of Fly Agaric, a work by Marshmallow Laser Feast
It was an interesting and lively mingling of disparate sorts as the artistic, scientific and activism communities descended upon Somerset House last week for the opening of a new exhibition. Until April 13, the London venue is hosting SOIL: The World at Your Feet (SOIL) – an unusual curatorial proposition that focuses on the importance and overlooked fragility of what lies beneath us.
A vibrant ecosystem
The exhibit invites visitors to reflect on soil not as an inanimate, alien entity but as a living system that provides sustenance, support and energy – as well as meaning and reference. Visual artists, writers, musicians and scientists were invited to contribute with interpretations combining their personal and professional responses to it.
Both the artistic and scientific works on show are eye-opening and stimulating; many are genuinely touching, invoking the emotional bond between humans, plants and animals, all connected, ultimately, by their shared land. Visitors are challenged to pay attention and engage – intellectually, aesthetically and physically – with the substance and subtract of life.
The scope of the exhibition is vast and diverse, as various disciplines consider soil at dramatically different scales: from the microorganisms that populate it and ultimately sustain life on earth, to global supply chains that generate the unimaginable amount of garbage accumulated in monstrous landfills. SOIL also evokes history – collective as well as personal – by looking at land as a fundamental element of identity and sense of belonging; of ‘being rooted’ as a way of understanding oneself, inhabiting the present and building the future. For soil is, after all, the first and final receptacle of memories and stories – something the exhibition references in the form of archaeological, ethnographic and poetic works. This in turn of course raises troubling questions about current political moods, socioeconomic shifts and the cruel dynamics of land ownership and displacement.
Ge (Recipe) by Asad Raza | Courtesy of the artist
Regenerative revolution
Environmental concerns are, inevitably, one of SOIL’s central focuses. The event inscribes itself within an important movement in contemporary farming – regenerative agriculture – which counts soil health as one of its core principles. The movement has gained significant traction in the last decade, notably among wine growers and producers, who have embraced it as an important vector of sustainable viticulture.
Two prominent wine groups – Familia Torres, in partnership with sustainability consultant The Vine Strategy, and Moët Hennessy, within the scope of its World Living Soils Forum – are among the exhibition’s supporters.
Catalan powerhouse Familia Torres has long been a vocal proponent of regenerative agriculture, not least as a founding member of IWCA (International Wineries for Climate Action) and of the Spanish Regenerative Viticulture Association.
Meanwhile, the World Living Soils Forum is an annual gathering to share best practices and knowledge to promote soil regeneration, with the understanding that the latter is essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change and fighting the loss of biodiversity.
The Sweetmans: Country Cottage Calendar (detail) by Ken Griffiths | Courtesy of the artist
Hope and urgency
While these are key concerns among winegrowers and winemakers, SOIL provides stark context and evidence to how we all depend and are connected by the complex and dynamic layers we walk on, often mindlessly, each day. The exhibition will surely change the way attentive visitors see the hidden power of soil, and the urgency to preserve the resources it generates and sustains.
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Source : https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/soil-the-world-at-your-feet-at-the-crossroads-of-art-and-science-550052/
