Soils

Soils was a long-term collaborative research project across the nation states called Netherlands, Romania, Australia, Indonesia, Columbia and Mexico. It involved 2 exhibitions, 2 publications, online and physical seminars and new artistic commissions brought together by a curatorial collaboration across three states. It also involved collaboration with the Decolonial Summer School initiated by Professors Walter Mignolo and Rolando Vazquez.

The press release for the Van Abbemuseum exhibition read as follows: "Soil is the ground humans walk on. It is where our ancestors once lived and where future generations will build an existence. It is the link between past, present and future. The source that feeds us. But the relationship between human and earth is also often strained. From land depletion and overproduction to land grabbing and exploitation. How can we re-ground ourselves in our environment? And how does that help us reconnect with each other? The group exhibition Soils addresses these questions. International artists, designers, farmers and activists work towards more empathy for our soils.

The title Soils comes from Palestinian thinker, writer and former mathematician Munir Fasheh. He proposes four soils as the core of life on earth: earth soil, cultural soil, communal soil and spiritual soil. Soils focuses on the human relationship with these soils. The artists seek expression based on kinship and grounded knowledge, as is done by the Wurundjeri land in 'Australia', the Iku peoples' guarded Chundwa (Heart of the World), the Pasar and Pamona language areas, Sinanché in Mayan Yucatán and Eindhoven in North Brabant. Modernity separated western subjects from a connection to the land. In Soils, makers teach us how important it is to ground our thinking and actions in the soil we live on: local, national and international.

Participating artists and collectives Artists, activists and thinkers participating in Soils: Valiana Aguilar, patricia kaersenhout & Rolando Vázquez, Soph Boobyer, The Committee for Resurrection (Adelina Luft, Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, Raluca Voinea), Peta Clancy, Megan Cope, Zena Cumpston, Wapke Feenstra, Steffie de Gaetano & Giulia Pompilj, Lian Gogali and Institut Mosintuwu, D Harding, Diewke van den Heuvel, Jatiwangi art Factory, Moelyono, Suumil Móokt'aan, Hira Nabi, Tom Nicholson, Yurni Sadariah, Dorieke Schreurs, Keg de Souza, Brooke Wandin, Pluriversity Weavers (Ana Bravo Pérez, Li Yuchen, Aldo Ramos, Aliki van der Kruijs).

The first edition of Soils opened in 2023 at TarraWarra Museum of Art in Australia. After Eindhoven, the project will continue onwards to Jogjakarta in 2025.

Soils is a curatorial collaboration between the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Struggles for Soveregnity and the Van Abbemuseum.

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