Merging Horizons—Soil Science and Soil Art

Abstract

A collection of canvases caked in colorful arrangements of browns and grays competes for space alongside an extensive accumulation of soil samples, old lab equipment, and remnants of assorted research projects in the basement of the Gorbatschow Building of the Berlin University of Technology. Remains of an artistic field experiment conducted last summer, the canvases mark the Soil Protection Department’s attempts to integrate artistic dimensions into the soil science curriculum at the university. Such cross-disciplinary activities are gaining recognition elsewhere, as scientists, artists, educators, and environmentalists are developing a visual vernacular for the outermost skin of the earth. Why, when and in what context did soil science and art merge horizons? While incidental depictions of soil and geologic forms may be identified in virtually all major artistic genres, artwork explicitly dealing with soil and soil conservation issues is uniquely characteristic to the more recent environmental arts movement spanning over the last 50 years. Regarding the art-historical developments from the Land Art monuments of the 60s and 70s to more recent interdisciplinary remediation projects, it is important to distinguish between artworks that favor a symbolic, conceptual use of the “earth,” and those that more specifically make reference to “soil” as a geophysical, agronomic or ecological body. In this chapter, we introduce soil art as a subgenre of environmental art. We review the subject of soil throughout different historical developments of the environmental arts movement, look at several artists who have taken on soil as a fundamental focus of their artistic practice, and share some reflections on our own soil art experimentation at the TU-Berlin. Finally, we address the benefits and challenges of cross-disciplinary experimentation. It is our hope that a thoughtful combination of soil science and art will inspire new opportunities for collaborations within and beyond the soil science community.