SOIL: The World At Our Feet Somerset House 23 Jan – 13 Apr 2025
23 JANUARY – 13 APRIL 2025
EMBANKMENT GALLERIES
Focussing on the inter-connection of soil and all life – SOIL brings together a range of stories and responses from a group of global artists, writers and scientists. Combining sensory artworks, historical objects, scientific artefacts and documentary evidence, it sets out to inspire and educate visitors about the power and the fragility of soil, its fundamental role in human civilisation, and its remarkable potential to heal our planet. As the home of cultural innovators, this exhibition exemplifies Somerset House’s role in promoting creative solutions to the biggest issues of our time, connecting creativity and the arts with wider society.
Participating artists include: Anya Gallaccio, Ana Mendieta, Annalee Davis, Asad Raza, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Clare Richardson, Daro Montag, Diana Scherer, Eve Tagny, Fatima Alaiwat, Fernando Laposse, France Bourely, Harun Morrison & Paul Granjon, herman de vries, Howard Sooley, Jackie Summell, Jim Richardson, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Jo Pearl, Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, Ken Griffiths, Kim Norton, Lauren Gault, Maeve Brennan, Marguerite Humeau, Mariana Heilmann, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Michael Landy, Mike Perry, Miranda Whall, Sam Williams, Semantica (Jemma Foster and Camilla French) with Juan Cortés, Something & Son, Theo Panagopoulos, Tim Cockerill and Elze Hesse, Vivien Sansour, Wim van Egmond.
David Nash Drawing
‘One of the most compelling displays in the show pairs two understated pieces by David Nash and Mike Perry. For “Sod Swap” (1983), Nash dug up a circle of turf from a Welsh field, in which a botanist counted 27 plant species, and planted it in a London park, where they counted only 3. Forty years on, the effect is reversed, with 39 species in the urban grass and only four in the rural turf. Progressive horticultural practices have made London parks more biodiverse, while vast rural agricultural areas have lost variety through soil degradation, monoculture planting, and intensive livestock grazing. Perry therefore inverts Nash’s project in “Reverse Sod Swap” (2024), inserting turf from a London park into a Welsh field’. Anna Souter (Hyperallergic)
For the full story of Reverse Sod Swap including 17 minute film visit here
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