SOIL: The World At Our Feet Somerset House 23 Jan – 13 Apr 2025
23 JANUARY – 13 APRIL 2025
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Opening Somerset House at 25 – a special year marking an extraordinary transformation to one of London’s best loved cultural ¬spaces – Somerset House presents SOIL: The World at Our Feet, a landmark exhibition unearthing the wonder of soil, its unbreakable bond to all life, and the vital role it plays in our planet’s future.
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.
For more information https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/soil
Reverse Sod Swap is a response to artist David Nash’s 1983 piece Sod Swap which swapped a pristine circle of lawn from the Serpentine Gallery in West London with a circle of rough turf from North Wales, transplanting the rural into the urban and vice versa. A botanist counted 27 species in the Welsh turf and 3 in the London turf. In his 2024 piece, with Nash’s support, Perry reversed the process, swapping a piece of ‘wilded’ turf from Springfield Park in Hackney with a piece of sheep-mown turf from farmland in West Wales. This time botanists counted 39 species in the urban turf and 4 in the rural turf, highlighting the contrast between the enlightened rewilding of our urban parks with decades of biodiversity loss in our National Parks, landscapes commonly celebrated for their ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’.
For the full story of Reverse Sod Swap including 17 minute film visit https://m-perry.com/reverse-sod-swap-the-swap-april-9th-10th-2024/
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