Art and Soil: The Aesthetics of Dirt

- New ways of soil comunication -

by

Gerd Wessolek

1 Soil aesthetics

2 Some own soil and art work

3 Examples of soil Art in education

4 Conclusions

Low evidence of soil

Reasons

� For many people soil is dirt and unattractive and

� mostly they do not have any soil education

� Soil is not visible (=ground)

Question: is soil science the only way to give soil more

relevance and importance?

Nature Art and Science

Nature Art and Science

„It makes a difference, which way you go to

discover a discipline and which door you‘re

using to enter“.

Goethe

Soil Art is such an entrance...

It uses aesthetic technics and

elements to communicate…

Nature Art and Science

Soil aesthetic criteria

Soil texture in...

used in Zen gardens in Kyoto, Japan

Soil structure

...picked up by Joseph Beuy‘s „earth-telefon“ (1968)

By the way:

It‘s easy for you to discover soil structuremotives.....

Some examples

Soil surface structures at the coast

...artificial soil structures at the beach

human structures at the beach

Most important soil aestheic criteria: Soil color

Using aquarel colors to characterize different soils.

(i) Podsolic soils

Landscape painting usingaquarel colors combinedwith parent soil material

Describing soil propertiesusing both soil and colors

Soil and Art in education

• Good way to discover „soil“

• Active participation and being creative

• It‘s fun

some examples of student‘s work....

Examples of student‘s projects

• A soil museum in a soil park

• „Ecological footprint“ (humification/mineralization)

on the Berliner „Gleisdreieck“

• „Soil torte“ demonstrating remediation success on a

former waste water disposal field Berlin-Buch

• Art with urban soil on a fallow site

A virtuel soil museum by Andreas Vetter

A virtuel soil art park by Andreas Vetter: listening soil music

The carot footprint on the Berlin Gleisdreieck

Demonstrating mineralization process

Former waste water disposal field

„Berlin-Buch“

How to demonstrate a remediation success?

Soil profile: before and after remidiation using glacial till

---------------SOIL ART: Künstlerische Perspektiven in der Ökologie---------------

Hardy Buhl, TU-Berlin Soil ArtistSoil Profile “Torte”, waste water disposal field Berlin-Buch, 2006

Hardy Buhl and TU-Berlin Soil Artists, Soil Profile Torte, Rieselfelder, Berlin-Buch, 2006

---------------SOIL ART--------------

„Art with urban soils“

Discovering urban soil and collecting samples

Fixing objects and urban soil on a canvas....

Contemplation with soil...

Urban soil art (120 x 180cm)

My conclusions

• Soil science „pure“ is often too unattractive!

• Pick up the Ikea slogan: Use your challenges to

discover soil !

• Soil and Art is only one way to do it

...thank you for your interest

---------------SOIL and ART--------------------

Questionnaire on Soil- Art - Aethetics

1. Annual Meeting of the German Soil Science Society, Dresden 2007

2. SUITMA congress 2007, China

3. University Weihenstephan, Germany

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

35,0

40,0

45,0

1 2 3 4 5 6Aspect

Per

cent

natural science

social science

aesthetics

combination of 1 and 3

combination of 1 and 2

combination of all

Which aspects are relevant for soil?

15%

49%

36%sometimes no

yes

Does your profession include aesthtic elements?

0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0 60,0 70,0

1

very important

important

unimportant

Percent

Is soil art important?

83,1%

16,9%

yes

no

Do you collect soil or stones for aesthetic reasons?

Three examples of our study project

1. On the Berliner „Gleisdreieck“

„ Ecological footprint“ (humification/mineralization)

2. On the former waste water disposal field Berlin-Buch

„Soil torte“ (demonstrating remediation success)

3. On a fallow site close to our Institute

„Art with urban soil“ (urban soils are interesting)

A German Soil Alphabet

(iii) Gleyic soils

(ii) Pseudogleyic soils