SOIL

This groundbreaking exhibition unites visionary artists and thinkers from around the world to explore the remarkable power and potential of soil. Through a range of artworks, artefacts and innovative approaches, visitors are invited to reconsider the crucial role soil plays in our planet's health. The exhibition delivers a message of hope and urgency, encouraging a more sustainable, harmonious relationship with the Earth—if we choose to act now.

Soil is more than dirt. Soil is a secret world at our feet, an ecosystem as diverse in life as our night sky is full of stars. The billions of bacteria contained in its rhizospheres do for plants what the microbes in our stomachs do for us: sustain life. Our relationship with soil is our connection to Earth itself. Without soil, there is no us.

Our exhibition brings together a range of stories and responses to soil from a group of global artists, writers, musicians and scientists. Combining sensory artworks, historical objects, scientific artefacts and documentary evidence, the exhibition 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.

Somerset House is giving visitors the creative space to think more deeply about soil’s vital and dramatic role in sustaining life on Earth, now and in the future. We hope to inspire both awe and optimism in those willing to dig below the surface of a world they only thought they knew. 

Participating artists include: Agnieszka Kurant, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Anya Gallaccio, Ana Mendieta, Annalee Davis, Asad Raza, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Christopher Bellamy, Bio Crafted, Clare Richardson, Cosmo Shelldrake, Daro Montag, Diana Scherer, Eve Tagny, Fatima Alaiwat, Fernando Laposse, France Bourély, Freddie Yauner, Harun Morrison & Paul Granjon, herman de vries, Howard Sooley, jackie sumell, Jim Richardson, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Jo Pearl, Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, Joya Berrow, Julia Norton, Ken Griffiths, Kim Norton, Lauren Gault, Maeve Brennan, Marguerite Humeau, Mariana Heilmann and Lynne Boddy, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Michael Landy, Merlin Sheldrake, Michael Prime, 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.

Associate Sponsor for the In Focus Zones of the Exhibition

The Soil exhibition has inspired support from many partners in supporting roles to whom we are extremely grateful. These include: Gaia Art Foundation, The World Living Soils Forum by Moët Hennessy, The Nadezda Foundation, The Finnis Scott Foundation, Westminster City Council and Familia Torres with The Vine Strategy.

Thanks also to our Soil Champions: Agreena, Farmacy London, Daylesford Organic, Greenwood Place and Studio Egret West. Also thanks to Edward Bulmer Natural Paint.

Header image: Unearthed - Mycelium by Jo Pearl © Elsa Pearl