While soil loss is clearly an ecological crisis, it is also a cultural one, with soil serving as a potent symbol of identity and belonging. At the same time, soil’s corollary, dirt, is a symbol of pollution at the heart of biases that lead to hateful systems of untouchability. And soil health is of course intimately tied to human health.
But rather than focus on what will be lost, we choose to focus on what can be saved. We imagine the Soil Room as a deeply grounding and therapeutic experience: urban dwellers are disconnected from soil ecology, and a fantasy of “the rural” is challenged by the realities of soil erosion and degradation. We are encouraged to “touch grass” but many have forgotten the smell of healthy soil. The goal here is to lead audiences to understand what healthy soil looks and smells like through a direct sensorial approach.
The project is a part of Smell, Memory and Food Systems. In the context of food systems and climate change, smell becomes an act of resistance, remembrance, and imagination. This curation looks to invite audiences to experience olfaction beyond nostalgia, to explore the worlds that have been erased, ecosystems in flux, and the futures we dream of tasting.
The Old GMC Complex
