Common Ground
Illustration, Plant migration,
Soil
2023
Facilitated by: Collective Terravibe (Alisha Dutt Islam, Nora Gailer, Christa Herrmann) and Ralph Kuenzler
Participants: Linda Stauffer, Corina Heinrich, Nurjiyan, Dr. Eric Alejandro Pinto Figueroa, Michel Bachmann, Sonja Schenkel
Common Ground brings plants and soil that coexist alongside each other but have been carefully curated, monitored, tampered with and controlled to focus.
Common Ground I
For years the exotic have adapted to the weather and grown their roots strong into new soils. The emotions linked to the discrimination between native and exotic plants are complex, as our food systems, neighbourhoods and homes often have a mixture of both. A year-long research into plant migration, climate change, and reflection on the artist's migration status from India leads to a book on Black-listed Invasive Asian plants in Switzerland. The work questions notions around identity and acceptance of something/someone exotic. The work focuses on paintings of the roots of Invasive Asian plants to express the artist's temporary growth into new Soils. Soil pigments from the Swiss Alps were used to paint the images in the book.
Common Ground II
Soils have the power to unite us. Healthy soil is essential for our survival as it’s needed for food production, maintaining biodiversity, and building resilience. It’s also the most effective carbon sink on land. But what about the cultural role of soils? Lead by this question, the two-part work includes a social sculpture called Zoil Hills, built using the ancient method of rammed earth. These hills were built as part of the Collective Terravibe alongside participants from diverse backgrounds, including an architect, a microbiologist, an archaeologist, a designer and several artists. The work includes soil from selected construction sites from Zürich’s Kreis 4 and 3, which had been covered by concrete for many years. The social sculpture allowed the participants to explore soil with their bodies, minds and souls whilst getting hands-on and consciously connecting to the ground below their feet. While reading the book and reflecting on the soil hills, the hope is to evoke critical thinking about plant migration and the common ground on which we all reside.
Soil
2023
Facilitated by: Collective Terravibe (Alisha Dutt Islam, Nora Gailer, Christa Herrmann) and Ralph Kuenzler
Participants: Linda Stauffer, Corina Heinrich, Nurjiyan, Dr. Eric Alejandro Pinto Figueroa, Michel Bachmann, Sonja Schenkel
Common Ground brings plants and soil that coexist alongside each other but have been carefully curated, monitored, tampered with and controlled to focus.
Common Ground I
For years the exotic have adapted to the weather and grown their roots strong into new soils. The emotions linked to the discrimination between native and exotic plants are complex, as our food systems, neighbourhoods and homes often have a mixture of both. A year-long research into plant migration, climate change, and reflection on the artist's migration status from India leads to a book on Black-listed Invasive Asian plants in Switzerland. The work questions notions around identity and acceptance of something/someone exotic. The work focuses on paintings of the roots of Invasive Asian plants to express the artist's temporary growth into new Soils. Soil pigments from the Swiss Alps were used to paint the images in the book.
Common Ground II
Soils have the power to unite us. Healthy soil is essential for our survival as it’s needed for food production, maintaining biodiversity, and building resilience. It’s also the most effective carbon sink on land. But what about the cultural role of soils? Lead by this question, the two-part work includes a social sculpture called Zoil Hills, built using the ancient method of rammed earth. These hills were built as part of the Collective Terravibe alongside participants from diverse backgrounds, including an architect, a microbiologist, an archaeologist, a designer and several artists. The work includes soil from selected construction sites from Zürich’s Kreis 4 and 3, which had been covered by concrete for many years. The social sculpture allowed the participants to explore soil with their bodies, minds and souls whilst getting hands-on and consciously connecting to the ground below their feet. While reading the book and reflecting on the soil hills, the hope is to evoke critical thinking about plant migration and the common ground on which we all reside.
