Soil, Place & Care

GSA This one-week project aims to engage students in a deep, multi- dimensional exploration of soil as a critical element in our ecological system. By examining a cubic metre of land – extending from subterranean layers to the space above – students investigated the intricate relationships between soil, the environment, and human interaction.

The three dimensions soil, place and care framing the project are explored as matters of relation – between the material and the temporal, between scientific and artistic practices, between human and more-than-human interactions.

During the week, student teams from Germany, Scotland, Slovakia, Kyrgistan and China worked in mixed groups on the following prompts:

FUTURE / HERITAGE, RESOURCE / WASTE, CONTROL/FREEDOM, COMMONS / CAPITALISM, HUMAN/ NON-HUMAN, NATURE /TECHNOLOGY

Each group has been assigned to two areas of 1 sqm on the Alytre Estate around the campus - again, very different places to be explored, analyzed and engagd with.

Of course there were overlaps when approcahing those thems, but those lenses allowed a more focused exploration, analysis and synthesis in the groups. The week created a space for other ways of knowing, but focused on a very specific place, its mteriality, its history and embedded memories, but also on concrete actions and interactions: through actions we can transform our ways of seing and being in the world.

The learnings during the process and the outcomes were fascinating. Examples include capturing memories of cultral heritages and making them available in very playful interfaces, socio-political visions of a Republic of Soil where humans are engageging with more-than humans in new modes, playful interfaces allowing the sonfication of soil with new modes of music emerging, or the entanglements in a very inhabited space we normally do not tend to see or perceive.

Parallel to this week, a 1.5 day Symposium on ?Land and Nature in Scotland; Emerging Care Alternatives“ led by Zo? Prosser and John Thackara took place bringing together local activists, communities and expertise.

Thank you to Gordon Hush, Head of The School? of Innovation & Technology and Albert Fuster, Academic Lead of the Highlands&Islands Campus - and I am grateful to work with and learn from all my colleagues: Gabby Morris, Chris H., James Oliver , John Thackara, Jonathan Minchin , Laura Popplow , Lisa McDonald, Lydia Stewart, Lynn-Sayers McHattie , Mafalda Castro Moreira , Marcel Ben?ík, Soheil Ashrafi, Paul Smith, Marianne McInnes, Mafalda Castro Moreira, Charlotte Stoney, Henry Birt, Carol Elkovich, Rachel Naysmith, Michaela Gleed.

And, of course, a big thank you and kudos to the amazing, enthousiastic and very engaged studenst from the 5 design schools: Aaeshlesha Patil, Adinai Mukambetova , Aditi Choorakkad Sunil, Aisha Toichieva, Antara Kulkarni, Cheng Zeng, Disha Katti, Greg Burns, Hanqi Tang, HUILING WANG , Jana Hartmann, Jennifer Zachloid, Jiaqing Long, Joielinha Haseloh?, Jutta Meisel, Larissa Feichtinger, Lena Renz , Leyan Jiang, Lilli Monssen , Liubov Kharkevich, Lucy Rose, Madina Shogunbekova, Manasa Dokka, Martina Belejova, Maximilian Schmalenbach, Mayank Verma, Mirka Bullova, Muniza Hashim, Nishabh Polke, Nishthha Bamne, Rezabegim Sholamova, Rhea Mirje, Ruojue Tang, Sampada Inamdar, Sanjita Masih, Saralinn Hembre Singstad, Sohibegim Mamadnazarova?, Sophia Holstein, Viktoria Stanovae, Xiang Li, Xiaoao Dong, Xinyi Guo, Yifan Kong, Yun Hong, Yuxuan Du, Zeyu Shi, Zhiqiang LI, and Zixi Zhang.

Some key takeways: Increasingly, design schools are addressing the climate crisis in their curricula and research activities. And we are willing to leave our campus to run projects not only in megacities and urban areas, but also in remote ore dispered places. Out there are many activities, initiatives, and communities we could easily connect to. There, designers are rather in a place and not from a place and (can) act as place-based facilitators. Time scopes are crucial - there is a ?Highland time“ we learnt from and extend our activities beyond one week workshops where design teams are just parachuting in and work in an extractive manner…It is about building relationships with places and people. It is about getting/being connected to multiple stakeholders to make a project anchored in place and human expertise - with a reciprocial and regenerative take on community benefit (to avoid being extractive). So we need those places and collaborations to act with a long-term perspectve and build asting relationships.

#soil #care #place #designinnovation #winterschool2024 #interactiondesign #environment #circulareconomy #future #futureheritage

GSA also shared some student voices here:https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/sit-gsa_soil-care-place-activity-7186360828944633857

see also: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7185659383618400258/

Photos by Paul Campbell and the author.