Unlearning Taxonomies:
Fabulating a Soil Institute
In November 2020, I took part in a public conversation with artist and researcher Rita Natalio following her performance “Fossil.” In Natalio’s performance, there is a moment where she writes words on a canvas lined with earth moulds, which become erased when the surface vibrates. Watching the rehearsals, I was struck by the visual and material uniformity of the material chosen to represent soil, which was taken directly from off the shelve sacks of garden compost.In order to problematise this standardised perception of soil, I proposed to bring three soil samples that were representative of the material differences that are visible in a soil horizon. Standing over the earth moulds, I read three short excerpts from a pedological manual written by Cabral’s supervisor Botelho da Costa, titled “Characterisation and Constitution of the Soil,” which referred to the specificity of soil’s architecture.
(1) Talk with Rita Natálio “Solos Antropogênicos: fabulando um Instituto dos Solos em Portugal.” 28th of November, 2020.
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(2) John Michael Hodgson, ed., Soil Survey Field Handbook: Describing and Sampling Soil Profiles, Technical Monograph / Soil Survey [of Great Britain (England and Wales)], no. 5 (Harpenden: Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1976).
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