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Q&A | ‘Healing our soil is the most effective weapon we have against climate catastrophe’
As it prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Somerset House is digging deep with a landmark new art exhibition
2025 will be a special year for London’s Somerset House as the cultural institution celebrates its 25th anniversary. One of the standout shows on its programme is Soil: The World at Our Feet – a (literally) groundbreaking art exhibition exploring the “wonder of soil, its unbreakable bond to all life, and the vital role it plays in our planet’s future”.
The institution has invited group of global artists, writers, and scientists to respond to the theme and explore how soil is interconnected with all life on earth.
Alongside more than 50 works in a diverse range of media, the exhibition will include Soil Kitchen, a participatory installation from Something & Son, an environmental art collective formed of Andy Merritt and Paul Smyth, who are residents of Somerset House. The kitchen will be a playful, hands-on space where audiences are encouraged to learn about soil through recipes, sculptures and stories.
The exhibition opens on 23 January. Museums Journal spoke to Claire Catterall to find out why the institution chose soil as a key focus for its 25th-anniversary year.
Claire Catterall
Senior Curator, Somerset House
Why was it important to tackle this subject?
Such is the complexity of soil that only in the last few years have scientists really begun to unlock its secrets. For too long we’ve thought of soil as just the ground, the dirt, beneath our feet. But it’s quite literally the lifeblood of the planet.
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We now know that soil not only brought life to the Earth, it gives life to the Earth. It is key to all life, connecting everything. We wouldn’t be here and we could not survive without it.
But what we are doing to this vital life-giving substance risks our very survival and that of the planet. We need to change things now. Healing our soil is the single most effective weapon we have against climate catastrophe. Healing our soil can heal our world.
What are some of the key themes that will be explored by the artists?
The artwork in the exhibition explores many themes. Some celebrate the extraordinary life found in soil, revealing its role in the life of the planet, its connection with everything – from seeds, roots and plants to animals, humans, and the wider cosmos – and its extraordinary powers of life-giving and re-generation.
Others tell the story of humanity’s impact on the Earth, showing how soil provides a record of the transformational and often traumatic marks that geopolitical, economic and colonial histories leave on the skin of our planet. Others still tell stories of hope and healing, showing how our connection with soil can help heal ourselves as well as our planet, if we let it.
Can you tell us about the thinking behind the Soil Kitchen?
For us, we loved the playful, simple way it explains such seemingly complex and little understood processes. We also appreciated the way it connects back to the ordinary and everyday, allowing visitors to feel an agency that they too can make a difference. It shows that it’s actually not that complicated! It fact it’s easy. And what you can do in your own home can really make a difference. Of course, we aren’t suggesting that we all make soil in our kitchens, but the installation includes many ideas for things you can do to help heal the soil around you, wherever you live.
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What are you hoping audiences will get out of the exhibition?
This exhibition will showcase how soil is the great interconnector, and yet how little we know about it. For too long human activities have had a detrimental effect on the health of our soil.
Here, the artists are asking that we take a fresh look at this hugely important ecosystem which is living beneath our feet. Audiences can expect to see stunning artistic interventions and groundbreaking scientific practices that zooms our focus deep underground.
The exhibition’s message will be one of hope: soil has the potential not only to transform ourselves and our planet but can also provide an important marker for a radical new intersectional, collective and collaborative way of being, for humans and non-humans alike.