Getting ready for British Society of Soil Science conference 2025

Coming soon in Manchester: the 2025 annual conference of the British Society of Soil Science, dedicated to the study of soil in its widest aspects. The conference will include a pop-up exhibition with soil-related artworks by Jo Pearl, Daro Montag, Phil Lambert and myself. We will also discuss our work in an Art and Culture session chaired by eminent soil expert Prof Jack Hannam.

 

Looking forward to an intense soil science injection and enlightening microbial conversations!

 

Soil of Ecological Union

 

On the Eurostar back to to the UK after spending a few days in Oberhausen Germany for the Soils of Ecological Union Symposium. Over the last few months, invited by ace Ukrainian artists-curators Natalia Matsenko @uncertainata and Yuri Yefanov @yuri_yefanov, we have engaged in fruitful online exchanges with Lisa Biletska @lisabetska, Jana Kerima @janakerima__, Lex Ruitten @lex.ruetten_, Lina Kusaite @linakusaite8, Vite Joksaite @vitejoksch, Margo Zalite @margo_zalite on the topic of soil and art.

Starting with soil and the utopian ideas around it, we moved on to discuss ecology and technology, non-human life, community awareness, urban nature, gardens and forests, art and activism, inevitability, optimism and the apocalyptic mindset.

The project concluded when we all met in real life for the symposium on October 2nd at the Unterhaus gallery @unterhaus.ob kitev.

 

The whole operation was managed by Kitev @kitev.de. Kitev (Kunst Im Turm ev) is a well established poly-function community art centre located in the former water tower of the central station in Oberhausen. It features residency spaces, offices, a cafe/kitchen/workshop area and the shared Unterhaus gallery nearby where we had the symposium.

 

During my stay artist in residence Margo Zalite ran a bamboo architecture workshop, a synthesizer community workshops and a public conversation on Art of the Palliative Turn, a dark notion developed by artist Olav Westphalen.

 

Kitev also hosts the Refugee Kitchen ran by a team of refugee women who cook and serve delicious meals to the public several times a week, reversing the image of the refugee queueing for food at a humanitarian facility. Also robotic workshops for children on Fridays.

 

All in all a great venue with excellent hospitality, many thanks @vitejoksch for hosting us :>))

 

 

Finland Mud Machine complete

Views of the Mud Machine installed in Kubu Culture House Björkboda, Finland, summer 2025 as part of the Garden and the Hedge exhibition. The machine was extended during a workshop held on the closing weekend, including a section made with primary school kids from the nearby town of Dalsbruk.

 

Kubu is a great art centre in rural Finland, gradually finding ways to combine local, national and international dimensions. The set-up is a former primary school, complete with gym and giant soup mixer. Kubu is run by Sari Kippilä and Tuomo Tammenpää, who provided first rate support and hospitality throughout :>))

 

My work in Kubu was partly funded by Wales Arts international and the Arts Council of Wales.
Many thanks to @dusjagr

 

More info on Mud Machines ==>

 

 

Datalogging microbial voltage for the lab

Finally got together with Louie Destouches, microbiologist extraordinaire, for finalising a microbial voltage datalogging device. For those of you unfamilar with the topic, some bacteria in the soil are electrogenic, which means they produce electrons as part of their metabolic process. These can be harvested with electrodes in the soil in what is called microbial fuel cells. The electrical output can be measured or used for powering very frugal, intermittent electronic systems.

 

 

The device we made uses a Raspberry Pi computer for measuring the voltages on 4 different microbial fuel cells, that can be visualised on a web interface.

We hope that the device will help us understand better the bacterial voltage variations and what are the optimal conditions (soil, moisture, temperature, etc…) for a reliable electrical output.

We have posted all the technical information and source code on Github, see summary below.

 

A similar interface is being used for the outdoor monitoring of microbial fuel cells in the Crymlyn Bog.

The project was partly funded by Cardiff School of Art and Design and by the Learned Society of Wales, 2025.

The prototype was deployed in the lab of the Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths University London 2025.

 

Github blurb ===================

 

MFC data logging device

The device monitors the voltage from 4 microbial fuel cells – voltage generated by bacterial activity near the electrodes in each cell.

The microbial fuel cells are connected to an analog to digital converter module [ https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-16-bit-ADC-ADS1115 ].

The A/D converter is connected to a Raspberry Pi that runs a python script (voltagesToSQL.py). The script reads the 4 outputs from the A/D converter, returns 4 voltage values in millivolts.

The voltages are displayed on the raspberry pi console and simultaneously posted to a remote php script (voltages_post_data.php) that inserts the voltage data in a SQL database.

Another php script (voltages_display_data.php) displays the data on a web page in a graph powered by highcharts.com.

 

Crymlyn Wetland (Bog) Data

The latest version of the Crymlyn Bog live microbial activity monitor and data logging system is now running HERE. The interface provides a visualisation of electrogenic bacterial activity on two different locations in the Bonymaen area of Swansea, UK. One is in the Mount Zion Chapel garden in the Bonymaen housing estate, the other in the Crymlyn Bog, the largest largest area of lowland fen in Wales.

 

The Crymlyn Wetland (Bog) Data system was developed as part of Artstation’s Natural Law project. They explain HERE that “this comparative display is designed to highlight the often-overlooked value of wetland ecosystems. By contrasting soil vitality between these two sites, the artwork invites public engagement and encourages local businesses and communities to recognise the ecological significance of undervalued green spaces.”

 

 

Following on past work with electrogenic bacteria and microbial fuel cells, this project makes visible the activity of soil bacteria in a citizen science approach. Early findings indicate that the bacterial population in the bog is much more active than that of the heavily polluted soil in the housing estate.

 

For this latest instalment we replaced the copper-zinc electrodes with a graphite felt pair. Unlike zinc and copper that can exchange electrically charged particles, graphite felt is an electrically neutral material. This ensures that the voltage measured is not generated by the exchange of ions between two metals, but most likely by the build-up of bacterial activity near the electrodes.

 

Carbon felt electrodes

 


Setting-up the electrodes and remote data transmission device in the Crymlyn Bog,  photos by Glenn Davidson, Artstation

 

Posts on the early stages of the project:

15-09-2024

27-02-2024

 

The electronics R+D for this project were partly funded by Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University

 

The Garden and the Hedge exhibition and programme

As mentioned in the last post, a Mud Machine was installed as part of The Garden and the Hedge exhibition and programme in Kubu Kulturhus, Björkboda Finland.

 

 

The programme largely focuses on soil and art, with a great range of artworks and activities. The works invite reflection on soil health, boundaries, resilience, and our responsibilities to the living land.

As well as the exhibition, the programme includes workshops, talks, performances and collaborations all the way to the end of August. I will be there during the closing week, running a workshop and a conversation. I am looking forward to checking out exciting new ecological artworks and exploring a part of rural Finland.

Full details on the exhibition artworks and programme, curated by the fantastic curator artist professor Teresa Dillon, are now available HERE.

 

Forest Square 1, Antti Laitinen

 

Radio Air Garden, Magz Hall

 

Removing Defenses, Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger

==================

The Garden and the Hedge
International Summer Exhibition & Programme
5.6.–31.8.2025

Kulturhus Björlkboda (KUBU)
Smedskullavägen 3
25860 Björkboda
Finland

Team:
Teresa Dillon
Curator The Garden and The Hedge and Artist Lead of Elemental Threads Programme.

Tuomo Tammenpää and Sari Kippillä
Executive producers, Kulturhus Björkboda

Participants:
@mrandybest
@laitinen_antti
@constanzadessain
@kalelhamam
dzamil_ka
@kasiamolga
@robinrimbaud
@paulgranjon
@knowlewestmc
@teemu_lehmusruusu
@mediengruppe_bitnik
@zabriskiebuchladen
@kaukolampi
@anttitolvi
@weiweiweiwear
@dusjagr
@ilveskorpi
@jussipuustjarvi
@ronjatammenpaa
@marjutnordb
@agryfp
@heymayahey
@jondroriuk
@uni_southampton_wsa

Mud Machine in Björkboda Finland

 

I should be in Finland right now, finishing the installation of a messy Mud Machine and getting ready for weekend workshops at Kubu KulturHus. Due to family circumstances, I could not travel.

 

Instead I prepared a box of kit and instructions so that the work could be installed by the crew. I was so lucky that curator Teresa Dillon successfully took the box through customs at Heathrow and that fellow creative technologist Marc Dusselier @dusjagr was on hand to put the bits together and ensure the splutterings of mud were of good standard! Thanks Mark and Teresa for your invaluable help :>))

 

The Mud Machine is part of a group exhibition and project called The Garden and the Hedge, (info about the programme below). Opening is today 5th June, pop in if you are in the Kimitoon area

 

 

==>

The Garden and The Hedge
International summer exhibition and program

 

The Garden and The Hedge is Kulturhus Björkboda’s (KUBU) inaugural international summer exhibition and programme, developed in partnership with the artist and researcher Teresa Dillon. Focusing on the garden and the hedge as interfaces and borderlines that shape our understanding of nature and our relationship to it, Kubu’s setting—a former school building nestled in the rural heart of the Kimitoön municipality on an island in the Archipelago Sea, Southwest Finland—provides a unique and rich context for exploring these themes.

 

With 35 artistic works, performances, and workshops, the exhibition explores soil health, care, and community. It invites reflection on visible and invisible boundaries, resilience, and how we listen and respond to the land beneath us. With the exhibition, through installations, performances, workshops, and our learning programming, emphasising the importance of soil care, its environmental significance, and the ways in which it connects to our larger ecological, sociocultural and political landscapes and soil stewardship.

==>

 

The Mud Machine in Kubu is supported by an International Opportunities Fund from Wales Arts International @waicymruwales and the Arts Council of Wales.

 

Singing Compost workshop

Just back from London where we hosted the Singing Compost workshop at the Centre for Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths University. The workshop was an occasion for discussions on soil related art practices and hands-on experimentation in soil microbiology inspired by a citizen-science approach.

 

 

Day 1 started with presentations by myself with an update on the Singing Compost artworks, Anno Colin on Ecocentric functional artworks, Harun Morrison on translation aspects of the Singing Compost, Ros Gray on the social life of soil, Urte Januseviciute on her work with deep underground organisms and dreams, Melissa Thompson on microscopy techniques for soil health monitoring, Louie Destouches on DIY soil microbiology. The afternoon was dedicated to soil bacteria culture and observation in the Centre’s DIY bio lab.

 

 

On Day 2 Jack Hannam gave us an historical update on UK soil census and current related issues, followed by continuation of lab activities. In the afternoon we discussed intentions and directions following on the original Singing Compost artwork, with a focus on funding sources for further events and publications.

 

 

The workshop, funded by the Learned Society of Wales with support from Cardiff School of Art and Design, was attended by members of the Centre for Art and Ecology centre and students from Goldsmiths’ Art and Ecology MA and Curation MA.

 

Electric Strawberries

New Beggarswell Allotments barry Wales

 

After several years on the waiting list we finally got an allotment not far from our house in Barry Wales. Based on experiences of climate action conversations with strangers that started from me doing slightly unusual activities in local public spaces, I am planning to connect with my new allotment community with an unusual allotment feature: a sonic raised bed that gives a voice to microbial soil life. Most soils are inhabited by some electrogenic bacteria, microbes that produce electrons as part of their metabolic processes. These very small electrical currents can be harvested and/or measured. One of the most common electrogenic bacterium is the shewanella one-idensis.

 

Electric Strawberries raised bed

 

The Electric Strawberries installation measures the electrical voltage produced by the microbes and generates an audio signal that varies according the measurement. The sonic raised bed is installed close to an access lane where I hope it will be a hook for engaging other allotment users or visitors in conversations about allotment growing know-how, microbial soil life, climate adaptation and other topics of interest. The experiment values an equal relation to non-human beings and a committed low-tech approach. The aim is to share knowledge, ideas and opinions as well as to strengthen links with the allotment community.

 

Tech

 

The Electric Strawberries installation is solar-powered and completely made of found, re-used and recycled parts. It is the latest instance of an ongoing investigation in electrogenic soil bacteria for art and citizen science that started from a collaboration with bio-engineer Michka Melo in 2017. Since then I have made several installations using the technology including the microbe-powered Mudbots (2018), the Singing Compost installation in collaboration with London-based artist Harun Morrison (2022-ongoing), the Garden Lab project with Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol and the Crymlyn Bog microbial voltage datalogging devices for the Better Bonymaen community art project in Swansea.

 

 

The Electric Strawberries were created during the Climate Adaptation for Creatives course run by Black Mountains College and the British Council in winter 2024-25

 

Allotment meets lab meets creative tech meets growing veg meets outsider art meets people meets microbiology meets citizen science

 

Allotment 2025

Currently working on the allotment in Barry, Wales.

Preparing the vegetable plots, and planning a growing sculpture with microbe electricity at the front as a conversation piece. The sculpture is homework for a Climate Adaption for Creatives online course from Black Mountains College and the British Council.

 

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