curators: Basak Senova and Johan Thom
artists: Abri de Swardt, Alet Pretorius, Anastasiia Shcherban, Atang Tshikare, Atul Bhalla, Barbara Putz-Plecko, The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Caroline Le Méhauté, Christophe Fellay, Coral Bijoux, Diego Masera, Diane Victor, Diana Vives & Douglas Gimberg, Ebru Kurbak, Egle Oddo, Eugénie Touzé, Francesco Bellina, Hera Büyüktasciyan, Herrana Addisu, Inma Herrera, Isa Rosenberger, Jacob van Schalkwyk, Jessica Ostrowicz, Jesper Just, Johan Thom, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Ledelle Moe, Lorin Sookol, Lundahl & Seitl, MADEYOULOOK, Maria Lantz, Marcus Neustetter, Mithu Sen, Olha Fedorova, Oya Silbery, Raúl Mirlo, Paula Anta, Ramesh Daha, Robin Rhode, Rojda Tugrul, Sebastian Stumpf, Seretse Moletsane, Setlamorago Mashilo, The ZoNE, and Vibha Galhotra.
venue: NIROX Sculpture Park
coordinates: Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, 2025-2026
website: https://www.soilandwater.net/
SOIL & WATER is a large-scale artistic research project and exhibition that unfolds within the ancient ancestral land of the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa. Developed collaboratively by Prof. Johan Thom of the University of Pretoria, Assoc. Prof. Dr Basak Senova of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, in collaboration with the NIROX Foundation. The project brings together international artists whose practices engage with the fragile, interdependent relationship between soil and water —the two fundamental substances that sustain all life on Earth.
SOIL & WATER is conceived as a modular platform; it opened with the extensive exhibition in November 2025, unfolds through April 2026, featuring exhibitions, residencies, dialogues, performances, concerts, community engagement, and a forthcoming publication. The project took root nearly three years ago, when NIROX founder Benji Liebmann voiced urgent concern about the pollution of rivers and groundwater in the Cradle, threatening the integrity of this unique biosphere.
This ecological emergency became the catalyst for a curatorial response that insists art must do more than illustrate facts. It must create meaning and urgency. Soil and water are active agents. They store and release, conceal and reveal, preserve and transform. They are ecological and ideological, mnemonic and political. They carry time, memory, and history.
As materials, soil and water embody ideologies, histories, stories, and politics. By exploring their intricate relationship through art, we uncover numerous sedimentary, still-hidden layers and isolated fragments of memories, realities, and meanings. By delving into the diverse layers of the interconnected relationships between soil and water, we may gain deeper insights into the fabric of human existence and the numerous ecosystems surrounding us.
The ongoing, balanced interplay between water and soil is essential for all ecosystems. Water, sourced from various origins such as rainfall, rivers, and underground reservoirs, plays a significant role in shaping soil composition, structure, and fertility. Acting as a conduit, water aids in the transportation of vital nutrients within the soil, thereby fostering the growth of plants. While water contributes to alterations in the landscape through processes like erosion and deposition, soil functions as a storage reservoir, managing water movement and decreasing the adverse effects of droughts and floods, for example. We intend to delve into these complexities and the diverse intensities that surround them by engaging in the experimental exploration of various materials. Most prominently, this includes soil and water, as well as the various materials artists use to (in)form their artistic investigations. Throughout time, from ancient history to our modern era, artists have enhanced research on soil and water by delving into the visual, cultural, and symbolic realms of exploration.
Contemporary artistic research and practices provide new resources, conceptual frameworks and diverse approaches for engaging with soil and water. Art evokes complex cultural responses to soil and water that open up complex, often challenging dialogues about the changing environment, society, politics and the humanities’ role therein.
They shape life and dissolve it. SOIL & WATER brings these dimensions into visibility, inviting artistic practices to unearth what lies hidden beneath the surface: the sediments of memory, the entangled human and non-human worlds, and fragile futures.
The participating artists, working from South Africa, Austria, India, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Germany, Sweden, Ethiopia, and beyond, anchor the project in lived realities while extending it into shared imaginaries.
PARTNERS
SOIL & WATER is a collaborative project developed by the University of Pretoria, the NIROX Foundation, and Sculpture Park. The project is supported by the NIROX Foundation, University of Pretoria, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Rooms Kyrenia, ARUCAD – Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design, Austrian Cultural Forum Pretoria, BIENALSUR – Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo del Sur, BMKÖS – Austrian Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, Danish Arts Foundation, Embassy of Austria in South Africa, Embassy of Spain in South Africa, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, IASPIS – International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts, Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria, SKF – Support Art and Research and KKP – Art and Communication Practices, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Kunsthaus Dahlem Berlin, L’Accolade e Foundation Paris, The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust South Africa, Ukrainian Institute, and Techizart Istanbul.
