Soil Culture Forum

The Soil Culture Forum, organized by the RANE (Research in Art, Nature and Environment) and The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW) research group will take place from 2nd to 5th July 2014 at Falmouth University’s Woodlane campus.

Soil is a material on which – even in the age of the internet – the whole of civilization depends. Along with clean air and fresh water, it is one of the fundamental components that support life on this planet. Without a healthy layer of soil, life and human society as we know it would not be able to function. Despite our knowledge of this fact, mankind continues to misuse and abuse this fundamental matrix of life. Climate change and pollution, erosion and desertification are all having a devastating impact. Although the word ‘culture’ has its metaphorical roots in the improvement of soil, we have lost that fundamental connection.

Inspiring people through the arts on environmental issues can do what conventional advocacy often struggles to do: kindle the imagination, open minds to creative possibilities and engage communities. The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW), in collaboration with Falmouth University’s RANE (Research in Art, Nature and Environment) research group and MA Art & Environment; and other national and international partnerships, is developing a programme in 2013–17 of exhibitions and socially engaged activities, of which the Soil Culture Forum is one, re-examining the cultural and environmental importance of soil and the underlying issues.