Soil is one of the most sensitive and large organs on this planet. Disturbed ecosystems as well as disturbed balances are reflected in its deteriorating quality. Polluted soils, deforestation, degraded soil, conflict over resources, and agricultural monoculture: a lot of the climate change processes that are occurring can be linked to soil. At the same time, soil stores more than three times the amount of carbon than there is present in the atmosphere. Wetlands can be more effective carbon sinks than forests and a thriving soil improves the resilience against climate change, biodiversity and water quality.
The second year of TBG is dedicated to this topic: with its recently released open call, artists were are invited to create a new artwork for SOIL.
SOIL is a collaboration between five commissioning partners in Riga, Wroclaw, Ancona, Faro and Budapest. These five partners are collaborating within the framework of The Big Green. Together we experiment with ways of using art to promote sustainability and innovate the arts in an eco-sensitive manner. In line with this purpose, the works will not go on an international tour or a group exhibition. In an attempt to explore alternative ways of touring, this open call will consist of a physical presentation of your work in your respective country only. In addition, all the works will be shown together in a digital or remote presentation at the Festival of Contemporary Theatre Homo Novus (Latvia) in September 2025.
From the many great applications, the partnership has selected the artists would like to work with in the ‘SOIL’ year, they are (with the selecting organization):
Annalì Rainoldi // Marche Teatro, Italy
Versatile dancer and choreographer, contemporary dance teacher and human rights activist.
At the heart of her research, the study, science and symbols are intertwined with the theme of memory, which is declined according to different interactions: the memory of the body understood as cellular memory reveals the profound and undomesticated essence of the human being, the emotional memory that is revealed through the gesture guided by pure intuition, the collective memory brought through the use of signs and symbols in the interaction of different languages.
www.annalirainoldi.com
https://vimeo.com/annalifly
Evarts Melnalksnis // New Theatre Institute Latvia, Latvia
Evarts Melnalksnis is a music theatre and performing arts dramaturge and curator. He focuses on innovative theatre strategies, contemporary music theatre, interdisciplinary and international cooperation. Evarts Melnalksnis regularly publishes articles on contemporary theatre processes, works as a lecturer, moderator, editor, translator, participates in conferences and is involved in the political processes of the field.
Anna Siekierska // Art Transparant, Poland
Anna Siekierska is looking for answers to the question of how we can support regeneration processes in highly degraded places and exposed to predatory forest management.
The artist wants to create prototypes of structures that will help heal wounds after deep logging roads and preserve water and mud in the forest. She is inspired by both structures built by forest activists and structures created by beavers.
He emphasizes that a revolution is necessary in nature conservation, revising the concept of wildness and naturalness.
https://annasiekierska.tumblr.com/
José Jesus // Sciaena, Portugal
José Jesus, Faro 1988, Lives and works in his Hometown.
He develops his work as a multidisciplinary practitioner with recurrent use of digital imagery, moving image, and objects. Exploring the manifestation of digital landscapes, human projection and organic bodies. With a critical view over the relationships between the human and non-human, José Jesus presents objects from a fictionalized anthropology. These objects and symbols refer to the occupation of territory, whether terrestrial or spatial, merging something ancestral and futuristic, leading us to encounter the heterotopia of the places occupied by humanity.
Instagram:
@jpb.jesus
Cseke Tamás // Pro Progressione, Hungary
CSEKE Tamás is a Hungarian photographer mostly preoccupied with existentialism, social issues, capitalism and its effects on world. He uses images and text and makes mostly research-based photography. His conceptual works have been exhibited at Budapest Photo Festival (2022), Different Worlds festival in Ljubljana (2023), PEP x BPM exhibition “(Im)possible worlds” (2024) in Mulhouse, France. He was featured online on Vogue.com and i-D magazine. He is also deeply interested in people and the relations between them, taking every opportunity to explore this energy of the human body from dance – to fashion photography. He is a member of Association of Young Hungarian Photographers (FFS). His aim with the SOIL Project is to find new ways of experimenting with the connection between the human body, visual interpretation, and the philosophical aspect of pollution.