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Short abstract:

The paper considers the concept of soil remediation, its assumptions and conditions through discussion of a range of artworks that re-mediate soil pollution.

Long abstract:

Soil remediation is understood, in soil sciences and agronomy, as removing pollution or contaminants from the soil, in processes of recuperation and repair (Aachen and Eichmann 2009, p. vii). These processes are instigated by humans when soil is assessed to be severely damaged, often through the presence of metals, radioactivity or synthetic chemicals such as PFAS. While some such pollution has striking visual properties, such as the bright orange of an iron-steeped post-mining landscape, environmental pollution is not always visible, and in many areas, incentives to remediate soil are lacking. This paper will discuss a range of artworks, primarily in the Nordic context, which have in various ways highlighted soil pollution. From works that call attention to the (often uncertain) effect of particular pollutants to hands-on soil bioremediation resulting in artistic outcomes, the paper argues that these artworks in various ways re-mediate (bring into new mediated contexts, cf. Bolter & Grusin 2000) material understandings of what soil pollution can entail, assessments of what soil is polluted enough to warrant remediation, and how it might be remedied. The paper argues that artistic re-mediations thus bring into the foreground the presence of pollutants in specific soil localities, considering what arts of noticing this entails, but also discusses elements of the soil situation which might be consequently relegated to the background when artworks focus in on pollution and repair.

Aachen, L., & Eichmann, P. (2009). Soil Remediation. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Bolter, J.D., & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media. MIT Press.