PAPER
with commisioned writings by:
TOMKE BRAUN*
NOLAN OSWALD DENNIS
ZARA JULIUS
ZAYAAN KHAN
MAHRET IFEOMA KUPKA
LINDIWE MNGXITAMA
MAGNUS ELIAS ROSENGARTEN
KATHY-ANN TAN
Speaking of Humunism
Pine forests stretch extensively around Berlin, their fragrance reminding me of summer. Like most forests in Germany, they were created for timber production and thus bear witness not only to the shaping of a landscape by the nature of it’s soils, but also to the impact of humanity. Pines are some of the few tree species that grow well in the sandy soil of the Mark region in Brandenburg, but their dominance also means that there is little organic waste that could be composted into humus*. Soil organic matter is needed, however, for other plants to colonize, hence forests remain unchanged without extensive reforestation programs and are particularly vulnerable to the drought of recent years.
Ideally, soils are living organisms that respond to their geographic and climatic conditions and are in a constant state of change. The geographic specificity, as well as the simultaneous ubiquity of soils, makes them a universally understood mediator of history and an allegory for memories beyond their biological significance. As foundation of life and symbol of decay, the earth that soils contain carry spiritual and emotional significance for many people. This text sets out to explore the complex layers of meaning that land and earth convey, interlocking social, feminist, and historical perspectives that show us one thing above all: That a bit of soil carries utopian potential if we unearth various historical layers and, in contact with non-human living beings, imagine a new future.
At first glance, compost may appear to be a collection of waste and scraps, messy and dirty. But on closer inspection, compost reveals itself to be an extremely complex ecosystem that becomes a source of new life through a process of decay and decomposition, in which nutrient-rich soil is created. Drawing on an understanding of constant change, Donna Haraway argues in her book Staying With The Trouble, "We are compost, not posthuman; we inhabit the humusities, not the humanities"**. Compost is a kind of recycling system in which organic materials break down under specific conditions to become humus. According to Haraway, humans play an equal role in the process of transforming organic materials into fertile soil alongside numerous microorganisms, worms, insects, and other living beings, not only as active participants but also as mere material bodies. Considering this complex system, it is not surprising that "human" and "humus" are etymologically linked and that this is reflected in the line of connection between humans and soil. In her essay Troubling time/s and ecologies of nothingness: re-turning, re-membering, and facing the incalculable Karen Barad also recognizes and confirms a mere thin line between the human and non-human:
"Etymological entanglements already hint at a troubling of assumed boundaries between allegedly different kinds: Earth, humus (from the Latin), is part of the etymology of human, and similarly, Adam (Hebrew: [hu]man[kind]) derives from adamah (Hebrew: ground, land, earth), giving lie to assertions of firm distinctions between human and nonhuman, suggesting a relationship of kin rather than kind - a cutting together-apart". ***
Barad argues that these linguistic connections suggest that there is more of a kinship ("kin") between humans and nonhumans rather than a fundamental difference ("kind"). In accordance, Haraway connects the different protagonists in "humunism" in a way where the dominance of humans is ended and they enter into a reciprocal and cooperative relationship with nature. The cycle of decay and transformation that humans initiated on the compost is also an ideal allegory for Haraway to describe the coexistence of species because it thinks of including the mortality of bodies, as in, their own individual temporal limitation. While Haraway uses humunism to emphasize the idea that humans are inseparable from their environment and are in a symbiotic relationship with other living beings - even after death, Barad focuses on the possibilities of connections that we could entertain. Humans must now conceive of their own future in a constant interaction with other human and non-human beings, and compost can show us what these relationships can look like.
Compost is a place of constant change, where the old is almost completely recycled and thus the new is created. However, if one looks at the earth in its sedimentary layers of rock, the past is still chronicled in it and often clearly visible. Barad describes in her above mentioned essay the ability of soil to store memories and at the same time be a place of life and death: "Land is not property or territory; it is a time-being marked by its own wounds and vitality, a layered material geo-neuro-biography of bones and bodies, ashes and earth, where death and life meet".**** Barad's characterization of land as "time-being" is visible in artist Silvia Noronha’s series “Shifting Geologies” (2020-). Through scientific forms of presentation she admirably highlights the human impact on the earth through resource exploitation and extraction.
The "Shifting Geologies" series are multi-layered sculptures in which the artist has fused natural materials with artificial ones. The resulting works are reminiscent of rock samples from geological research in their shape, size, and sedimentary nature. Noronha combines earth and soil samples with glass, plastic or electronic waste and compresses them under enormous pressure. It resembles geological processes that normally extend over several millennia. Through combinations with magnifying glasses and drawings, Noronha references scientific methods in her project, which has been ongoing since 2020. Her investigations serve as an approach to the created objects and, by extension, to the larger questions on the relations between humans and nature. Noronha's work intriguingly combines a view from the future to the present with materials drawn from the past. Just as layers of soil bear witness to climatic conditions of other millennia, different temporalities flow into one another in her sculptures, conveying a compressed image of our present.
The discourse on earth touches on both scientific findings and philosophical thought. Art and science are equally involved in gaining perspectives on our present, and so many exponents engage with both fields. Annie Francé-Harrar (1886-1971), scientist, author, and artist who studied humus, compost, and the human relationship to nature is, for instance, a pioneer of this way of working. In her book "Animal and Love", for example, she combines observations from the animal kingdom with illustrations and uses them to talk about society e.g. former feminist emancipation movements or queer forms of love. Her best-known book, "Last Chance - for a Future without Misery"*****, is an urgent call to counteract the exploitatoin of earth and to introduce sustainable waste management******.
She didn’t consider the various facets of her practice as separate from one another, but rather closely linked. Similar to the approach of many contemporary artists like Noronha, Francé-Harrar uses literature and art to convey her scientific concerns on a social level. To create worlds was an important practice in Francé-Harrar’s artistic work.
Her science fiction novel "Fire Souls"******* published as early as 1920, already makes clear the urgency of her scientific concerns. The book is about a utopian society that make it possible through scientific achievements to make food from air molecules. Agriculture and the cultivation of food is made obsolete and finally the last people who have not yet been integrated in the cities, can be "liberated" from their rural life and move to the highly developed, technologized cities.
Henrik, the main protagonist and voice of reason is the scientist warning of interventions to fragile ecosystems. But his appeals go unheard and humanity creates innovations that pose a new kind of threat to their own existence. Albeit a little pathetic, the title already hints to the fate that the narratives have in store for humanity. Unsurprising plot twists and the character Henrik itself communicate the warnings the author has from her scientific point of view. Although this dimension of the novel still seems contemporary, other motifs of the author seem problematic from today's perspective with regard to the social developments that actually took place during the times described and that can themselves serve as examples for the political reach in the discourse on soil and land. In her afterword Sandra Thoms, as publisher of the revised new edition 2021 consequentially refers to the fact that certain terms had to be changed in order to avoid evoking ideologies not intended by the author.
A dangerous proximity of eco-lifestyle and racist, nationalist tendencies still persists, especially in German-speaking countries. Historically, some ecological movements have been linked to the National Socialist ideology of blood and soil. This connection was characterized by an idealized notion of a "healthy" and "pure" nature, which was accompanied by a racist hierarchy. With the concept of "blood and soil" an ethnic ideology was justified that emphasized the intrinsically racist protection of one's own country. In this sense, garden and landscape planning was declared a political task during the National Socialist regime, and terms such as "groundedness" and "rootedness" were used by various representatives in an ideological sense projected onto the selection of plants and the design of gardens********.
The interconnection of these ecological, locality-oriented ways of thinking led as far as biodynamic systems and medicinal plants being cultivated by prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp and their questionable products even to being tested on them*********. To this day extremist groups misuse ecological arguments in some cases. For example, there are some right-wing ideological movements in rural areas where Reichsbürger, followers of the Anastasia movement and others try to build alternative models of society based on biodynamic agriculture away from political structures. These groups often use eco-lifestlye as part of their propaganda to spread nationalist or racist views. In congruence with Francé-Harrar, soil is in all its complexity from an ecologiacal standpoint contested place, which decides the future of humanity. However, knowledge of landscape, earth and soils must also be seen as a political; only in doing so can the effects of racist and colonial pasts be made visible and voices of resistance be heard**********.
To this day, global interdependencies seen in the continued extraction and overexploitation carry the colonial structures of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Particularly in mining precious metals and rare earth elements in various African and South American countries, especially for the production of technical devices, a repetition of economic dependencies can be witnessed. The video "Venus Alchemises Below" (2023) by artist Natalie Paneng responds to such postcolonial entanglements in a humorous way. In the video, the artist’s various avatars move across the screen dancing against a backdrop of brown earth. The artist takes on the form of avatars representing various precious metals such as diamonds, platinum and gold. They shift in and out of focus like in old television images always seeming to disappear any minute. In recent decades, technology has entered the tense web of humanity and nature as another player. Paneng’s focus is the texture of earth and she equates it with pixels in her video.
In her works, Paneng empowers herself through presenting her own identity when she stages herself as "Venus" and as an "alchemist," thus creating a link with postcolonial discourses as seen in the works of literary scholar Saidiya Hartman. Her essay "Venus in Two Acts" (2008) is a moving exploration of identity, exploitation, and the construction of historical narratives through the story of Sarah Baartman, who was taken from South Africa to Europe during times of enslavement to be exposed here as "Venus". Hartman highlights the ongoing legacy of racism and misogyny and critically questions the representation and erasure of marginalized voices when retelling the stories.
Audio- and visualizing is also crucial for artistduo MADEYOULOOK. In their podcast series "Gardens of Others"*********** (2020-2021), they explored humanity’s relationships to plants and soil from a postcolonial perspective. They use various interviews with professionals in landscape design and gardening as base of analysis, and the gardens they discuss as microcosms, to examine the problems of contemporary political life and ask questions about coexistence. To what extent is access to a garden a privilege, and what forms of labor and care does it take to tend gardens? What plants grow where and why? The artistduo continues to explore gardens and landscape for their work part of the exhibition "Soil Conversations 2023". The exhibition features a film excerpt "Menagano" (2023), which is based on a publication of the same name.
In it the camera moves along densely entwined shrubs and trees. Through poetic shots, the camera wanders through this thicket, finally ending up in a landscape still covered by fog. Lightly trotting music plays in the background and a memorable narrators voice switches back and forth between several languages. Set in the Bokoni region of South Africa, the film is part of MADEYOULOOK's ongoing exploration of the pervasiveness of landscape through memory and trauma. Their practice of resitance consists of developing their own Black perspective on the landscape, thereby challenging existing images and patterns.
It becomes obvious that soils are full of contrasts, where past and present, locality and globality meet. They represent the tension between rational observation and speculative imagination. By exposing historical layers of the ground and taking on new vantage points and perspectives, as MADEYOULOOK invites us to do, we can gain access to utopian potential. In reviewing the ecological urgency conveyed by Annie Francé-Harrar and the political complications that must be considered when discussing soils, a foundation is laid for new ways of seeing. Maybe we can pay hommage to a post-Harway humunism on a journey of acknowledging our own mortality and adhere to our connections within a larger network of living beings. Only with universal process-oriented ways of thinking that consider an ongoing collective movement, can we face the challenges of the present.
*Haraway, Donna: Staying with the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2018.
**Barad, Karen: Troubling time/s and ecologies of nothingness: re-turning, re-membering, and facing the incalculable, in: New Formations, 2017(92), p. 83. https://doi.org/10.3898/NEWF:92.05.2017 / Translators interpretation, adaption
***As a biologist and scientist, she first worked together with her husband Raoul Francé-Harar and, after his death, independently on researching soil erosion, which was mainly caused by extensive agricultural use. Francé-Harrar was specialized in composting and therein lying processes of harnessing goods. Using new methods, she scaled up the processes of domestic garden compost, where nutrient-rich humus is created. Francé Harrar developed novel waste recycling systems for the Hungarian and Mexican governments after 1945 to counteract soil erosion.
****Joachim Wolschke-Buhlmann and Gert Gröning: The Nationalist Social Garden and Landscape Ideal. Bodenständigkeit (Rootedness in Soil), in: Richard A. Etlin (ed.): Art, Culture, and Media under the Third Reich. University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 73 f.
***** Translators interpretation / adaption
******Ebert et. al: Die Versuchsanstalt. Landwirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis der SS in Konzentartionslagern und eroberten Gebieten. Metropol, 2021.
*******Translators interpretation / adaption
********As cited in Elisa Piper: The Facist Garden: Horticultural Ideologies, Nazi Herbalism and Weeds as Anti-Fascist Memorial, Hinterlands #3, 2022/2023
********* cf.
**********MADEYOULOOK: Garden of Others, Podcast series, veröffentlich bei Primary, online unter: https://soundcloud.com/weareprimary/gardens-of-others-episode 1utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
***********As cited in Francé-Harrar, Annie: Die letzte Chance für eine Zukunft ohne Not. BTQ Eigenverlag, 2008, p.55.
*As a curator and author, Tomke Braun deals with multidisciplinary artistic practices and questions of representation. From 2018 to 2021 she held the artistic direction of the Kunstverein Göttingen and realized exhibitions and performances with AA Bronson, Melike Kara, Sylbee Kim, Nile Koetting, and Monira Al Qadiri, among others. Since 2019 she has regularly curated various projects with the Berlin platform Creamcake, including 3hd, a hybrid festival format, and the touring exhibition "Techno Worlds" realized with the Visual Arts department of the Goethe-Institut Munich. As publisher and editor, she works on various book projects with artists and institutions. In 2019 she was curator-in-residence at the Goethe-Institut in New Delhi, India. She completed her master's degree in curatorial studies at the Goethe University and the Städelschule, Frankfurt a. M. with a thesis on affect theory and performative exhibition formats.
/ pics by cvk*