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 and 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
opens with the extensive exhibition in November 2025, unfolds through April 2026, featuring exhibitions, residencies, dialogues,
performances, concerts, community engagement, and a forthcoming publication.
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.
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. 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.
Curated by Basak Senova und Johan Thom
SOIL & WATER is a collaborative project developed by the University of Pretoria, the NIROX Foundation,.
The project is supported by the upported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Art Rooms Kyrenia, ARUCAD – Arkin University of
Creative Arts and Design, Austrian Cultural Forum Pretoria, BIENALSUR — Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo del Sur,
BMKÖS — Ministry of the Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (Bundesminister für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst
und 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, LifeAgriScience
Applied Research Services, SKF — Support Art and Research & KKP — Art and Communication Practices, University of Applied
Arts Vienna, Kunsthaus Dahlem Berlin, L’Accolade Foundation Paris, The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust South Africa, Pro
Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council, Ukrainian Institute Ukraine, and Techizart Istanbul.
Complementing this, Diane
Victor’s exhibition at the Javett Art Centre, University of Pretoria, curated by Senova and Thom, opened on 28 October 2025
and is presented as an extension of the SOIL & WATER project.
For further information and updates,
please visit www.soilandwater.net
