What can we learn from plants? Can knowledge about soil help deepen our understanding of humanity’s place in the world? Why are more and more artists migrating from the field of art to the cultivation of land? How can art institutions consciously support ecological imagination? “Soil and Friends” is an interdisciplinary artistic and research project, combining art and ecology. It consists of: - group exhibition - educational programme - performative programme - artist residencies - site-specific activities The narrative framework of the project is the relationships between humans and the land as territory, ground, soil; the entangled stories of plants, humans, and non-human beings; different ways of coexisting with and experiencing the world; places where art intersects with the practices of cultivating and caring for the land. The surroundings of Ujazdowski Castle — the park and the Warsaw escarpment — have for many years provided a space for research and activities at the intersection of art and ecology. The “Soil and Friends” project refers to earlier initiatives, continuing the reflection on art as a space for shared experience of nature. Participating artists: - Milena Bonilla - Centrala - Julia Ciunowicz - Yoeri Guépin - Gosia Kępa - Kateřina Konvalinová & Judita Levitnerová - Krzysztof Maniak - Maksud Ali Mondal - Deirdre O’Mahony - Julia Ábalos Reznak - Anna Siekierska - Sounding Soil - Salka Tiziana - Ewelina Węgiel - Anka Wandzel - Jaśmina Wójcik & Lea Wróblewska - Zabriskie Buchladen für Kultur und Natur Curators: - Marianna Dobkowska - Edith Jeřábková Exhibition co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Support: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Czech Centre in Warsaw Collaboration: PLATO in Ostrava. In 2026, the second edition of the exhibition will take place at PLATO. About the exhibition: https://u-jazdowski.pl/program/wystawy/gleba-i-przyjaciele Background work: Milena Bonilla, from the Epistemic Barricades series (2025) “Seed will sprout a flower that does not wither, neither can be put on trial”
