To Soil

Listening to Land

On a field in Galmaarden, borrowed from the local doctor, Justine, Dirk and Bram are growing old grain varieties – experimenting toward something that will take years to fully realize: a grain population belonging to this specific place.

Bram van Cauwenberghe, Dirk Neuckermans and Justine Maxelon are artists, gardeners and millers, mostly happy with soil in their hands. They engage in seeding, harvesting, threshing by hand, milling with a watermill and baking in an ancient bread oven. Basically in following the wonderous transformation from seed to plant to flour to bread. Throughout, they listen and record sounds from below and above ground, while also being in dialogue with farmers and neighbours, curious about their relationships to land. To soil.

How do you care for soil that cares for you?

How do you learn to listen to the hidden voices of your non-human kin?

A project guided by intuition, becoming in relation, craft, and stories and voices that are unearthed.

These encounters – with human and non-human neighbours – will result in an audio-walk, a pathway connecting the Heetveldemolen (mill) to the field itself.

Our growing relation with this specific soil will continue beyond the audio-walk. Creating a grain population that truly belongs to a place takes time, care, and many seasons of attention.