SOILSOUL
Relearning How to Listen to the Earth
There is an ancient Japanese philosophy that speaks about the quiet intelligence of nature — a way of being where humans are not above the soil, but part of it. Farmers like Masanobu Fukuoka believed that the soil is not something to control, but something to collaborate with. His practice of natural farming — including the poetic act of throwing seed balls into the землю — was never just about growing food. It was about restoring a relationship.
A relationship we have, somehow, forgotten.
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The soil is silently degrading
Today, across Europe, soil is silently degrading. Beneath our feet, a living system that sustains life, culture, and climate is losing its vitality. And yet, most people don’t notice — because we’ve lost not only contact with the soil, but also the language to speak about it.
SOILSOUL was born exactly at this intersection: between memory and loss, between science and art, between soil and imagination.
SOILSOUL is a European project connecting art, ecology, and citizen participation to promote soil literacy and inspire collective regeneration. Bringing together partners from Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the project seeks to reconnect people with the soil as a living, breathing system — essential not only for food, but for identity, resilience, and future.
But instead of starting with data, SOILSOUL starts with experience.
We believe that before people can protect the soil, they need to feel it. Touch it. Work with it. Tell stories about it.
That’s why this project uses art as a bridge.
What are we trying to change?
SOILSOUL aims to rebuild the relationship between society and soil through creative and participatory processes. More specifically, we work to:
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Make soil literacy accessible through interdisciplinary learning
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Empower local communities — especially youth and rural participants — to take part in regeneration actions
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Combine natural farming practices with artistic and narrative methodologies
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Develop tools and approaches that can be replicated across Europe
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Strengthen transnational networks between ecological, cultural, and social actors
Between April and July 2026, SOILSOUL unfolds through three interconnected dimensions — each led by a partner of the consortium:
Natural Farm Shizen
Workshops on natural farming, humus creation, and reforestation using seed balls — echoing the philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka and his vision of gentle, regenerative action.
Creative laboratories using soil as a medium: clay, natural pigments, textures, and tactile exploration — transforming soil from “resource” into “co-creator”.
Storytelling workshops and visual narrative creation — helping participants rediscover how to speak about soil, and how to listen to the stories it holds.
from workshops to living interventions
These activities don’t end in the studio.
They grow into real ecological and artistic interventions within local communities — creating spaces where people engage directly with the soil, not as an abstract concept, but as something alive, fragile, and deeply personal.
A Dialogue We Are Just Beginning to Restore
SOILSOUL is not just a project. It is an invitation.
To slow down.
To touch the ground.
To remember that soil is not dirt — it is a living archive of everything we are.
And through art, perhaps, we can finally begin to speak with it again.
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SEED BALLS (TSUCHI DANGO)
PRACTICE
The Seed Balls method (also known as Tsuchi Dango in Japanese natural farming and associated with Masanobu Fukuoka) is an ecological planting and soil-regeneration technique adapted here as a Non-Burnout practice.
Artistic intervention in Madeira
At ARTE.M on Madeira, we work a lot with mental health, art therapy, and burnout prevention. Over time, we started noticing something simple: people don’t always need more words — they need experiences that help them slow down and reconnect.
This is how the idea for this activity was born, we introduced to our audience two simple nature-based practices: seed balls and “forest in a jar.”
Making seed balls — mixing soil, clay, and seeds — became a quiet, grounding process.
Creating a small ecosystem in a glass jar invited reflection on balance, care, and growth.
These activities were not just creative exercises.
They became tools for emotional grounding, stress relief, and reconnection — with nature, and with oneself.
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Stepping Outside
Together with our partners SocioHabitaFunchal, E.M. and Parque Ecológico do Funchal, we brought seniors and children from local community centres into the landscape for a hands-on ecological activity inspired by collective care and sustainable farming practices.
Participants worked together to build compost, preparing and enriching the soil for future planting. What began as a practical environmental activity soon became something more meaningful — a shared experience of caring for the earth and contributing to future growth.
As the compost took shape, so did new connections between generations, communities, and the natural world around them.
From Soil to Soul:
Art in the Making
Over the past months, we have brought together more than 100 participants through workshops exploring natural pigments, flower-based colours, soil painting, seed balls, and creative connections with the earth.
We delivered four workshops for community centres ofSocioHabitaFunchal, E.M. , bringing together seniors and children through sustainability-focused activities.
Participants learned how to extract and save seeds from fruits and vegetables, discovering the journey from seed to future harvest. The workshops also included vegan cooking sessions, exploring simple plant-based recipes and sustainable food practices.
From Seeds to plate:
Seeds harvesting and vegan cooking classes
Working with Color
As artists, we felt it was time to go deeper — not only working with soil, but learning from it.
So we decided to explore natural pigments.
This led to a new series of hands-on workshops, where participants experiment with pigments made from soil, minerals, and even flowers — discovering color as something alive, imperfect, and rooted in nature.
No fixed results.
No expectations.
Just a process of testing, mixing, observing…
and seeing what emerges.
Let’s see what the earth gives us.
Working with soil
As artists, we wanted to move beyond observing the landscape and begin creating with it directly.
We collected samples of soil, sand, and earth from different parts of Madeira and transformed them into artistic materials. These explorations led to a series of Soil Painting workshops, where participants experimented with the colours, textures, and stories hidden within the island's soils.
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Through soil painting, participants discovered the colours, textures, and stories hidden beneath their feet, transforming Madeira's earth into a medium for creativity and connection.
Working with flowers
Using carefully collected blossoms from the north of the island, participants learned how to extract natural pigments and transform them into paints. The process invited a slower way of working — observing, experimenting, crushing, mixing, and discovering unexpected shades hidden within each flower.
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Create From Soil to Soul: A Journey Through Art Installations
To bring the ideas of Soil Soul into a shared experience, we created a series of immersive art installations exploring the journey from soil to seed, and from observation to action.
Developed with local artists, the installations combined natural materials, seed balls, soil-based artworks, and objects collected during beach clean-ups and other ecological activities across Madeira.
Together, they transformed the exhibition space into a living landscape, showing how creativity, sustainability, and collective care can grow from the same roots.
