The Posthumanities Hub is not just doing research or the conventional forms of academic outlets, like scientific articles, books, journal issues, chapters or anthologies. We also engage in artistic research and practice-led explorations. Often we combine scholarly and creative work.
In this space we share some of the work of artists and creators that work with us. We also use this space for photographic documentation of co-creative events and projects.
Current project:
Francesca Brunetti
Soil Party: Rats, Roots, Worms and Other Punks
Soil Party: Rats, Roots, Worms, and Other Punks is a multimedia project by artist Francesca Brunetti composed by twenty gifs created by using watercolor painting and stop motion animation. The purpose of the project is to allow the audience to experience the vibrancy and aliveness of the soil, where organisms like rodents, roots, and worms live a busy and active life.
The artist wants to encourage the audience to fantasize about a non-traditional way to see the soil as a diverse, surprising and inventive entity.
Francesca Brunetti is an artist and scholar, currently employed as a Lecturer at the Institute of Creativity and Innovation, a partnership between the University for the Creative Arts (UK) and Xiamen University (China). She completed a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as a MA in Communication Design from the Glasgow School of Art and a MA and BA in Philosophy from La Sapienza University of Rome.
Brunetti has exhibited her work in several group and solo shows in the USA, UK, Italy, China, and Japan; held teaching appointments at American, European, and Asian universities; presented her artistic projects at international academic conferences; and published articles about my work in peer-reviewed journals.
Soil Party: Rats, Roots, Worms, and Other Punks has been influenced by the work of indigenous philosophers Vandana Shiva (1993), Wangari Maathai (2010), and Brian Burkhart (2019), ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood (1993) and environmental author William Bryant Logan (2007). Soil Party connects with ongoing research at The Posthumanities Hub, in particular Humus Economicus (Janna Holmstedt, Jenny Lindblad, Christina Fredengren, and Cecilia Åsberg, 2024): an art and research initiative exploring the value and future of soil in urbanized landscapes.
According to above mentioned scholars, the soil’s vibrancy, agency, and inventiveness have been overlooked in traditional western thought, and the soil has been viewed, along with other minorities (the other punks in the title), as a flat and passive background for man’s foreground actions. Traditional Western philosophy supported the concept of the human being as an abstract and unrooted entity, with theoretical thought regarded as superior to activities relating to the body and material world.
This theoretical framework has historically been used as justification for western imperialist and colonialist activities that devastated local communities by destroying their means of subsistence—their connections to their lands.
Traditional western thinking and technocratic and abstract understanding of human being is a mindset that supports multinational’s monocultures practices which relate to the soil as a passive and exploitable entity that human being can dominate with his rationality (Shiva, 1993; Maathai, 2010).
Soils have historically been overlooked, but recent research by sustainability and soil scientists has emphasized their critical importance, highlighting that they are not an infinite resource. Soils are essential for planetary health, supporting all life forms and preserving the rapidly diminishing biodiversity.
As suggested by the Humus Economicus research project, there is an urgent need to reconsider soil from a multispecies and place-based perspective, emphasizing its vital role in sustaining both human and more-than-human life. This calls for a new approach to soil conviviality, one that fosters interconnected, respectful relationships to honor the life-giving functions of soil for future generations (Holmstedt et al 2024).
“Soil Party” has the purpose of making complex environmental challenges related to soil’s exploitation and its safeguard more accessible to a wider audience. Through visual and interactive experiences, this project wants to bring attention to biodiversity loss and encourage public discourse and action.
By reimagining nature and human interactions, “Soil Party” wants to challenge dominant narratives about agriculture and soil related activities and inspire alternative and more holistic approaches to the environment.
This research also wants to build communities and networks. By connecting with people beyond academia that are passionate about ecological issues, the artist wants to contribute to foster a sense of community and collective responsibility towards environmental stewardship.
Project’s alignment with The Posthumanities Hub
“Soil Party” aligns with The Posthumanities Hub’s aims and practices. The Posthumanities Hub is committed to integrate education for sustainability into its curriculum and agenda, encourage staff and student to engage in social and environmental sustainability projects and raising awareness on sustainability through the organization and promotion of events and activities. The Posthumanities Hub is dedicated to use creativity to explore the complex and intertwined relationship between human cultures and the environment. Through interdisciplinary research and teaching, the hub aims to provide new frameworks for understanding how environmental issues are deeply rooted in cultural, ethical, and social contexts. It fosters a teaching and researching environment where environmental issues are understood not merely as scientific or technical problems but as deeply embedded in cultural narratives, ethical considerations, and social practices. In line with the hub’s practices and objectives, “Soil Patty” aims to bridge the gap between the humanities and environmental sciences and to use art to foster a holistic and creative approach to environmental sustainability.
Connection of the project to the artist’s research profile
Brunetti’s past research explored the intersection of ecofeminism, posthumanism, and the visual arts, focusing on the relationship between female subjectivity and material existence. Through an interdisciplinary approach, Brunetti employed arts-based research methods to create visual narratives that challenged traditional perspectives and highlight the connection between the exploitation of nature and the marginalization of various groups. This work integrated theoretical frameworks with artistic practice, offering new insights into visual culture, gender representation, and ecological ethics. Brunetti published essays about her research in peer-reviewed journals such as Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, Visual Culture & Gender, Art Journal, Journal of Gender and Power and Women and Language. Her drawings and paintings have been internationally exhibited at locations such as Shanghai Art Museum, Liliana Block gallery in Dallas, House of Women in Rome and Chinese European Art Centre in Xiamen. In “Soil Party,” Brunetti expanded her drawing and painting techniques to include digital media art practices and she connected her eco-feminist research to studies on indigenous land and soil philosophies. Apart from publishing these artifacts in the virtual exhibition space of the Posthumanities Hub, Brunetti will disseminate her work in other international sites, such as the G Lake Museum (China) and Liliana Bloch gallery (US). By doing this she aims to connect with other scholars and general public to develop her network and enhance her profile as artist and scholar.
References
Burkhart, B. (2019). Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land: A Trickster Methodology for Decolonizing Environmental Ethics and Indigenous Futures. Michigan State University Press.
Holmstedt, J., Lindblad, J., Fredengren, C. & Åsberg, C. (2024) “Cultivating
Ecosystem Conviviality Through Soil Arts and Urban Gardening” in The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Ecosystem Services. Edited by Pamela D. McElwee, Rutgers University, ORCID ID 0000-0003-3525-9285.
Humus Economicus (Janna Holmstedt and team): https://humuseconomicus.se/about/
Logan, W. B. (2007). Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth. W. W. Norton & Company.
Maathai, W. (2010). Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, Random House Publishing Group.
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge.
Shiva, V. (1993). Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Zed Books & Third World Network.