Project

Sensing Sealed Soils

Country

United States

Sensing Sealed Soils explores the often overlooked, life-sustaining root of human ecosystem entanglements; soil bacteria–within the context of increasing soil sealing in urban environments. Soil bacteria are foundational to ecosystem health, yet modern urbanization has increasingly fragmented human interaction with soil through widespread use of asphalt, concrete, and paving stones; impermeable surfaces that degrade bacterial biodiversity.

Using Eindhoven as a case study, Bridget Boyle’s interdisciplinary design research categorizes local soils by degree of sealing, and investigates the impact of soil sealing on bacterial biodiversity. The research materializes bacterial presence through a multi-sensory installation that aims to foster embodied awareness of bacterial communities that sustain our being. This project not only highlights the ecological consequences of soil sealing but also seeks to revalue soil and bacteria as critical entanglements of human and planetary health. Ultimately, the artist invites viewers to reconsider their rooted entanglement with the bacterial world, challenging the divide between human and nature.