Earthbreakers, 2024
Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels (BE)

wood, clay mortar, grass, seeds
approx. 400 x 400 x 350 cm

The work is part of the collaborative project Compos[t]ing, a two year project suported by the European Union, in collaboration with JONAH LYNCH  (data scientist and digital humanist) and INGRID MAYRHOFER-HUFNAGL  (architectural design and theory at Universität Innsbruck).

Curated by Caterina Benincasa, Claudia Schnugg, Ingeborg Reichle, Adriaan Eeckels & Céline Charveriat, co-curated with iMAL

The work is a part of the exhibition NaturArchy. This exhibition is produced by the SciArt project of the European commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), with iMAL and supported by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The work was made possible through support from:
Ans Persoons, Secretary of State for the Brussels Capital Region
Paul Dujardin, Commissioner General for the Art Nouveau Year - Brussels Capital Region, Brussels Environments, Brussels Urban and City of Brussels.

Special thanks to the JRC team, iMAL, Brussels Environment, Stefán Piat, Charlotte Burgaud, Sioban Lopez Dailland, Amandine Faugére, Agnes Brandstaetter, Roya Keshavarz, Manoah Camporini and Bjørg Dyg Nielsen.

Four days of rain

four days of rain, in crescendo
left the land saturated, grass slick and green,
and a large puddle in the field.

five boys, or more, with one idea:
run!
and run, and slide,
over the grass, into the water,
if possible, into the infinite beyond--

leaping face forward, feet first, backwards,
pushing falling tumbling

euphorically muddy
we ran into the showers

//////////////////////////////////

Grasp the shovel,
Prepare the ground.

Slice deeply, to the hilt
--but not too broad, make each spadeful the right size--
you’ll be here for a while.

Turn it over, let the roots see the sky.

Wait.

You have animals, clean their stalls,
gather their dung.
Spread it on the fields.
You are a catalyst: you facilitate the encounter between elements.
You cannot create the reaction
You are unable to add to the sum of life
But you can create conditions that are propitious,
You can organize the meeting.

Return when the soil is dry.
With a hoe, cut the straw and roots,
mix the dung and decay,
the sand and the clay,
cut the clods into loam.
Seeds are small:
give them a soft, gentle place to germinate.

//////////////////////////////

These lines are incomplete
We are never complete
We sprout and live, and then we die,
our fragile bodies decompose
with the leaves, the moss, and the earthworm
last year’s seed and next year’s birth
seeking the life of significant soil

/ Jonah Lynch