Narratives of soil

A vegan and passionate animal rights activist, Erez Nevi Pana’s practice is based on investigating natural phenomena and environmental processes through material exploration.Nevi Pana’s investigations of salt has developed into a long-term research project; he has been working with salt in the Dead Sea for the past eight years—investigating the devastating imbalance of an over-abundance of salt caused by the industrialization and mineral extraction of the region. The culmination of this research is a body of work entitled Bleached (2018), where Pana submerges wooden structures encased in loofah into the Dead Sea to absorb the wasted salt, which then crystallize like coral formations over time. This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project 'Narratives of Soil' is supported by the British Council 'Connections through culture' programme.

Aayushi Bajpayee is currently a doctoral degree student under the supervision of Prof. Sarbajit Banerjee in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. She completed her undergraduate degree in chemical science and technology with a minor in chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and master’s degree in chemistry at The University of Tokyo. Her graduate research is focused on the development of sustainable chemistry solutions to pressing global problems. Her areas of research include sustainable material development, produced water treatment, soil stabilization for automated construction, environmentally-safe alternatives to concrete, and carbon capture.Aayushi’s research has been recognized with the American Chemical Society’s Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (I&EC) Graduate Award, Community of Scholars Award, and Japanese Government’s MEXT Fellowship. It has also attracted substantial attention in the popular media including news features in BBC, The Guardian, C&EN News, along with 100+ news outlets in 23 countries across the globe. During her research journey, she is especially proud that she never strayed from the inevitable constraints of developing an entirely sustainable process. She strongly believes that if necessity is the mother of innovation, there is no greater need now than to take care of our planet.Contributors: Aayushi Bajpayee, Mehdi Farahbakhsh, Umme Zakira, Aditi Pandey, Lena Abu Ennab, Zofia Rybkowski, Manish Kumar Dixit, Paul Arthur Schwab, Negar Kalantar, Bjorn Birgisson, and Sarbajit BanerjeeWe acknowledge the support of this work from the X-Grants Program: A President’s Excellence Fund Initiative at Texas A&M University.This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project 'Narratives of Soil' is supported by the British Council 'Connections through culture' programme.

Peter Webb is a UK architect who has been focusing on the innovative use of materials in Architecture since his school days in UCL Bartlett. Throughout his career in Arup, Foster and partners and Heatherwick studio, he has worked on over 30 brickwork and architectural terracotta projects around the world. Many of these projects he has worked on have received national and international awards for architecture and sustainability.Peter’s love for clay started when he was looking at using building material sourced locally. He used to dig up clay from my backyard and started to build models out of it. For him, the process of digging up clay and simply firing it in a kiln to create some that can last hundreds of years was magical.This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project 'Narratives of Soil' is supported by the British Council 'Connections through culture' programme.

For our next podcast in the ‘Narratives of soil’ series we are in conversation Sean Ross, a multidisciplinary designer interested in exploring the intersection of nature and technology and how we can create a symbiotic relationship between the two. Within his work he is looking at emerging scientific developments and, using design as a tool, create sustainable interventions that stimulate conversation, and even ignite action, around how we can build a brighter future. We explore the intricacies of his most recent project 'Transmitting Nature' which focuses on todays digital technology driven world and tackles it by creating a counterfactual history that makes use of our contemporary knowledge to explore the possibility of re-engineering the hardware, maintaining greater sympathy for, and working in collaboration with, Nature. As well as a recent exploration in collaborating with soil to design new surfaced textures for wood with designer with Emily Boxall. This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project 'Narratives of Soil' is supported by the British Council 'Connections through culture' programme.

As part of the ‘Narratives of Soil’ podcast series, our podcast for this time will be in conversation with Maria Roy Deulofeu. Maria Roy Deulofeu is a London-based designer, researcher and maker exploring craft that encourages more sustainable practices.She uses critical design, and traditional and experimental modes of production to explore new narratives that evolve from an anthropocentric and extractive culture towards one that seeks to immerse species and the environment.Her interdisciplinary approach throughout her practice, allows her to work collectively along with a range of disciplines such as ceramics, archaeology and biology, researching alternatives for our current ecological political and social crisis.This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project 'Narratives of Soil' is supported by the British Council 'Connections Through Culture' programme.

Full transcript from herehttp://borneoartcollective.org/researchthinktank/2021/2/13/narratives-of-soil-podcast-i-i-yao-zhuang-taiwanIntroduction: As part of ‘Narratives of Soil' series, our podcast episode for this time round will be conducted in Chinese. This time, we are also fortunate to invite I Yao Chuang from Taitung, Taiwan to share his work and experience in natural architecture over the years. I Yao Chuang is also a promoter of environmental education, he believes natural architecture can enable people to establish the connection between people and nature through their bodily experience with it. Over the past few years, Chuang’s environmental education programme has engaged a number of children, young people and adults. Along the process of constructing natural building with the community, he witnessed the change in people, including his own one. Before involving in the practice of environmental education, Mr. Chuang used to be a researcher and engineer in the field of IT technology. The unbalanced lifestyle in his previous career and the memorable childhood times in the nature, has resulted to his eventual subscription to a natural lifestyle.Podcast 內容的相關資料：- Dr. Owen Geiger 從主流建築從業者到推動人人可以做到的自然建築方法，協助災後重建、重建家園，啟發許多人。 www.forevermissed.com/owen-geiger/lifestory- 林雅茵 建築師 同樣從主流建築轉向較純粹的自然建築，背後有許多反思和理念的堅持。她是台灣自然建築運動的先驅者之一。 www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFR2Kym7i4Y- Natural Building Colloquium (NBC) Taiwan nbntaiwan.blogspot.com/ NBC在北美已有近20年的歷史，2018年由林雅茵建築師發起第一屆NBC Taiwan，2019年我們在台東舉辦第二屆。（錄音中我的年份講錯了）- Owner-builder 自力造屋者，在自然建築中意味著蓋自己的房子，蓋合身的房子， 降低物質需求， 以及自我賦權。- 陽明交通大學 學習服務中心透過服務和學習，讓學生與社會產生緊密聯結，在做中學的過程中獲得個人與團體的成長。 service-learning.nctu.edu.tw/This podcast is brought to you by Wendy Teo and Eliza Collin. The research project ‘Narratives of Soil’ is supported by British Council’s ‘ Connections through Culture’ programme.