Subterranean Dialogues #1 [13.06]

Subterranean Dialogues #1
Het Groene Huis, Boskoop
Saturday 13th June
13 – 16 hrs
Register

How do we know soil? What is soil and what lives in the soil? What are the different ways of knowing soil and how would we like to relate to it?

Join us for a day of being with soil in this public artscience gathering!

The Subterranean Dialogues are sessions opening up these questions through artistic attunement and scientific approaches in poetic and somatic settings.

Join us for a listening and soil attunement session hosted by artist Christine Hvidt, a soil literacy experience hosted by soil biologist Giulia Bongiorno, and a shared dialogue of knowing soil and how we relate with and to soil.

For this first session we will be outdoors at the land of Kwekerij Het Groene Huis.

Registration

To sign up for this event please write an email to:
info@groenehartbiennale.nl
This will allow us to prepare the session better.

^{On the terrain of Het Groene Huis}

This gathering is part of the Subterranean project exhibited at the Groene Hart Biënnale in Gouda at GOUDasfalt and in Boskoop at Tuinen van Boskoop and Kwekerij het Groene Huis 30 May – 21 June 2026.

About

Subterranean is an interdisciplinary art–science project combining sound art, machine learning, and ecological inquiry to explore life underground. By analysing soil soundscapes from former tree plantations in the area of Boskoop (NL), it amplifies non-human voices and experiments with new ways of relating to the vibrant soil environments.

The sound sculptures listen live to the soil and analyse the sound forming a dynamic composition based on the sonic character of each particular soil ecology at the three locations. An online digital audiovisual composition allows for direct comparison of the different soil ecologies.

The project invites for listening to and relating with less accessible ecosystems in the ground through bioacoustic monitoring, live responsive audiovisual works and guided ecocentric attunement sessions in dialogue with scientists and the public.

Subterranean asks, what does healthy soil sound like? What can listening reveal about species, biodiversity, and soil health? How might ecoacoustics in combination with machine-learning audio analysis deepen our knowledge and relationship with soil? How might machine learning offer other narratives about soil ecologies?

Dr. Giulia Bongiorno is currently working as lecturer/researcher for the Soil Biology group at Wageningen University & Research and as outreach supporter for the Soil Science cluster. Her main research topic is understanding the ecological role of soil biota in agriculture, and in investigating the effects of agricultural practices on soil biodiversity and biological soil functions, also in relationship with other stressors such as pollution and climate change. Closed to this natural science background, she merges science with other disciplines to reach a broader audience with knowledge and enthusiasm about soils. She has an active role in working with artists, farmers, social scientists and other soil scientists in organising exhibitions, initiatives, citizen science projects, outreach events involving a diversity of public communities in soil research and awareness.

Christine Hvidt is a Danish multidisciplinary artist working with site-specific sound art, responsive works, and relational listening practices. Her practice operates at the intersection of art-science, somatic methodologies, and experimental technology, exploring relationships between humans, other species, and the land, with a focus on ecological systems, interspecies relations, and different forms of knowledge held by living environments. Hvidt holds an MA in ArtScience from the University of the Arts The Hague and a BA in Art and Technology from Aalborg University.

Location

Het Groene Huis
Rijneveld 23
Boskoop
https://www.booyboomkwekerij.nl

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Support

Subterranean is kindly supported by Stimuleringsfonds Creative Industries Fund NL and LEADER Hollandse Plassen.

The Green Heart Biennale is financially supported by: