Miranda Whall

When Earth Speaks is a durational and relational project made in response to a continuous stream of raw (dirty) data emitted from an agri – sensor network installed in the Cambrian Mountains, West Wales. Each of the 12 agri – sensors register and record the fluctuations in soil temperature and soil moisture.

This project is about soil and soil technology, and my attempt to give ‘voice to the soil’ from an embodied and entangled perspective. The work is an exploration into ‘being in relationship’ with soil, specific to soil located 600m high in the Cambrian mountains of West Wales.

I am using the raw (dirty) datasets to create durational drawings that evolve into analogue storage systems, ink clouds. The drawings then generate subsequent data drawings, sound compositions, music, dance, performance, and film. The project is being developed collaboratively with scientists, an electronic systems design engineer, musicians, Butoh dancers, and sound artists. The multimodal project offers new modes of translation and understanding of seemingly inaccessible and impenetrable information on an ecological and environmental scientific study. The project presents a timely critique on how we understand, and manage the complex interrelated relationship between nature, scientific data, and humans, and how each element of this triad influences and is being influenced by the other. The work aims to explore the reductive and homogenizing narratives inherent to data collection, analysis, and representation, and how it is shaped by power dynamics, biases, and inequalities. New perspectives on this critically hierarchical and patriarchal dynamic are crucial if we are to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of both human society and the natural environment and to cultivate a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life (and technology) on earth. By prioritizing relationality, complexity, plurality, and embodied experience, I hope to destabilise dominant discourse and modes of thinking. By foregrounding a multispecies perspective and voice, through an ecofeminist and data-feminist lens, I hope to highlight the human behavioural crisis that underpins our urgent impasse.

When Earth Speaks was initially funded by the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) through two academic X Disciplinary Hopping Research Projects: Making the invisible visible: Instrumenting and interpreting an upland landscape for climate change resilience led by Prof Mariecia Fraser from IBERS, Aberystwyth University and Planetary Multispecies Politics in Action led by Professor Milja Kurki from International Politics, Aberystwyth University. Between June 2023 – June 2024 When Earth Speaks (WES) will be supported and funded by LADA, the Live Art Development Agency.

The Data

The Sensor Network

Soil Voices

Dirty Drawings

Dirty Animation

Dirty Composition in Three Parts

Dirty Bits

Dirty Ensemble

When Earth Speaks to..experiments