To conclude the exhibition by Elena Khurtova, we are organising a SOIL SEMINAR with two expert guests: Jan Mark Oosterhuis and Joop Okx. They will engage in a dialogue with artist Elena Khurtova, moderated by Edward Clydesdale Thomson.

Joop Okx is an experienced physical geographer. His work focused on soils. In addition, he has also taken significant steps toward the visual arts. Art and science are often seen as separate domains. Yet there is a rich overlap between the two, and they share many connections that call for exploration. In recent years, Joop has explored the connections between soil and art. This has, among other things, resulted in a series of articles about artists who connect their work to the soil.

Jan Mark Oosterhuis is a director of the family-owned Oosterhuis b.v., which operates as an agricultural and a civil engineering contractor, and a transshipment company. He leads Op- en Overslag Meppel b.v., including its soil bank (grondbank), which focuses on the collection, quality control, and distribution of soil and related materials. The Soil Works exhibition was developed in collaboration with this organization, which kindly provided the soils for the project.

At the end of the event, we invite the audience to take the soil with them — to place at their gardens, to be shaped by hand, or to acquire a new meaning.