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MARGINAL

[FRANCESCA GATTELLO+ZENO FRANCHINI]

[CULTURAL STRATIGRAPHY]

over politics of soil
If soil, considered dirt by many, is for farmers and scientists the main source of knowledge about human impacts and natural cycles, researching its life, composition and the social reality that produced it, constitutes a gap in human knowledge.
Until the 70s, biological life in soils was not acknowledged as a factor in soil formation. Until 1995, the urban soil did not exist in any geological map: a grey spot in the cartography of soil classification.
The voids left in our knowledge, the many factors still unknown to science and its consequences, are meaningful for how we deal with what surrounds us, our cultural reality.

Stratigraphy studies soil layers (strata) and layering (stratification): through these structures we can understand space and time - what was there once and how long it lasted and how it evolved. The city has been the center of both art and human development, this produced an asymmetrical relation with natural landscape, subordinating it to its needs: food production, mineral extractions, leisure and so on…
Now we know how the planet has been evolving for millions of years, but we still wonder what is our impact today and for the future.

Similarly to urban archaeologists we searched for traces that could explain the developments of Montpellier, not to redefine the past but to speculate with realism about the future. Shaping the present is not necessarily determined by the past. The present can no longer be deduced from the past. The logic of the contemporary with its fixation on the present has difficulties or even completely fails in dealing with the logic of being constituted by the future.
If soil, considered dirt by many, is for farmers and scientists the main source of knowledge about human impacts and natural cycles, researching its life, composition and the social reality that produced it, constitutes a gap in human knowledge.
Until the 70s, biological life in soils was not acknowledged as a factor in soil formation. Until 1995, the urban soil did not exist in any geological map: a grey spot in the cartography of soil classification.
The voids left in our knowledge, the many factors still unknown to science and its consequences, are meaningful for how we deal with what surrounds us, our cultural reality.

Stratigraphy studies soil layers (strata) and layering (stratification): through these structures we can understand space and time - what was there once and how long it lasted and how it evolved. The city has been the center of both art and human development, this produced an asymmetrical relation with natural landscape, subordinating it to its needs: food production, mineral extractions, leisure and so on…
Now we know how the planet has been evolving for millions of years, but we still wonder what is our impact today and for the future.

Similarly to urban archaeologists we searched for traces that could explain the developments of Montpellier, not to redefine the past but to speculate with realism about the future. Shaping the present is not necessarily determined by the past. The present can no longer be deduced from the past. The logic of the contemporary with its fixation on the present has difficulties or even completely fails in dealing with the logic of being constituted by the future.
We aimed to compare the complexity of the urban terroir, that is its social composition, with the soil one. Through an analogy between these two aspects we want to show the urban soil from a different perspective.
During our staying in Montpellier we worked on the topic of “Cultural Toursim: understanding the city and its urban, human, economic and cultural development” searching for the specificities of the city. We noticed that the city does not show immediately recognizable traits, such as local dishes or handcraft productions: Montpellier is deeply defined by fluxes of students, researchers, migrants, public officials, retired and tourists. Its richness is molded by the its multiple identities. For this reason and for the clear presence of wine as a declared regional traditional production - easily extendable to the whole France - we focused our attention on the concept of “terroir”, a word which is often used for marketing strategies.
We aimed to compare the complexity of the urban terroir, that is its social composition, with the soil one. Through an analogy between these two aspects we want to show the urban soil from a different perspective.
During our staying in Montpellier we worked on the topic of “Cultural Toursim: understanding the city and its urban, human, economic and cultural development” searching for the specificities of the city. We noticed that the city does not show immediately recognizable traits, such as local dishes or handcraft productions: Montpellier is deeply defined by fluxes of students, researchers, migrants, public officials, retired and tourists. Its richness is molded by the its multiple identities. For this reason and for the clear presence of wine as a declared regional traditional production - easily extendable to the whole France - we focused our attention on the concept of “terroir”, a word which is often used for marketing strategies.

[PETRI DISHES]

microbiological analysis: bacteria, fungi and yeasts
We sampled soils which represent some categories that could be find in urban environment: urban garden soil, concrete sealed soil, informal dwelling soil, recently urbanized soil, urban agricultural soil.
Through them we portrayed those places in a different way than pictures: fungi, yeasts, and microbes growing out of these soils represent their vitality, their transformation. The life they develop is proportional to the function the soil has, from mere support or holder, to complex system of relations and exchange.

Confronting these soil we can see how similar the vineyard are to the soil sealed by concrete and how diverse are the others.
We sampled soils which represent some categories that could be find in urban environment: urban garden soil, concrete sealed soil, informal dwelling soil, recently urbanized soil, urban agricultural soil.
Through them we portrayed those places in a different way than pictures: fungi, yeasts, and microbes growing out of these soils represent their vitality, their transformation. The life they develop is proportional to the function the soil has, from mere support or holder, to complex system of relations and exchange.

Confronting these soil we can see how similar the vineyard are to the soil sealed by concrete and how diverse are the others.
Microbial cultures of urban soils at different dilution. Each row is a different media to grow fungi, bacteria and yeasts
Microbial cultures of urban soils at different dilution. Each row is a different media to grow fungi, bacteria and yeasts

[SOIL SAMPLER]

tool 1

[SOIL SAMPLER]

tool 1
Urban soil is an extraordinary unexplored subject which Geology started to consider as matter of study only in the middle ‘90s. The unpredictable content of soil fascinated us and using an empirical approach we want to represent the invisible layer underneath the screening stratum of the ground with the tool of soil analysis. To collect soil samples we designed and poduced a tool, SOIL SAMPLER.
Urban soil is an extraordinary unexplored subject which Geology started to consider as matter of study only in the middle ‘90s. The unpredictable content of soil fascinated us and using an empirical approach we want to represent the invisible layer underneath the screening stratum of the ground with the tool of soil analysis. To collect soil samples we designed and poduced a tool, SOIL SAMPLER.

[SOIL BREATH]

tool 2
Soil respiration is a major component of the global carbon cycle between ecosystems and the atmosphere, second only in magnitude to photosynthesis by plants. We decide to work on an object which could explain the biological dynamism of soil to a broader public, to stimulate a deeper awareness on the importance of soil CO2 efflux on local and global systems.

SOIL BREATH is a narrative object that works as a bridgeconnecting the organic matter with soda lime.
This chemical agent reacts with the CO2 produced by the microfauna and creates a layer that represent the breath of the soil.

Produced in collaboration with the ceramist Karen Meersohn.
Soil respiration is a major component of the global carbon cycle between ecosystems and the atmosphere, second only in magnitude to photosynthesis by plants. We decide to work on an object which could explain the biological dynamism of soil to a broader public, to stimulate a deeper awareness on the importance of soil CO2 efflux on local and global systems.

SOIL BREATH is a narrative object that works as a bridgeconnecting the organic matter with soda lime.
This chemical agent reacts with the CO2 produced by the microfauna and creates a layer that represent the breath of the soil.

Produced in collaboration with the ceramist Karen Meersohn.
We look at soil as living matter.
We look at soil as living matter.

[MARN CARPET]

installation site specific
Marl, or marlstone, is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt. Marl extraction is mainly related to the building sector, infact it is the major component of Portland cement. Before the raise of fertilizer, produced and used for agro-industrial production, rural agriculture practiced the marnage, a technique for correct the alkalinity of soils which consisted in covering the fields of marl clay during the winter, to protect and enrich their precious organic matter.

[MARN CARPET]

installation site specific
Marl, or marlstone, is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt. Marl extraction is mainly related to the building sector, infact it is the major component of Portland cement. Before the raise of fertilizer, produced and used for agro-industrial production, rural agriculture practiced the marnage, a technique for correct the alkalinity of soils which consisted in covering the fields of marl clay during the winter, to protect and enrich their precious organic matter.
In our research we looked for methots to recover exhausted soils. Marnage is one way to recharge naturally the organic matter. To recall this ancient rural technique, we created a site specific installation, MARN CARPET, covering a part of the floor with liquid clay, which moreover is a primary component of soil.
In our research we looked for methots to recover exhausted soils. Marnage is one way to recharge naturally the organic matter. To recall this ancient rural technique, we created a site specific installation, MARN CARPET, covering a part of the floor with liquid clay, which moreover is a primary component of soil.

[FUTURE SCENARIOS]

cautionary tales for mediterranean cities
We compared the past, the present and the future of Montpellier, mapping the changes in the urban layout from old postcards, pictures of the actual configuration and drawings of future scenarios five symbolic locations in Montpellier to interpret and forecast the evolution of the metropolitan agglomeration.
THE
TOURIST -O- DROME
CITY
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THE
URBAN
CITY
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THE
VERTICAL
CITY
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THE
DECENTRALIZED
CITY
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THE
MINE
CITY
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[EVENT]

marginal’s open studio

[EVENT]

marginal’s open studio
The results of our project have been shown in a temporary exhibition at La Panacée | Centre de Culture Contemporaine. CULTURAL STRATIGRAPHY is presented through the content of our research: a process of understanding features of specific urban environments which finds a visual and tangible translation as soil analysis, scenarios, narrative artifact and installation.
The results of our project have been shown in a temporary exhibition at La Panacée | Centre de Culture Contemporaine. CULTURAL STRATIGRAPHY is presented through the content of our research: a process of understanding features of specific urban environments which finds a visual and tangible translation as soil analysis, scenarios, narrative artifact and installation.