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Soil is the interface of life!
 Architecture, Public Art, Mapping, Workshops  Amy Franceschini, Dan Allende, Lode Vranken, Ian cox  variable |
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  Soil Kitchen is a temporary, windmill-powered architectural intervention and multi-use space where citizens enjoy free soup in exchange for soil samples from their neighborhood. Placed across the street from the Don Quixote monument at 2nd Street and Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia, Soil Kitchen’s windmill pays homage to the famous windmill scene in Cervantes', Don Quixote. Rather than being “adversarial giants” as they were in the novel, the windmill here is a functioning symbol of self-reliance. The windmill also serves as a sculptural invitation to imagine a potential green energy future and to participate in the material exchange of soil for soup - literally taking matters into one’s own hands. This exchange provides an entry point for further dialogue and action available in the space through workshops, events and informal exchange. Soil Kitchen provided sustenance, re-established value of natural resources through a trade economy, and tools to inform and respond to possible contaminants in the soil. Soil Kitchen coincided with the 2011 Environmental Protection Agency's National Brownfields Conference. Soil Kitchen provided soil testing, created a Philadelphia Brownfields Map and Soil Archive. In addition to serving soup and testing soil, the building was a hub for exchange and learning; free workshops including wind turbine construction, urban agriculture, soil remediation, composting, lectures by soil scientists and cooking lessons. Soil Kitchen was commissioned by Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, and executed using a generous grant from the William Penn Foundation. | |
