Johanna Seelemann

Paradoxical Imaginings: Ideas and Objects

Soil Assembly

A transformative approach to farming.

Johanna Seelemann

Based in Germany and Iceland, Johanna Seelemann leads a design studio that explores the mystification of everyday objects and materials. 

Her project, titled Soil Assembly (previously De agri cultura), takes a transformative approach to farming through speculative design and other-than-human perspectives. Through this project, Seelemann seeks to find out what might it look like if a society focuses on cultivating and protecting healthy soil to withstand extreme weather conditions?

Teaming with microbes, a farm community takes initiative. Informed by historical and emerging experimental methods of farming, nutrient production, and DIY culture, they construct tools that range from specialized shoes to farming machines. Linking agricultural futures with design research, and exploring emerging trends, Soil Assembly is a study of ideas and possibilities for a seemingly strange new world. 

Johanna Seelemann at the Forecast Forum, on her work for Forecast.

In early November, 2024, Seelemann and her mentor, designer Fiona Raby, will convene at the Nordic House in Reykjavík for a condensed work-stay to further develop the project. Following the work-stay, Seelemann renamed the project Soil Assembly. Watch the work-stay video here:

Johanna Seelemann and Fiona Raby during their Work-stay

At the Forecast Festival, Seelemann presented an installation centered on objects designed with a different understanding of time. With video works and physical artifacts, Soil Assembly put forward a speculative proposition about design objects that give back to the soil. 

Forecast Festival 9: Johanna Seelemann, Soil Assembly

Project credits:
Sound design: Áskell Harōarson
Animation: Felix Hobrücker
Sound recordings: Magnús Bergsson
Voice: Þuríður Blær Jóhannsdóttir
Text contribution: Ólafur Gestur Arnals
Development assistance: Laura Laipple, Lion Sanguinette