For the inaugural twelve-month Field Commission, artist Asad Raza presented Reabsorption – a new work that took the form of a metabolic process occupying the entirety of the field site, creating a unique form of remediation.
Field Commission Site, Grand Union Canal, Birmingham, 2021.
Working with a range of partners and collaborators from the University of Birmingham, the Wildlife Trust and local businesses producing waste, Raza and our team of cultivators developed a unique process to learn more about the existing soil and to determine its toxicity, testing the existing soil and created a new recipe for a neosoil, specifically designed to dilute the toxicity of this site. The cultivator team included soil scientists, ecologists, compost experts, gardeners, community activists, art practitioners, mycologists, students and community members.
Field Commission talk by Asad Raza, 2022. Image by Tom Harris.
Jess Chadwick collecting samples
Reabsorption engaged with the soil as a living ecosystem that comprises the economic and cultural inheritance of Digbeth, including toxic particles, offering new ways to think about urban regeneration and what to preserve and what to challenge in our shared ecological heritage. The project addresses questions of land ownership, material consumption, and ways of living with the toxic residues of colonial and industrial expansion in Britain.
Raza and the team of cultivators collected waste materials from around the city, mixing and tending to them to create compost which was added to inorganic materials such as sand, clay and lime – over time these were used to dilute the toxic soil on the site.
Asad Raza’s ‘Reabsorption’ Cultivators on the Field Commission Site, Grand Union Canal, Birmingham, 2021.
The large wooden bays (built in collaboration with Avalon Landscapes and MJM Bespoke) contain the decomposing waste materials from around Birmingham, which will be added to the soil on site to attempt to detoxify. The structures have been finished with a charring method called Shou Sugi Ban, which will extend the life of the structures without adding any further toxicity to the land.
This landmark project is the first of its kind in the UK, an attempt to repair a large section of toxic land in-situ without removal of components.
The project was accompanied by a range of events and resources, with invited specialists and speakers throughout 2022/23. As a whole, the project is deeply enmeshed with Grand Union’s Collaborative Programme, which strives to connect with people outside of the gallery space and build audiences for art. We believe that art can be a tool for radical social change, but only when embedded within communities, with and for them.
The legacy of this project on this canalside site continues through the structure of participation instigated by Asad. During 2023/24 we have continued to work with cultivators and The Growing Project to manage the activities of working on the site, developing a range of activities for the important work of remediating toxic land. Our partnership with the University Of Birmingham has successfully gained funding for a paid Ph.D. beginning in Autumn 2023.
With thanks to The Cultivators, University of Birmingham, Canal & River Trust, Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust, Avalon Landscapes, MJM Bespoke, Digbrew, Latifs, Mulino Coffee, and Compost Culture Birmingham.