Down to Earth II (Manchester–Oulu)

Ongoing project
Project is part of Beyond survival: International time travel
Collaboration between Kultuuriosuuskunta ILME, Oulu2026 and
SICK! Festival, Manchester, UK with the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland
Produced by SICK! Festival and Kulttuuriosuuskunta ILME

Beneath our feet lies a living, active agent with which we share a long evolutionary connection. We have been shaped through our relationship with soil and remain dependent on its microbiomes for our future. Down to Earth invites an exploration of our embodied connections to the ground, asking how we relate to it and how our past with the soil unfolds in the present.

Down to Earth is about a rendezvous, a reunion, a renewed encounter with the planet through one’s own body. The title is borrowed from Bruno Latour, who describes us as terrestrials and calls for a renewed commitment to the planet, urging us to acknowledge our dependence on its limits and ecosystems.
Soil, and our relationship to it, carry layered histories of industrialisation, colonialism, and socio-economic divisions, as well as enduring illusions of its inexhaustibility and passivity. We tend to manage land from a distance through systems, data, and planning, yet our direct connection to it remains bodily and personal. In urban environments, where can we find spaces to connect with soil? In what ways are we connected to it, and what does it feel like when that connection is absent?

Through this work, questions of sustainability and migration can be reflected upon. Participants are invited to move beyond the extractivist logic of the industrial era, to experience terrestriality, and to imagine what it could mean.

Down to Earth unfolds through dialogue and shared encounters, with one-to-one dialogical sculptures at its core. The project is developed in collaboration with diverse communities and researchers, including historian Matthew Stallard (University College London) and plant ecologist Sari Stark (University of Lapland).

The work is a commissioned project. The Manchester iteration is co-produced by SICK! Productions and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland. The Oulu iteration is produced by Kulttuuriosuuskunta Ilme and Oulu2026, with support from the City of Oulu, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and the Oulu Cultural Foundation.

Follow the ongoing project at https://www.sickproductions.org
and https://heretoart.fi/time-travel.

Photos will be added later.