ABSTRACT
On a sunny October day on the campus green at the University of Hohenheim, Ellen Kandeler and Georg Dietzler embarked on a tour of the collection of soil profiles, soil maps, and the laboratories at the Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, and chatted extensively about their backgrounds, personal history, research interests, and the driving forces behind their work. Dietzler related how his fascination in research-based arts and scientific topics is deeply rooted in his childhood growing up in the Rhineland-Palatinate countryside, and spending time with foresters, farmers, and hunters. When he moved to Dortmund he found himself disconnected him from nature while living in a region famous for its heavy steel and coal industry. He became aware of the contaminated industrial fallows and began making artwork as a way of reconnecting with nature, beginning his interest in the detritusphere.
