Art & Science project being developed by Joanna Hoffmann with the ASN Team in the frame of the SPIN-FERT / Horizon Europe (Misson Soil) program
Winter School, Timișoara
Memory Molecule 12 brings together memories collected during the interdisciplinary Winter School organised by the West University of Timișoara and ICAM on 12–14 November. Bringing together participants from natural and social sciences, the Winter School explored sustainability and the circular economy through diverse methodological perspectives, with a particular focus on the role of social sciences in understanding environmental challenges.
As part of the programme, Prof. Eligio Malusà, coordinator of the SPIN-FERT project, invited participants to contribute to the Breath of Soil – Memory Nexus, an art project developed by Joanna Hoffmann (ASN) within the SPIN-FERT communication strategy through art. The workshop offered trainees an opportunity to reflect on their personal relationships with soil through memories, emotions, and sensory experiences, while simultaneously introducing the importance of citizens’ perceptions in addressing soil-related issues. Since the Winter School focused on social science methodologies, the activity also served as a practical example of how qualitative, participatory approaches can reveal values, attitudes, and cultural connections that influence environmental awareness and sustainable behaviour.
Each memory collected during the workshop became a small but meaningful fragment of a growing collective archive. Together, these individual recollections form Memory Molecule 12—a new constellation of experiences that connects personal narratives with the hidden biological and ecological processes of soil. By intertwining scientific research with artistic practice, the Breath of Soil – Memory Nexus project demonstrates how memories can become a medium for communicating soil science, fostering empathy for the living ground beneath our feet, and strengthening the relationship between people and the ecosystems that sustain them.
Memory Molecule 12 continues the expanding international archive of soil memories developed within the Horizon Europe SPIN-FERT project, illustrating how diverse cultural perspectives enrich our collective understanding of soil as both an ecological system and a repository of human experience.
Click on the circles to uncover the lingering echoes of the past.
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