Hold on tight, because the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (K21) is literally putting the ground beneath our feet at the centre of attention. Their new exhibition Land and Soil. How We Live Together runs from 29 November 2025 to 19 April 2026 and gathers us around one simple yet profoundly complex question: what kind of future will we build on this planet we inhabit, own and share?
K21 is using the entire former parliamentary building and even the adjacent park to interrogate – both geographically and historically – the very ground the exhibition stands on. More than thirty international artists and collectives show us the thousand-and-one ways of managing resources: from traditional Indigenous planning methods to futuristic commons, utopian blockchain projects and virtual land ownership – everything is on the table!
The materials alone will make your head spin: coal, lotus silk, pine needles, chocolate and, of course, soil. The show takes us on a world tour from Brazil to the Congo, China to Iraq. It examines not only our physical geography but also the origins of Düsseldorf’s industrial wealth. And here’s the kicker: it even shines a spotlight on the latest obsessions of libertarian thinkers who dream of founding their own states or colonising Mars!
These tangled issues are illuminated by giants of the art world: Joseph Beuys, Simon Denny, Andreas Gursky and Richard Long, among others, explore our relationship with land on both physical and digital planes. Simon Denny’s metaverse landscapes, for instance, probe the boundaries of virtual property and new forms of exploitation while exposing the ironic link between the raw materials mined from real-world mines and the pixels on our screens.
And save the date for the finale: on the exhibition’s closing day, a performance by Sybling (JP Raether & Sarah Friend) will take visitors to the nearby Garzweiler open-pit lignite mine – the very place where the conflicts between industry, activism and capital that feed the show become concrete.
Visitor Information
Exhibition: Land and Soil. How We Live Together
Venue: K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Dates: 29 November 2025 – 19 April 2026
This exhibition aims to radically shift how we see the ground beneath us. Where, in your view, do the ethical lines begin and end between virtual property (the metaverse) and physical soil?
