Land and soil as tools for resistance and imagination

This chapter examines the work of Mónica de Miranda presented as the Portuguese representation for the 60th Venice Biennale, exploring how land and soil operate as mediums of resistance and imagination. The project unfolds as a multispecies, rhizomatic sculpture-system, where visitors encounter a garden that interweaves formal, conceptual, and ecological interconnections. Through counter-plantation practices enacted in performances, workshops, and assemblies, the project fosters public engagement and challenges inherited colonial and extractive logics. Beyond its visible manifestations, de Miranda’s research into transplanted and imaginary places reveals continuities with her previous projects, emphasising the creation of affective and speculative spaces. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the transmission and weaving of stories through attentive listening, highlighting how the work cultivates relational and imaginative ways of inhabiting land and soil.