Hi Marc,

I've acquired sterilized soil for use in archival environments. Its good stuff. You can either buy it, or make it. I'd recommend buying it since you need a fair amount. If you decide to make it, you simply screen your soil and get any twigs, etc. out of it. Then spread it in roasting pans or baking sheets up to about 3" deep, cover with foil (helps cut down on the smell) and bake it in your oven at 200° F for about an hour (you can check it with a meat thermometer and if it is over 180° F No problem - everything is dead). Be forewarned - it still smells bad. Also, don't overheat the stuff because high heat can release toxins in the soil. Kind of a pain in the behind if you need 200 cubic feet of the stuff.

Sterilized soil is available from commercial nursery suppliers in larger quantities. Home improvement centers and garden centers generally sell it in bags up to 10lbs. so that would not be cost effective for you. Basically sterile soil has been heated to about 2,000° F and then, depending on the type (potting soil, etc.) other additives may be added back into it. You have to be careful to check how the soil was produced - if it says it was "solarized" or sterile by "solarization" it has not been heated sufficiently (only by the sun to about 115 degrees F) to kill micro organisms and some bugs.

I'd be inclined to ask why so much dirt in the first place and, does it really need to be dirt? Perhaps the artist would be OK with a dirt substitute such as crushed walnut shells. I've used the walnut shell in the past with some success. You can buy it in large amounts fairly cheap. It's sold buy industrial or sandblasting supply companies for use in media-blasters. Looks like dirt, doesn't smell bad, cleans up fairly easily, comes nice and dry as well.

Another good dirt substitute is playground media made from recycled tires. Sometimes called "rubber mulch" it comes in a variety of colors and blends that simulate soil. Its very safe, non-toxic, pretty clean and dry, and easy to get. Near the City you might try: ACM Playgrounds, Inc. Tel: 914-739-6858      

Good luck!

Larry Fisher
Museum Planner, Designer, Imagineer
p: (401) 253-5335
e: [log in to unmask]
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lfisher160


On 1/21/2011 2:04 PM, Bernier, Marc wrote:
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Hello Museum Colleagues,

I am sure some of you may have encountered that problem and will have a suggestion for us as how to proceed…

We will need to exhibit a sculpture that requires the addition of a fair amount of soil (about 200 cubic feet) surrounding it. The dirt will need to be scattered on the floor of the gallery around the sculpture.

Of course we would not like to bring any kind of parasites or living organisms in our galleries.

Can we get treated soil guaranteed that it will be free of living pests, bugs and pollen?

Thank you

 

 

Marc Bernier

Exhibitions Manager

The Studio Museum in Harlem

144 West 125th Street

New York, NY 10027

 

212-864 4500 ext.203

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Fall/Winter 2010-11 Exhibitions and Projects on view from November 11, 2010:

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Any Number of Preoccupations

Mark Bradford: Alphabet

VideoStudio: Changing Same

The Production of Space

Dawoud Bey’s Harlem, USA

Untitled (Level) / 2010 Wein Prize winner Leslie Hewitt in collaboration with Bradford Young

Collected. Black & White

Harlem Postcards: Kwaku Alston, Deana Lawson, Petra Richterova and Lewis Watts

StudioSound: Matana Roberts

 

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