EARTH ARCHITECTURE – Architecture, Art, Design, and Culture using of mud, clay, soil, dirt & dust.

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026

Beijing Teahouse by Kooo Architects

Project name: thé ATRE SHANJUCHAJING Concept Store

Design: Kooo architects

Completion Year: 2023

Leader designer & Team: Shinya Kojima, Ayaka Kojima, Kotaro Kitakami, Kangxin Wu, Yikxin Lai, Zheming Tian

Project location: 1F E103, Global Financial Center, Sanyuan Bridge, Chaoyang, Beijing, China

Gross built area: 175㎡

Clients: thé ATRE

Materials: Tea-earth Brick, Tea-diatum Mud, solid wood panels, recycled ceramic tile

Kooo Architects was founded in 2015 by Ayaka and Shinya Kojima and has offices in Tokyo and Beijing. They questioned the homogenized materiality and uniform streets as a result of mass production, they aim to carry on and express the beauty and craftsmanship that is particular to that region through incorporating materials and details that can inherit its local climate and cultural background.

Shinya Kojima & Ayaka Kojima ©koooarchitects

In this project, they used custom-made bricks that combine compressed earth with waste tea leaves to create a natural feel inside the Théatre teashop.

The store located in Beijing’s CBD belongs to Chinese brand Théatre, which wanted to immerse guests in the tea-drinking experience. So they created a multi-sensory space featuring tactile, natural materials that contribute to the store’s calming atmosphere.

In an effort to incorporate tea itself into the interior design, Kooo Architects worked with Beijing-based Onearthstudio to develop a “tea-earth brick” that is used to clad 80 per cent of the store’s walls.

The bricks are moulded in a factory using a similar process to the way rammed earth buildings are constructed. This low-carbon process results in an environmentally friendly and non-toxic material with a wide range of natural colours.

Kooo Architects tested different soil types and tea varieties to achieve a range of tones and textures for the bricks whilst maintaining the required strength in the material.

Experimental process of tea soil bricks ©koooarchitects

The leaves used are leftovers from tea production that would otherwise be discarded as waste. The crumbled tea leaves create a textured surface that can be seen from up close, while the assembled bricks display natural tonal variations when viewed from a distance. The bricks for this project were produced with compact dimensions of 10 by 10 by 3 centimeters, making them suitable for cladding walls, doors and furnishings.

Application of the tea-earth brick ©Keishin Horikoshi

The brick becomes the basic module for space layout and furniture sizes, so everything is regulated clean and peaceful to the eye. They also made a special L-shape module for the corners so it wraps around smoothly.

Fabrication of tea-earth brick ©koooarchitects

A red version of the bricks was chosen for a large volume that forms a focal point within the space, while the surrounding walls feature a more muted yellow tone that contributes to the relaxing feel.

The bricks were also used to create a lintel for the main facade, with folding windows and doors allowing the store to be opened up completely to the outside.

Various status of the entrance ©Keishin Horikoshi

Internally, the space is organized into different functional zones, with a large sales display area and serving counter positioned inside the entrance.

Shelves and counters arranged at different heights are used to display the various products while drawers containing samples allow customers to learn about different types of tea.

Wall and counter displays ©Keishin Horikoshi

To the rear of the store is a private lounge area and a VIP tea room shaped like a traditional tea house with an exposed pitched ceiling. Accessed through a darker preparation area, the naturally lit space is softened by the application of a textured render on the walls and ceiling.

When the shop is eventually overhauled – as retail interiors only last for around three to five years – the bricks can be taken down and reprocessed for use in future stores or go back to nature.

The tea-earth bricks have been shortlisted in the sustainable building product category at the 2024 Dezeen Awards.

References:

Gooood Articles: https://www.gooood.cn/theatre-shanjuchajing-concept-store-by-kooo-architects.htm?lang=en

Dezeen Articles: https://www.dezeen.com/2024/11/04/kooo-architects-theatre-teashop/

TECTURE Articles: https://mag.tecture.jp/project/20250108-theatre-shanjuchajing/

HOUSE COLLECTION: https://hcollection-living.com/storyblog/65b5b723-cbd6-49d3-8bdc-b16a1eaf1f5a/

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026

Cultural Hub: Toshiko Mori

The cultural hub designed by Toshiko Mori was completed in 2015 in the rural village of Sinthian, Senegal. The project was developed with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and the nonprofit American Friends of Le Korsa. The goal of the project was to create a space where art, culture, and community activities could come together in a remote region.

The cultural hub serves many roles for the village and surrounding communities. In addition to housing artists in residence, the building functions as a gathering space, performance venue, workshop space, and community center for cultural exchange and education. The building also supports programs such as agricultural training, public meetings, and local events, helping strengthen connections between villages in the region.

The architecture responds directly to the climate and local building traditions. The building is constructed mainly from locally sourced materials such as compressed earth blocks, bamboo, and thatch. These materials were chosen because they are sustainable and reflect the construction techniques already used in the region. Local workers and builders were also involved in the construction process, which helped transfer building knowledge and create a stronger sense of community ownership.

One of the most distinctive features of the project is its large curved roof. The design reinterprets the traditional pitched roof used in local architecture by inverting it, creating shaded spaces and courtyards around the building. The roof also plays an important environmental role by collecting rainwater and storing it in cisterns. This water can then be used during the long dry season, which is an important resource for the village.

Passive climate strategies are also central to the design. Deep overhangs, open courtyards, and permeable earth brick walls help create natural ventilation and shaded outdoor spaces, keeping the building cool in the hot climate. Because of this passive design approach, the building can remain comfortable without relying heavily on mechanical systems.

What makes this cultural hub especially meaningful is how it connects architecture with social impact. The project supports art and creativity while also addressing practical needs such as water collection, education, and community gathering spaces. By combining local materials, climate-responsive design, and cultural programming, the project shows how architecture can support rural communities in meaningful ways.

Overall, the cultural hub demonstrates how architecture can go beyond simply creating buildings. It becomes a platform for collaboration, cultural exchange, and sustainable development, connecting a small rural village to a wider global network through art and design.

Sources

Toshiko Mori Architect — Project page: https://tmarch.com/thread

Dezeen article: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/01/25/toshiko-mori-compressed-earth-bamboo-thatch-cultural-centre-senegal-africa-architecture/

ArchDaily project: https://www.archdaily.com/608096/new-artist-residency-in-senegal-toshiko-mori

Dovetail Magazine feature: https://dovetailmag.com/2023/01/destination-thread/

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026

Dakar Houses for Moroso Furniture Makers in Senegal

On the outskirts of Dakar, the Dakar Houses project proposes a new prototype of living and working for Moroso furniture craftsmen in Senegal. The units are conceived as hybrid live-work environments that house artisans and their families alongside integrated workshops, making visible the full spectrum of production, from welding to the intricate hand-weaving of pieces for Moroso’s M’Afrique Collection. Designed by Marc Thorpe, the project responds to both environmental conditions and social structures by grounding itself in local material practices and systems of community-based production, positioning architecture as both a spatial and economic framework.

Morso’s M’Afrique Collection I Marc Thorpe

Founded in Italy in 1952, Moroso is internationally recognized for its collaborations with designers and its emphasis on experimental, high-quality furniture. For more than a decade, through its M’Afrique collection, the company has worked to actively promote and celebrate Senegalese artisans, foregrounding local handcraft within the global furniture industry. This connection to Senegal is further reinforced through Patrizia Moroso’s husband, Abdou Salam Gaye, whose cultural and artistic ties to the region have played a key role in shaping the company’s engagement there. The Dakar Houses project was commissioned by Abdou Salam Gaye, extending this long-standing relationship into architecture and proposing a spatial framework that supports both production and daily life.

Marc Thorpe with Senegalese Craftsmen in Dakar I Marc Thorpe

Marc Thorpe’s is a global architectural practice based out of New York, operating across furniture and product design exploring how material systems and cultural contexts can intersect. This multidisciplinary approach is evident in the Dakar Houses, where architecture is conceived as an evolving system tied to labor, community, and environment. In addition, the project planned for both Thorpe and Gaye’s furniture to be featured across the complexes. The project reflects his broader interest in bridging craft and industry while engaging local economies in meaningful ways.

The project aims to create a work-based community in which living and production are fully integrated. The village is constructed of eight structures, each organized around a central workshop flanked by residential spaces, allowing artisans and their families to inhabit the same environment in which they work. This spatial arrangement redefines domestic architecture as an infrastructure for livelihood, enabling a collective system where economic activity and social life are intertwined. The aggregation of these units suggests a larger village model, one that can expand organically as production grows and new participants join the network.

Workers at Elemental in Dakar, Senegal I Photo by Fernanda Loyola Cardoso

Digging Earth in Dakar, Senegal I Photo by Fernanda Loyola Cardoso

Compressed Earth Blocks I Photo by Fernanda Loyola Cardoso

A defining aspect of the Dakar Houses is the use of compressed earth bricks, which ground the project in both environmental and cultural specificity. The material is sourced locally, significantly reducing the energy and cost associated with transportation, and it is produced through a low-impact process in which soil is compacted, shaped, and cured in the sun rather than fired. This method aligns with long-standing construction traditions in Senegal while also addressing contemporary concerns around sustainability. The thermal mass of the earth walls allows them to absorb heat during the day and release it gradually at night, stabilizing interior temperatures and minimizing the need for mechanical cooling.

Brick Screens for Dakar Houses I ArchDaily

The architectural form further reinforces this environmental responsiveness. The buildings are composed of angular, pitched volumes that reference traditional African patterns while also shaping microclimates through shadow and airflow. Thick earthen walls, perforated surfaces, and carefully staggered masses work together to promote ventilation and reduce solar gain. These passive strategies transform the buildings into climate-regulating systems, demonstrating how material and form can operate together to produce comfort without reliance on technology.

The Dakar Houses operate simultaneously at multiple scales, linking material experimentation with broader social and economic frameworks. The use of earth construction highlights the viability of locally sourced, low-energy materials, while the integration of living and working spaces proposes a new architectural typology rooted in collective production. At an urban level, the project imagines a decentralized settlement organized around craft economies, and at a cultural level, it connects global design networks with local knowledge and labor.

Ultimately, the project presents architecture as a mediating force between environment, economy, and community. By embedding production within the domestic sphere and building, Marc Thorpe proposes a model in which design supports not only shelter, but also sustained ways of living and working.

Written by Fernanda Loyola Cardoso

Sources:

“Abdou Salam Gaye.” Say Who. https://saywho.co.uk/people/abdou-salam-gaye/.

Frearson, Amy. “Marc Thorpe Designs Dakar Houses for Moroso’s M’Afrique Artisans in Senegal.” Dezeen. March 17, 2020. https://www.marcthorpedesign.com/morosomafrique

Harrouk, Christele. “Marc Thorpe Proposes Houses for the Workers of Moroso on the Outskirts of Dakar, Senegal.” ArchDaily. April 7, 2020. https://www.archdaily.com/937014/marc-thorpe-proposes-houses-for-the-workers-of-moroso-on-the-outskirts-of-dakar-senegal.

Marc Thorpe Design. “Dakar House.” https://www.marcthorpedesign.com/dakar-house.

Marc Thorpe Design. “Moroso M’Afrique.” https://www.marcthorpedesign.com/morosomafrique.

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026

CINVA RAM

The CINVA Ram is a manually operated machine used to produce compressed earth blocks (CEBs)—solid building units made by pressing soil into a mold.

Instead of using industrial materials like concrete or fired bricks, the CINVA Ram uses local soil, mixed with water and sometimes small amounts of stabilizers such as cement or lime. The machine applies pressure to compress this mixture into dense, uniform blocks.

Unlike traditional bricks, which must be baked at very high temperatures in special ovens (called kilns) to become strong, CINVA Ram blocks are simply left to dry and harden in air. This makes the process more energy-efficient and accessible.

The CINVA Ram was developed in the 1956 at Centro Interamericano de Vivienda (CINVA) in Bogotá. It was developed by engineers at the institute, and is often associated with the work of Colombian engineer Raul Ramirez. It was created in response to growing housing shortages in Latin America. Many regions lacked access to industrial construction materials, creating a need for affordable and locally adaptable building methods. The device was later disseminated through international development programs and has since been used across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

The process is simple and repeatable:

_ Prepare the soil
Soil is collected locally, sieved to remove large particles, and mixed with water. In some cases, a small amount of cement is added for stabilization.

_ Fill the mold
The mixture is placed into a metal mold within the press.

_ Apply pressure
A hand-operated lever compresses the soil into a dense block.

_ Remove and dry
The block is removed and left to air-dry until it hardens.

Through this process, raw earth is transformed into a standardized building unit that can be used similarly to conventional bricks.

The CINVA Ram is significant not only as a tool, but as a system of construction. It enables the use of local materials, allowing buildings to be made from soil found directly on-site, while also reducing energy consumption since no high-temperature heating is required. This makes the process both more sustainable and more accessible.

In addition, it supports affordable construction by minimizing reliance on industrial materials, and its manual operation allows individuals and communities to actively participate in the building process. However, the system also has limitations: it is labor-intensive, requires knowledge of soil composition, and is generally more suitable for small-scale or incremental construction rather than large urban developments.

The CINVA Ram is more than a machine—it is a method of building that begins with the ground itself. By transforming soil into durable construction units through a simple mechanical process, it offers an alternative to industrial building systems. As interest in sustainable and low-carbon architecture continues to grow, the CINVA Ram remains a relevant example of how construction can be local, accessible, and resource-efficient.

A demonstration of the compressed earth block production process using a CINVA Ram can be viewed here:

References

Casarama. “CINVA Ram.”

Engineering for Change. “CINVA Ram.”

Engineering for Change. “Compressed Earth Blocks Production.”

Houben, Hugo, and Hubert Guillaud. Earth Construction Handbook. Intermediate Technology Publications, 1994.

Minke, Gernot. Building with Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture. Birkhäuser, 2006.

Open Source Ecology. “Compressed Earth Block Press (CEB Press).”

YouTube. “CINVA Ram / Compressed Earth Block Demonstration.”

March 10, 2026March 17, 2026

Armando Guadalupe Cortés: ¿Y LA GENTE?

Cortez performing El Descanso En La Gloria, (Rest when I am Dead), 2017

Armando Guadalupe Cortés was born in Urequío, Michoacán, México and raised in Wilmington, California. He graduated with an MFA from Yale School of Art 2021 and a BA from UCLA in 2012 . ¿Y LA GENTE? from 2020, blends sculpture and performance to explore themes of memory, myth, history, geography, experience and materiality.

Rammed Earth Columns before the performance

¿Y LA GENTE? (And the People?)
2020
Installation and performance
Clay, earth, iron oxides, stoneware
Each pillar 64” x 24” x 24”

Film still of the performance at ASU Art Museum, 2020

During the performance of ¿Y LA GENTE? Cortes excavates the rammed earth columns surrounded by musicians and dancers of his native Mexican heritage. Once revealing a gold ceramic sculpture within each column, one resembling a nopal cactus and the other a milling stone, Cortes exits the gallery leaving the deconstructed pillars to remain for the rest of the exhibition.

Through blending performance and sculpture, he is able to question the dichotomy between myth and fiction as an antonym to history. Growing up in two worlds has lead Cortés to a fantastical take on the ordinary. He incorporates the multitude of symbols and identities from his family of farmers, migrants, manufacturers, office professionals, and professors in his material palette and choice of dress. In contrasting the mythical or in this case the colorful and culturally rich materiality with his business casual clothing, he illustrates the parallelism and tension within his life and work. This re-assembling of materials and cultural symbolism is crucial to how Cortes seeks to challenging notions of spectacle and viewership.

Sources:

Artist Website: https://armandogcortes.com/Y-LA-GENTE-2020

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/402306364?fl=pl&fe=cm

Bemis Center: https://www.bemiscenter.org/residents/armando_guadalupe_cort%C3%A9s

March 10, 2026March 17, 2026

Australian Exhibition at Venice Biennale

Australia‘s first all-Indigenous curatorial team at the Venice Architecture Biennale brought a distinctly Aboriginal design approach to its pavilion, a calming and inclusive space focused on the theme of Home. The three main creative directors are Michael Mossman, Emily McDaniel, and Jack Gillmer-Lilley.

The Home pavilion is centred on a circular rammed-earth structure that serves as a gathering area and is surrounded by a display of small, sculptural objects.

Visitors to the pavilion are invited to engage in reflection while touching and holding the objects, which were created by architecture and design students from across the country in response to the idea of home.

The installation features a curved rammed earth wall and bench seat that wrap a circular, sand-filled ceremonial space at the centre of the pavilion.

The pavilion came together through the application of the Australian First Nations practice of “yarning” – a purposeful way of relating to others and sharing knowledge that often happens in a yarning circle.

The Australian pavilion centred on a circular rammed-earth structure

The student workshops began with two days of yarning, while the pavilion’s creative directors – Michael Mossman, Emily Mcdaniel and Jack Gillmer-Lilley – also took a similar approach over nine months to connect with a wider “creative sphere” of four First Nations architects and practitioners, all of whom came together to build the work in Venice with their own hands over many weeks.

They used materials entirely from Venice – mainly sand, soil and plaster – as they wanted to show respect for the land that they are visiting, rather than importing materials from Australia.

Around the structure was a display of objects made in response to reflections about home

In the student workshops, the yarning approach meant not just sharing First Nations knowledge but inviting students to reflect on their own culture and how it related to their idea of home.

The 125 students involved were asked to find artists and artworks that they connected with, to converse, journal and draw, and to consider the acts of asking for permission before using materials and taking only as much as required.

Their works – dubbed “living objects” – show a multiplicity of ways of thinking about home. A black gypsum cement orb, titled Shanshui (Prophecy), is a meditation on geology and cultural tension, while the delicate teabag sculpture, sewn together with teabag threads, honours the forgotten and quotidian.

With both the student workshops and the pavilion itself, the curators have sought to expand understanding of Australian First Nations cultural practices to something based on values and approaches rather than a set aesthetic.

“We didn’t want to bring a false sense of Australiana to the pavilion,” Kerr said. “We wanted people to be able to find their own sense of place, their own sense of belonging, their own memories and their own identity. We didn’t want to impose an emotion.”

The pavilion was Australia’s first to be curated by an all-Indigenous team

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/05/16/australia-pavilion-home-venice-architecture-biennale-2025/

https://www.unsw.edu.au/canberra/about-us/equity-diversity-inclusion/unsw-canberra-community-circle

March 10, 2026March 17, 2026

Rafa Esparza + Beatriz Cortéz :La Rebelión de los Objetos

The rebellion of objects, part of Art Week 2026 in Mexico, brings together Beatriz Cortez (Salvador, artist and scholar in Latin American Literature) and Rafa Esparza (USA, performance artist, work with installations constructed from adobe bricks) in an exhibition conceived from their collaboration and artistic link, developed specifically to dialogue with the architecture, the collection and the territory of the Anahuacalli Museum.
The practices of Beatriz Cortez and Rafa Esparza share a constant concern with how historical narratives are constructed and how these affect displaced, migrant, or racialized communities. Their works propose imagining futures that are not determined exclusively by dominant discourses, but by alternative forms of knowledge, care, and relationship with the world.
Beatriz Cortez and Rafa Esparza

The exhibition proposes rethinking the collection from the perspective of memory, community, and spirituality, understanding objects not as static pieces but as carriers of energy and meaning , capable of activating new forms of relationship within the museum.
Through the serpent and the volcano as symbolic axes, the exhibition addresses the earthly journey, displacement —including the migrant experience— and the possibility of imagining different futures from contemporary art.
The rebellion of objects at the Anahuacalli Museum

The snake as a metaphor for displacement

One of the central themes of the exhibition is the serpent , understood as a symbol of movement, transit, and earthly journeys. In this sense , its presence alludes both to symbolic journeys within the museum and to real displacements of communities and bodies, including the migrant experience to the United States.
Detail of The Rebellion of Objects exhibition at the Anahuacalli Museum

Detail of The Rebellion of Objects exhibition at the Anahuacalli Museum

Detail of The Rebellion of Objects exhibition at the Anahuacalli Museum

Taken together, the exhibition proposes experiencing the museum from a different perspective. Thus , the space ceases to be merely a place of contemplation and becomes an active territory where the relationships between objects, bodies, and memory remain open.

Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico

March 10, 2026March 10, 2026

Trina Michelle Robinson: Open Your Eyes to Water

Trina Michelle Robinson is an artist from Oak Park, Illinois who is currently working in San Francisco. Her art originates from from personal and historical archives, reflecting on her own ancestry to create immersive and deeply personal spatial encounters that materialize the complexity of emotions and layered geographies of Black migration. Her works often begin by tracing the steps of her ancestors, gathering materials from their homes and homelands, using this tactile act as a means to connect with them and gather their fractured and lost memories. In particular, she often collects dirt from these sites of personal significance, transforming that earth into a charged object within her compositions. Her installations are undefinable, hovering somewhere between an altar, a model, or a garden; a collection of objects that become spatial poetry. Trina received her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2022.

Her work Open Your Eyes to Water was exhibited in San Francisco at the 500 Cap Street Foundation and at Root Division from February-May 2026. The work is an expanded version of her previous installation titled Elegy for Nancy (2022) – a tender tribute to her oldest known ancestor, a woman named Nancy who was born in 1770s Kentucky, then still part of Virginia. Open Your Eyes to Water is a living installation tracing her years-long cross-continental engagement with family lineage and movement from Senegal, to Kentucky, Chicago, and California.

The Installation merges with the atmosphere of the gallery, charging the space with a melancholic yet restorative energy. At the center, a rammed earth block holds the room with a potent presence, atop which sits a reproduction of a will from the previous owner of her enslaved ancestors, written with handmade ink (a mixture of soil collected from Senegal and charred cedar charcoal) on paper she fabricated from cotton picked at a farm her ancestor used to be enslaved at in Oklahoma. Every mention of her ancestor’s enslavement has been redacted with sewn lines of sisal thread from Zimbabwe, reclaiming this history for herself, freeing her ancestors, speaking for them in the present moment.

The rammed earth block is composed from various soil samples from significant places tracing her family history through time and space, compressed together into a unified block, supporting a document of their liberation. The block sits in an analogous landscape of dirt and grass plumes, harkening to the various landscapes natural, agricultural, and urban landscapes her ancestors have traversed across the world.

March 10, 2026

Andy Goldworthy’s Clay Wall

Above: Andy Goldsworthy, ‘Red Wall’, 2025.

Andy Goldsworthy is artist known for his work with nature and ephemeral materials such as rock, wood, leaves, snow, ice, and clay, and the site specificity of his pieces. He arranges them in a way that is just beyond the realm of possibility, investigating the line between the natural and artificial.

In 1992, he covered the floor of a London gallery in clay. In 1996 he made the same work at Haines Gallery in San Francisco, but against a 14′ x 17′ wall. The work was made knowing the clay would crack, and not knowing whether the clay would stay attached, but it surprisingly stayed attached for many years, despite occasional earthquakes. This was the beginning of a line of inquiry of clay, creating works with things embedded in clay, experimenting with intentional drying and cracking,

“… to make change an integral part of a work’s purpose so that, if anything, it becomes stronger and more complete as it falls apart and disappears.

“Clay can be well-behaved and easy to work. Yet it has such a powerful impact on the landscape: it reveals its more unpredictable qualities as it dries, and this process interests me most.”

Andy Goldsworthy, Clay Wall, Haines Gallery, 1996.

Andy Goldsworthy, Clay Wall, Ingleby Gallery, 1998.

Above: Drawn Stone is piece commissioned by the De Young in 2005. It is a continuous crack running north from the edge of the Music Concourse roadway in front of the museum up to the main entrance door, inspired by California’s tectonics.

Video: Andy Goldsworthy’s Earth Wall, Presidio of San Francisco, 2014.

Video: Andy Goldsworthy Studio Visit, Tate, 2011.

A life’s artwork: 50 years of Andy Goldsworthy, BBC, 2025.

March 10, 2026March 17, 2026

Robert Rauchenberg: Mud Muse

Robert Rauschenberg, Mud Muse, 1968–71; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, gift of the New York Collection

Mud Muse, a kinetic artwork created between 1968 and 1971 by American artist Robert Rauschenberg, in collaboration with engineers from Teledyne( through the Art & Technology program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), is a large aluminum-and-glass vat that contains an enormous amount of mud, weighing thousands of pounds. Although considered mud by standard terminology, its more appropriate content appellation is bentonite, an absorbent, swelling clay composed of montmorillonite, from weathered volcanic ash.

The mixture is stirred to a distinctive viscosity in the vat, over the course of several hours or days. The primary allure of the art piece is the bubbles produced with the aid of pulsing air valves that are located beneath the surface of the mud. This is connected to an adjacent prerecorded soundtrack that emits sound from a 1960s reel-to-reel. The sound pushes air through the valves, resulting in a physical manifestation of sound emission. Rauschenberg imagined different audio stimuli, including traffic noises, police sirens, and, most ambitiously, real-time sounds made by visitors that would be picked up by a hanging microphone. In the end, he decided that Mud Muse, when officially displayed for the public, would “play itself,” essentially a recursive loop of the audio made by the bubbles.

Rauschenberg (1925-2008), born in Port Arthur, TX, is considered a pioneer in the art scene due to his early adaptations of technology in his work, such as radios, electric lights, and clocks, as well as his more renowned printmaking works. His endeavors into kinetic art began in 1960, after meeting Swiss artist Jean Tinguely. Together, they created several kinetic works alongside engineer Billy Klüver, such as Oracle (1962–65), a sonic sculptural environment, and Soundings (1968), an immersive, voice-activated sound and light installation. This era, which was marked by technological innovation and space exploration, ultimately played a pivotal role in Rauschenberg’s creation of Mud Muse.

Gunnar Marklund(right) installing Mud Muse

In modern days, Mud Muse acts as a tradition passed down through the years. The current installer, Gunnar Marklund, notes that “The audio equipment and its cabinet are quite old and require maintenance and repair on occasion. And there are sixty-four valves in the bottom of the pool, and they do get clogged; I have to check them every time and clean them as needed.” Occasionally, during installation, he experiments with different music to activate the bubbling (in New York recently, ABBA). Overall, the knowledge he has gained over 19 years, he passes on to future generations.

In recapitulation, Mud Muse acts not only as a visual experience, but one that activates hearing, smell, and touch, allowing the public to have a holistic and interactive participation with the piece. It collides two opposing worlds of ancient material and modern technology, creating a piece of art that has withstood the tests of time and continues to bewilder audiences.

Sources:

Artchive. “Oracle – Robert Rauschenberg (1965).” Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.artchive.com/artwork/oracle-robert-rauschenberg-1965/

Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. “Collection of Documents Published by E.A.T.” Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=394

Elephant Magazine. “Rauschenberg’s Mud Muse Taught Me to Find Cohesion Even Amidst Chaos.” January 28, 2021.
https://elephant.art/rauschenberg-mud-muse-taught-me-to-find-cohesion-even-amidst-chaos-28012021/

Rauschenberg Foundation. “Soundings.” Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/art/artwork/soundings

Teledyne Technologies. “EverywhereYouLook!” Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.teledyne.com/en-us

Tinguely Museum. “Museum Tinguely.” Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.tinguely.ch/en.html

Wallach, Amei. “Recalling Robert Rauschenberg.” Smithsonian Magazine, May 18, 2008.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/recalling-robert-rauschenberg-49830834/

YouTube. Video. Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r88iDgTd-M

YouTube. Video. Accessed March 9, 2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvt-VSgPd4c

The snake as a metaphor for displacement