The Free Soil Bus Tour is part of a larger project, Gardening Silicon Valley Superfund Sites. Content for the tour draws upon the rich cultural history of Silicon Valley in order to question "innovation" in terms of sustainable development. While known for the success of the high tech industry, Silicon Valley is a site of many contradictions.

The early work done in the Valley by people with visions of improving the world wasn't isolated from their politics or what was going on around them. It was part of a broader movement, of a profound cultural shift.

History
The region known today as Silicon Valley was once heralded by farmers, poets, and the Chamber of Commerce as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.” In 1940, productive fruit and nut trees graced over 105,000 acres in Santa Clara County alone. In 1998, only 4,500 acres remained.

ISEA: Inter-Society for Electronic Arts
http://isea2006.sjsu.edu/
An international non-profit organization fostering interdisciplinary academic discourse and exchange among culturally diverse organizations and individuals working with art, science and emerging technologies. The ISEA Symposium is an international conference on electronic art that is held every two years in different locations around the world and attracts attendees from over 50 countries.

Free Soil will use this gathering of electronic artists as a critical platform to question how we can use our tools and practice to transform the society we live in and to explore and develop an electronic art practice and its relation to the natural environment.

The Tour will collectively question how artists can raise awareness about the technology we use and consume and the consequences they create.

The Bus
http://www.dasfrachtgut.com
The bus for our tour is provided byTeacher With the Bus, a project initiated by Jens-Peter Jungclaussen. The bus is a former school bus that runs on vegetable oil and serves as a mobile classroom. Peter's mission is to combine leisure with an environmental message that fosters education, entertainment, and sustainability. We are happy to be aboard his bus for this journey.