In a downtown St. Paul alley this winter, an ice-enclosed greenhouse will have hundreds of plants. Living plants. Inside ice.
The greenhouse, which will be part of the 2022 Great Northern Festival, will celebrate Black life and anchor the annual festival, which includes performances, food events, site-specific art and highlights ongoing Twin Cities winter events, including the St. Paul Winter Carnival, City of Lakes Loppet and U.S. Pond Hockey Championships. The 2022 festival will be Jan. 27-Feb. 6.
Titled “Conservatory,” the functioning greenhouse will be located at 340 N. Sibley St., near Mears Park. It will be created by artists Jovan C. Speller and Andy DuCett and will “nurture black plant life, including black coneflowers, velvet petunias, mondo grass, coleus and more,” according to a Great Northern announcement on Nov. 15.
According to a news release, “Visitors inside will hear the amplified cracks and thuds of the otherwise imperceptibly shifting environment around them, thanks to contact microphones placed in the ice. This physically immersive and visually captivating experience is designed to center and preserve Black life.” The artists say the installation’s message is centered on survival and life flourishing on oppressive climates and the common need for warmth, community and comfort.
“Most of all,” Speller and DuCett said in a statement, “it’s about elevating and making visible the resilience of marginalized communities.” It’s It is also a response to the racial reckoning that began in Minneapolis during the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
The Great Northern will partner with Street Factory Media, a local experiential marketing firm.
Artists from Minnesota who identify as Black will be invited to submit work created during the uprisings “to further highlight methods of survival and show how innovation and creativity can thrive.” Those submissions, as well as a virtual experience of the greenhouse, will be shared online.
It’s the largest project for the Great Northern and funded by a $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as support from the City of St. Paul Cultural STAR program.
For more info: thegreatnorthernfestival.com.
Copyright 2021 Pioneer Press.