Photo by Fadumo Ali courtesy of The Great Northern
Ice Flowers from Conservatory
The Great Northern festival is coming back this January, and with it the winter celebration's largest undertaking yet since it began in 2017.
Conservatory will be a thriving greenhouse garden surrounded by solid ice on each side. Catch it between two buildings in an alley in downtown St. Paul, where the greenhouse will contain hundreds of deeply hued plants this winter, including black cone flowers, velvet petunias, mondo grass, coleus, and more. Contact microphones placed in the ice will amplify the subtle cracks and thuds in the environment, creating an immersive experience about centering and preserving Black life.
According to a press release, Black artists from Minnesota will be invited to submit work created during the uprising in Minneapolis "to further highlight methods of survival and show how innovation and creativity can thrive." Those submissions, and a virtual experience of the greenhouse, will be preserved through an interactive online component to keep the art accessible after the ice melts. Additionally, all plants will be donated to Black-owned gardens and organizations at the festival's end.
The greenhouse, by the artists Jovan C. Speller and Andy DuCett, came together thanks to a $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as support from the City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR program.
“The physical experience of walking through Conservatory is meant to be transportive, tranquil, and familiar,” the artists said in a joint statement. “But when surrounded by hundreds of deeply hued plants, there’s also no way to talk about the piece without talking about our primary goal, which is to center Blackness.”
“Here in the North, we’re used to cold climates and often speak with pride about our shared ability to thrive in these environments. This cold is both literal and metaphorical, depending on who is speaking about their resilience. We offer Conservatory as an opportunity for reflection and visibility, all while fostering a sense of community and connection. We see this as a start of something, a place to begin and imagine and anticipate the thaw together.”
The Great Northern returns in 2022 from Jan. 27 to Feb. 6, and Conservatory will be open for the duration of the festival.
