Blue Lab Popup Story Patch

Morris Arboretum & Gardens, Philadelphia

Saturday 06.15.24, 10am-1pm

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Remember. Dream. Imagine. Share.

There’s a world of multispecies wonder all around you.

Step off the path and plant your toes in the grass.
Look into the trees. What do you see?
Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Open your heart. What do you feel?

Where does your imagination take you?

We invite you to spend a little time with us.
Wander, draw, write, sit, think, learn, relax.

This is your home, right alongside the trees and the ferns, the birds and the worms, the river and the sky.

Please join us! This event is open to the public.

On Saturday, June 15, 2024, Blue Lab will stage our inaugural participatory public art project at the University of Pennsylvania's Morris Arboretum & Gardens!

Supported by an award from the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities under its Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing project, and set within the curated landscape of the arboretum, the Blue Lab Popup Story Patch will create for visitors a space that is both part of and apart from their experience of nature–a space of generative self-reflection and freeplay that reframes their relationships to the multispecies worlds around them.

Emphasizing imagination, memory, speculation and active engagement, visitors to the Blue Lab Popup Story Patch will be invited to participate in conversations about individual plants and animals who have captivated their imaginations; these could be more-than-human family members (past or present), lively presences in yards or neighborhoods, and reminders of ecological loss or of places far from home. For visitors who want to participate, their stories will be recorded and become part of a living multimedia love letter to the more-than-human world.

Station 1: Dear wild ones Postcards to the trees, bugs, birds and bees

At this creative making station, we invite you to take a card and some art supplies and find a quiet spot to reflect and respond to the prompt on the card. Write something, draw something, create a sticker story, make it your own.

Station 2: Multispecies mindfulness A conversation about our relationships with animals and plants

We invite you to join this conversation circle about the animals and plants in your life. We’ll listen to part of award-winning science journalist Ed Yong’s acclaimed book An Immense World and talk about some of the relationships with other species that matter the most to us.

Station 3: Record your story A big box of spoken love letters to the more-than-human world

At this video recording station we invite you to sit and share a short story from your life featuring other beings. Some ideas to inspire you:

Recall a memory of the strangest or coolest encounter you’ve had with a wild animal.
Tell us about your favorite animal or plant.
Describe a place in nature (either real or imagined) where you feel happiest.