The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
American Philosophical Society Museum
Interpretation/Implementation
2011 Grantee
$200,000
Between August and November of 2011, APS will conduct The Greenhouse Projects, an ensemble of five inventive public engagement projects which “invite active participation and creation of content” from audiences, “as well as sensory experiences.” The initiatives include: an environmentally sophisticated greenhouse designed by architect and 2010 Pew Fellow Jenny Sabin, constructed from recycled materials for the outdoor APS garden, which will house digitally fabricated ceramic artifacts; a play by director/designer/playwright Aaron Cromie, Sketchbooks and Seedlings: A Paper Garden, to be performed as part of the 2011 Philly Fringe Festival, using Sabin’s greenhouse as part of its set; a history-focused treasure hunt throughout urban Philadelphia, during which participants will use GPS coordinates and clues to find objects at historic sites around the city; Chaotic Menagerie, a sound installation by musician and composer Kyle Bartlett, inspired by The Greenhouse Projects and the current APS exhibition on French natural history; and a series of five half-hour podcasts by food journalist and radio producer Lari Robling, about the influence of post-Revolutionary French cuisine on contemporary food. The APS garden is a part of Independence National Historic Park and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
