Ag47

~Love Letter to the Earth~

For this workshop, we were inspired by the work of Culture Declares Emergency's . We thought about what it would feel like to write a love letter directly to this planet. What would be most important to say? What questions would we ask? We composed our individual love letters.

Each member of the collective chose a few essential lines of their poem to serve as material for a live sound collage. A collective soundscape. A collective love letter. At any time during the sound collage, anyone could speak aloud a line, a word, a few words of their text. A typewriter sat at the center of this circle of sound, available for anyone to type a bit of their text. Here is the image of what we shared with one another.

To listen to the incredible soundscore Nick Meryhew created for this workshop and to read more excerpts of these love letters, check out our Digital Showcase at ag47apocalypse.com!

And check out the second image for some inspiration to write your own Letter to the Earth.

[Image description 1: photo of a piece of paper torn from a typewriter roll. On the paper is small, typewritten text: Ag47's collective love letter to the earth. Some of the text is dark and clear, some overlaps, some is very faint.]

[Image description 2: Black text on a blue, watery background. Text reads "Relive a tender moment you’ve had with the earth. Remember sensory details. When you place yourself back in that moment, how do you feel?
What is one of your favorite places on earth? Why do you love it?
What do you hope the earth will be like in the future? If you could, what would you do to make this future a reality?
Are there any apologies you’d like to make? Amends? Words of gratitude?
How has your relationship with the earth developed throughout your life?"]

To celebrate Ag47's Digital Showcase, we'll be sharing weekly behind-the-scenes peeks into this past season's workshops, centered around the theme APOCALYPSE.

We began our season with a collective installation. We wanted to create something that could change and expand over time. Apocalypse as transformation.

We asked, What would you choose to bring with you into the Apocalypse?

We started with individual sculptures made of found materials. We placed them all in a HUGE glass aquarium. Then, we created an improvised soundscape, A Song for the Apocalypse. We poured in gallons of saltwater solution, so salt crystals could bloom over our collective sculpture. Weeks passed. This is the result.

As you make your way through the digital showcase at http://ag47apocalypse.com, be on the lookout for a salt crystal recipe and a Song for the Apocalypse performance score to create along with us at home (make sure to allow pop-ups from the website to ensure you don't miss any hidden gems!).

[image description: close-up photo of a section of Ag47's salt crystal installation, taken through the crystal-coated glass. Cream salt crystals have developed organically over sculptural elements of the installation, including glittery fabric tulle, pieces of wire, old electronic elements, a wooden dowel covered in red fabric, clothespins, paper clips, and a shiny CD. Near the center of the photo is a small clump of bright blue artificial flowers with green leaves.]

Very cool (and compensated!) opportunity for young people ages 10-16, brought to our attention by Chicago Women's Health Center! We know so many inspiring young people who seem like an amazing fit for this.

From our Creative Director Hope Barnes:

This Thursday the Police Free Schools Ordinance is being heard in a joint Public Safety and Education Chicago City Council Committee. Use the link below to demand that the committee support the ordinance. This is the next step to move the vote to the full Chicago City Council. Students are keeping the gas on the pedal to create . Let’s listen to them and amplify their potent voices!