The Tomato Seedlings are in the Archive Yard

 G.E.E.E. now offers thousands of tomato seedlings for a poem, for a note or for free in the yard behind the Archive House.

The seedlings arrived just in time for Rebuild Foundation's Sunday Open House barbeque.

G.E.E.E. is Part of the Progressive Conversation

Erika Dudley invited portable G.E.E.E. to her and Joanie Friedman's series "Progressive Conversation," which is tied in with the Southside Arts and Humanities Network and the University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing Education.

Maybe 40 people attended, mostly leaders in non-profit arts organizations.  It was the first time we'd been back to Theaster Gates' studio building since the Black Artists' Retreat last summer; this space looks great!

I got to speak with several attendees, inviting them to our more extensive operations at the Archive House and Archive Yard.

The Hyde Park Herald Reports on G.E.E.E. 60615

The Hyde Park Herald chose to cover our recent tomato exchange at the Hyde Park Art Center.

http://hpherald.com/2014/06/11/tomato-trade-for-poetry-at-the-hpac/

Self De-Installation of G.E.E.E. 60615

By the end of the weekend, just a few plants were left.

Bob was able to de-install quickly.  We thank everyone for participating!

G.E.E.E. 60615 on the DNAInfo Local News Website

We're sure that social media got the word out to the neighborhood that the tomatoes were available, but we were also pleased that DNAInfo found out and did a small piece about us.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140531/hyde-park/hyde-park-art-center-offers-tomato-plants-exchange-for-poem

24 Hours After G.E.E.E. 60615 Installation...

By the day after the installation, word must have gotten out.  Several varieties of tomatoes were thinned down, if not completely depleted.

We were so excited to get the seedlings out into the world!

The larger pots that held up our signs were even taken but, the signs were politely leaned against the building.  Needless to say, were made new signs, "Please Don't Take the Larger Pots," for our new signage holding pots.

We restocked varieties of tomatoes where we could.  And had some pretty incredible interactions.  One lady was loading several flats into her car.  When asked what she would do with so many plants, she explained that she was a member of  community garden up on Indiana Avenue, and that they would be well cared for and appreciated.  Tremendous!

Some people like to get selfies with celebrities.  We had one participant that wanted a selfie with the seedlings...

People were very particular about what seedlings they wanted.

One gentleman works with a farm in Indiana.  By chance, he had several loaves of focaccia to trade.

One participant couldn't speak English well, but her gratitude transcended language barriers.

Activities within the art center spilled out into our makeshift tomato garden.

This is a tame picture of the notes and poems left.  By the end, people were tearing out sheets and we had stacks!

G.E.E.E. 60615 Installation

 The Hyde Park Art Center requested that Cream Co. install an interation of G.E.E.E. during a couple of days when they were going to host several activities.  We took the opportunity to offer a couple thousand tomato seedlings in exchange for plants, poems and notes.  Now that we have had several lives of G.E.E.E., we've found it necessary to indicate the location by zip code.

This post is dedicated to installation day.

The photographs will look dramatically different in 24 hours.