Update

It’s high season for both vegetables and the Food Chain Project.

D-composition grew from a ‘starter culture’ during last year’s Fermentation  Fest .  Wormfarm commissioned original music from Michael Bell and his class grass (classical/ blue grass hybrid) group, Graminy on themes of decomposition– in the key of ’D”.

It entered its next phase at the first annual De-composium , a symposium on land food and transformation where poets, scientists, composers, and farmers explored decomposition and renewal from a variety of perspectives.

Three composers from very different musical genres:  garbage folk, acoustic ecology and melodious textural soundscapes, selected through a competitive process will de-compose Graminy’s original blue grass symphony, and create something new out of its themes.  After three months all four pieces will be performed during Fermentation Fest – A Live Culture Convergence on October 5.  These in turn will serve as ‘starter culture’ for a new round in 2014. And so musical processes mimic natural processes.

A caravan of Roadside Culture Stands enlivened the event, promoted Fermentation Fest, featured artisanal pickles and preserves and hosted poetry exercise using “erasure’   techniques to create new poems from parts of existing texts.

A compost demonstration by farmer Jay brought the largely conceptual project back down to earth.

The day ended with the four composers, a poet and a video artist jamming for the first time -synthesizing the day’s events and giving the audience a thrilling preview of what we might expect in October.

 Recent wins

• New collaboration with Verse Wisconsin and  with our current Poet Laureate Max Garland
• New collaboration with two Milwaukee teams on two new Roadside Culture Stands (in progress)
• Speaking opportunities at Rural Arts Summit in Minnesota and One State Arts Conference in Illinois.

Insight/Provocation

Since placemaking is all about a weaving together diverse strategies to enliven our places, we’ve discovered that episodic activity within preexisting events is a good way to do it. It conserves resources and wins new collaborators. Food Chain looks to link with existing food, farming and cultural events, adding value and engaging  new audiences – it’s a win win.