Peripatetic Censor Mechanism: We the Weeds

2013 AUGUSTPeripatetic Censor MechanismA Participatory Experiment in Peripatetic Seed Dispersal and Spontaneous Growthpresented byWE THE WEEDS (Kaitlin Pomerantz and Zya Levy)August 2 - August 24, 2013[portfolio_slideshow id=855 height=500]WE THE WEEDS & PRACTICE  invite you to step up onto the catwalk of our gallery nursery, shake out your shoes, and notice what grows.

Urban dwellers may consider themselves far from the throes of nature's whims and schemes, but could it be that as we bike, walk and traverse the concrete streets, we are enacting the regenerative will of a variety of highly-adaptive, resilient, and opportunistic plant species? Might it be that lodged in the grips of our sneakers and the cuffs of our pants, are the seeds of Philadelphia's abundant wild urban flora, using us as their dispersive vectors?

Following an experiment wherein Charles Darwin cultivated 80 plants from a ball of mud stuck to a wounded French partridge's leg, British botanist Sir Edward Salisbury (1886-1978) famously grew an entire garden from the botanical debris collected in his trouser cuffs. WE THE WEEDS team Kaitlin Pomerantz and Zya Levy invite the citizens of Philadelphia to join the investigation by stepping up onto the catwalk of our gallery nursery, shaking out your shoes, and noticing what grows. Let us see if we are indeed "peripatetic censor mechanisms, scattering seeds as we walk about" that Salisbury claimed us to be.

Programming for Peripatetic Censor Mechanism

First Friday, August 2nd, 2013:Participate in the opening of Peripatetic Censor Mechanism by joining WE THE WEEDS for P.I. Wild Speakeasy #5: Foraged, hand-crafted botanical cocktails accompanied by folklore and nomenclature. Botanical outreach via intoxication. Cocktails available by donation, all proceeds go to WE THE WEEDS public programming.

Saturday, August 3rd:WE THE WEEDS Identification Trek and Shoe Shake Out2 tours: 2:00pm & 3:00pmJoin Kaitlin and Zya for an ethnobotanical walking tour of the Eraserhood, featuring plant names and uses. Tour begins and ends at PRACTICE. Please email: info@practicegallery.org to register for a tour. Tours are capped at 12 people per tour.About the ArtistsWE THE WEEDS is a botanical arts project aimed at expanding knowledge of the wild plants of Philadelphia, headed by artist Kaitlin Pomerantz and botanist Zya Levy. The project encompasses a variety of artistic interventions highlighting the presence of the natural world within the manmade landscape. For more, visit: wetheweeds.tumblr.comPress for this exhibitionFirst Friday – Animations at Grizzly and Marginal, a cat walk at Practice, abstract art at Tiger and Tyler Held’s carbon fiber and resin universe at Space 1026by Roberta FallonAugust 2013 “Peripatetic Censor Mechanism” at Practiceby Dave Kyu & Matt KalaskyAugust 2013We the Weeds: a botanical bounty at Practice Galleryby Chip SchwartzAugust 2013