PALM: ALL AWAKE IN THE DARKNESS Installation Debuts at American Writers Museum

The American Writers Museum (AMW) has announced the debut of Palm: All Awake in the Darkness, a newly commissioned immersive installation by artist duo Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler / Morris) in collaboration with Ian Boyden.

The installation is the museum's first commissioned artwork and was made possible by support from The Poetry Foundation and additional support from The Merwin Conservancy. The installation includes live palms, a sound design that includes the poetry by Merwin and other poets, and a new video work from Sayler / Morris.

Palm is inspired by the life and work of the American poet W.S. Merwin, and meditates on Merwin's capacity to invoke in his readers a sense of the wakefulness of the world. Merwin is not only a celebrated poet, having won nearly every major poetry award, including the appointment of poet laureate, he is also a visionary gardener and environmentalist. Over 30 years ago, Merwin embraced a piece of certified wasteland in Hawaii, and, along with his wife Paula, tree-by-tree grew one of the most abundant and species-rich palm gardens in the world-a garden that aspires to be a forest, as Merwin has put it.

In this installation, Sayler / Morris and Boyden make an analogy between gardening of the sort Merwin undertook on his land in Maui and writing. For Merwin, both activities were infused with a spirit of contemplation and awareness profoundly shaped by Merwin's practice of Zen Buddhism.

The installation is deeply contemplative. As viewers walk through three distinct spaces, the sound of poetry being recited by its authors come in and out of the threshold of hearing. The three spaces are: a facsimile of a shade house Merwin used to cultivate palms; a central area for viewing Sayler/Morris' video made of footage and sounds taken in Merwin's palm garden, as well as Merwin's recitation of several carefully chosen poems; and lastly a pathway through two clusters of live palms.

For many years Merwin has made a practice of composting letters he receives from all over the world. Through this practice, the writings of those touched by Merwin's work become part of the trees in his garden. At one end of the exhibition, visitors will have an opportunity to write their own message. To spur thoughts, Sayler / Morris provide the prompt Merwin gives in one of the keynote poems of the exhibition, "Place": "On the last of the world / I would want to plant a tree / What for..." The artists will take all the messages collected in the course of the exhibition in "plant" them in Merwin's garden.

The other poets included in the installation are: Naomi Shihab Nye, Carrie Fountain, Ross Gay, Ezra Pound and a traditional Hawaiian chant sung by Dr. Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele. This is Sayler / Morris' second large-scale installation in conversation with a major writer. In 2014, the duo worked with writer Elizaebth Kolbert on a large-scale video installation titled Eclipse that commemorated the extinction of the passenger pigeon at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

The American Writers Museum is the first and only museum of its kind in the United States. The mission of the American Writers Museum is to engage the public in celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, and our daily lives. The museum is located at 180 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60601, and offers something for every age group including permanent exhibits and special galleries highlighting America's favorite works and the authors behind them. Tickets to the museum are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and free for children under 12. Museum hours are Tuesday - Sunday 10 AM - 5 PM, Thursdays 10AM- 8PM. For more information visit www.americanwritersmuseum.org or call 312-374-8790.