Epilogue to Empty Room

Doug, Matt and I brought ORGANISM - and with it, the Empty Room - to a close last Saturday night. It was an amazing, challenging, and ultimately, very fulfilling project. I had never done anything that approached an installation before, and came out with a new understanding of the collaboration, time commitment and work necessary to pull something like this off.

I entered the project apprehensive of how the various components would work together; after all, there's not much of an immediate connection between poetry and building. But after some initial trial and error, we reached a happy medium. In the end, I don't think it was so much a collaboration as it was an exercise in sharing. Matt hosted several successful poetry readings and slams in the early part of each week. Doug and I took advantage of whatever chunks of time (mostly weekends) we could to build the Organic Chair and recreate a venue in the space.

After we finished an initial simple structure we turned our focus to what we're calling Organic Chair #1, which was only unveiled at the closing.

One of our goals for the entire installation was to raise some resources for a nonprofit organization. Matt, who was recently named as its new Executive Director, decided on the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I set our sights on the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts. We realized we probably weren't going to have much luck finding a buyer for the Organic Chair installation. So we switched gears and began focusing on Organic Chair #1. Through our mostly unplanned building process, what started as a sort of kaleidoscopic tank slowly emerged as a curvy and somewhat more sophisticated stand-alone reaction to the installation. Though we didn't quite get the inside and outside finished, we hope to do so and sell it to benefit the Bellows Studio.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it down to the space during November for a reading, slam, concert, or just to hang out. There's a list of related postings and links below about ORGANISM and the entire 6 months of the Empty Room.

Check out Andrew Marinkovich of Malone & Co's photo documentation of all the Empty Room projects.

Silicon Prairie News was gracious enough to do interviews and features about ORGANISM, 25 Days of Building, Clean Plate, 300 Square and the Empty Room concept itself.

For more ORGANISM pictures, etc., check out our Facebook page.

Amy Morin's (Beast Box) website: http://plaiderpillar.com/
Elle Lien's Clean Plate Website: http://clean-plate.com/
Mary Wees' 25 Days of Building Blog: http://25daysofbuilding.wordpress.com/
Jeff Hug's String Thing Website: http://emptyroomstringthing.com/

And a special thanks to 22 Floors, Bluestone Development, Secret Penguin & What Cheer for allowing such a unique thing to occur in Omaha!

ORGANISM @ Empty Room - Week 1 Recap & Upcoming...

Doug, Matt & I kicked off the final month of Empty Room one week ago with the opening of ORGANISM: A Festival of Words & Building. After a slow start building, Doug and I have made quite a bit of progress on the Organic Chair, and are looking forward to adding more elements over the next few weeks. We've mostly concentrated on building from noon - 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and during the weekly Wednesday Poetry Slams. If you'd like to join us, you're welcome. Just email us at organism1109@gmail.com so we can be sure to prepare. We also welcome guests to just come in and check out the space while we're working too. Here are a few pictures to show our progress:

Matt and his gang of wordsmiths are hosting events Monday - Wednesday evenings, with occasional events during the rest of the week too. To keep up with the poetry schedule, visit The Poetry Menu. Personally, I'm most looking forward to this Wednesday's Haiku Slam, and next week's Sock Puppet Slam. We also post updates nearly every day for fans of the ORGANISM Facebook Page to keep up with us. If you're coming down to ORGANISM Wednesday, you might also check out Doug's presentation at the next Pecha Kucha, which is just across the parking lot at Slowdown, starting at 8:20p.m.

Today also marks the first installment of 3 Share-a-Chair installations that I'll gradually be adding to the space. Learn more about this new ORGANISM element at Share-a-Chair.com.

I'd also like to remind visitors that we're accepting donations. There's no cost to attend any of the ORGANISM events, but there are a couple donation boxes set out. Matt is accepting donations that will support contributing poets and support the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I have a donation box to support the growth of the Organic Chair installation and the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts.  We're also donating a portion of the sale of objects in the Empty Room to the Bellows Studio, so your support for us also supports exceptional young talent. Bellows Studio Executive Director Anne Meysenburg is also presenting at Pecha Kucha on Wednesday, so if you're interested in learning about the organization, here's a prime opportunity.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at ORGANISM!