We went to the Art Shanty Projects on Lake Harriet today. Tammy has been to this many times, but it was my first. I do like events like this that make for fun days in the cold of winter. The Shanties themselves were very cool. Notable highlights:

  • re(center)ed which provided an opportunity for people to write a message on a piece of wood and then hang it anonymously on the wall. Every few hours the curator would pull them down and burn them in a “pyre”, releasing the sentiment.
  • Archive of Collective Memory that allowed you to submit a message via the web that was then turned into an audio loop and played through a wooden wall that you had to put your ear against to hear it.
  • Blankets of Ice which had a bedroom set in the middle of the snow with a “quilt” pattern made of colored ice blocks.
  • Chapsicle of Love provided marriage service at the event.
  • Techno From the Sun was a shanty powered only by solar energy with people DJ’ing techno music inside. You could modify and add to the mix by moving levers and dials on the outside of the shanty.

I was left wanting to have a Shanty next year that distributed a POAP and allowed people to record a memory of the event in some way. 🤔

Wooden shanty with clear roof panels and colorful cutout decorations, labeled Sway Spin and Cover, on a snowy lakeshore with two bundled-up visitors approaching.Yellow playhouse-shaped art shanty painted with take a treasure leave a treasure inviting visitors to exchange small gifts, set in a snowy park.White bed frame on ski runners with colorful ice blocks forming a quilt pattern on the mattress, displayed outdoors in a snowy park.Three painted cylindrical drums labeled Wintergreen, Berry, and Passion Fruit sit in snow beside a rainbow decoration.Painted wooden shanty showing a headless figure in winter clothes surrounded by scarves hats and mittens with Free Store Shanty written on it, coats hanging on a rack in the snowy background