Dream Here Now!
Barnes Foundation - July 2026
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Barnes on the Block is an annual, free outdoor block party hosted by the Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The summer celebration features live DJ sets, hands-on art-making workshops, food trucks, a craft market, and a beer garden, along with free admission to the Barnes museum galleries.
As part of the afternoon's programming, I curated an immersive art-making experience intended to stimulate the active imagination.
Dream Here Now! was three-fold, with:
The installation also involved a new variation of the community poem that rearranged previous entries with cut n' paste poetry for a new level of consensus to be explored. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's rotoreliefs, the Dream Spirals worksheet invited participants to write their own spiral poems on small discs attached to a wooden stick.
Both activities were very popular with kids. In addition to writing, inviting free association coloring and other forms of self-expression. Also of note, their parents and other adults participated and took the time to consider some basic principles of a better world that they would like to see realized.
The immersion of the space came from the level of ongoing co-creation throughout the day. Typewriters rattling away with ideas for a near future. Journals opened to read what others had been writing. Cut n' paste poetry rearranged in unexpected ways. Chalk used to draw visual reflections of what the words convey. Sometimes those drawings turning into chaos. And subsequently the word fragments replying in a chaotic arrangement. Sometimes replying to the prompts. But mostly just blurring the lines of reality with a creative fervor that has no words, yet opens portals through space and time.
As part of the afternoon's programming, I curated an immersive art-making experience intended to stimulate the active imagination.
Dream Here Now! was three-fold, with:
- personalized, typewritten poetry performed by local authors Lindo Yes, Cashmere Harper, and Marshall James Kavanaugh
- Dream Spiral art-making worksheets for all ages engagement
- a community poem written on long scrolls of paper inviting participants to journal their dreams for the future.
The installation also involved a new variation of the community poem that rearranged previous entries with cut n' paste poetry for a new level of consensus to be explored. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's rotoreliefs, the Dream Spirals worksheet invited participants to write their own spiral poems on small discs attached to a wooden stick.
Both activities were very popular with kids. In addition to writing, inviting free association coloring and other forms of self-expression. Also of note, their parents and other adults participated and took the time to consider some basic principles of a better world that they would like to see realized.
The immersion of the space came from the level of ongoing co-creation throughout the day. Typewriters rattling away with ideas for a near future. Journals opened to read what others had been writing. Cut n' paste poetry rearranged in unexpected ways. Chalk used to draw visual reflections of what the words convey. Sometimes those drawings turning into chaos. And subsequently the word fragments replying in a chaotic arrangement. Sometimes replying to the prompts. But mostly just blurring the lines of reality with a creative fervor that has no words, yet opens portals through space and time.
This project was an Artist Partnership
in collaboration with
Barnes Foundation and Mural Arts Philadelphia
July 12, 2026 |
Philadelphia, PA |
DREAM SPIRAL Worksheet:
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Attendees of all ages were tasked with creating their own Dream Spirals. This hands on approach to poetry enlisted fellow dreamers with writing down and coloring their intentions for dreaming, then putting together the spiral as something they could walk away with and continue to use in furthering their experience. Once assembled, the dream spiral can be used to manifest their dreams!
This activity was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s rotoreliefs featured in his short film Anémic Cinéma. Duchamp filmed painted designs he made on flat cardboard circles while they spun on a phonograph turntable. When spinning, the flat disks give momentum to the poetry.
This activity was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s rotoreliefs featured in his short film Anémic Cinéma. Duchamp filmed painted designs he made on flat cardboard circles while they spun on a phonograph turntable. When spinning, the flat disks give momentum to the poetry.
JOURNAL YOUR DREAMS Community Poem:
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In 2025, attendees at Barnes on the Block journaled their dreams for the future. The entries were turned into poetic fragments and affixed to the blackboard with magnets as a form of cut n’ paste poetry. Throughout the day, participants rearranged the text and used chalk to draw visions that reflected the language. Over time a consensus in the collective dream was revealed by participants taking photos to document and share their work and efforts to perfect the community poem.
New entries to this community poem were also added throughout the day, via a long scroll attached through two typewriters. Participants were invited to journal their dreams for the future on the front and back of this long paper. They were also encouraged to read back and respond to what others had written before them.
Cut n’ paste poetry was popularized by the Surrealists, and later used by the Beat poets to tune into the subconscious mind. The idea for the long scroll comes from Jack Kerouac's technique in writing the manuscript of On The Road.
New entries to this community poem were also added throughout the day, via a long scroll attached through two typewriters. Participants were invited to journal their dreams for the future on the front and back of this long paper. They were also encouraged to read back and respond to what others had written before them.
Cut n’ paste poetry was popularized by the Surrealists, and later used by the Beat poets to tune into the subconscious mind. The idea for the long scroll comes from Jack Kerouac's technique in writing the manuscript of On The Road.
PERSONALIZED, TYPEWRITTEN POETRY:
with Cashmere Harper, Lindo Yes, and Marshall James Kavanaugh
I was joined by Philly poets, Cashmere Harper and Lindo Yes, in writing personalized poems for passersby. We had all sorts of requests from artists and appreciators, neighbors and community members. The block party itself was an epic collage of Philadelphia's diverse arts and culture.
It was great to be back again in league with longtime collaborators. Our first venture with the Barnes Foundation was in 2021 during a project I curated called West Philly Community Poem where we wrote personalized poems for our neighborhood just emerging from the pandemic. At that time the poems served as vehicles for healing, and this time was no different.
We had requests for poems about heart break and recovery from cancer. We had children asking for poems about an interest in the arts and the adventures that are contained within books. We had people looking for reassurance to give them confidence and aphorisms to boost their spirits.
The activation gave participants a chance to process difficult emotions and experiences that they were having trouble finding words for, as well as celebrations that they wanted to make permanent the memory with a poem.
It was great to be back again in league with longtime collaborators. Our first venture with the Barnes Foundation was in 2021 during a project I curated called West Philly Community Poem where we wrote personalized poems for our neighborhood just emerging from the pandemic. At that time the poems served as vehicles for healing, and this time was no different.
We had requests for poems about heart break and recovery from cancer. We had children asking for poems about an interest in the arts and the adventures that are contained within books. We had people looking for reassurance to give them confidence and aphorisms to boost their spirits.
The activation gave participants a chance to process difficult emotions and experiences that they were having trouble finding words for, as well as celebrations that they wanted to make permanent the memory with a poem.
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All imagery and content © 2026 Marshall James Kavanaugh. All Rights Reserved.
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