Solar Song began as a conversation between strangers: one that opened with a question about the limits and aims of adaptation. How might we take up a work of literary theory, its core ideas and aspirations, and transform it into a work of public art? From that initial exchange between Dr. Joshua Bennett and The Poetry Society of America, an immersive outdoor installation was born: The Bond of Live Things Everywhere.
Inspired by Dr. Bennett’s work at the intersection of Black studies and ecological criticism, the installation brought to life the environmentally-themed poems, sermons, and songs of African American writers from the 19th century to the present day. In collaboration with Morcos Key, a Brooklyn-based design studio, and Marcus Johnson, soundscape artist and creative director for The Strivers Row, the project debuted at the New York Botanical Gardens in 2022.
As visitors moved through the installation, they saw a range of nature poems engraved on wooden signs and heard them read aloud as part of an original soundscape—it included everything from the harmonizing of birds to the timeless sounds of Stevie’s Wonder’s harmonica—and featured a chorus of readers from around the country. This group was composed of living poets reading their original work (e.g., Terrance Hayes, Camille Dungy, and Aracelis Girmay), as well as readers from other professional spheres reciting the poems of literary ancestors. During its run at the Gardens, the outdoor installation was likewise accompanied by a public symposium, opening and closing day celebrations with local food vendors, lawn games, and live performances from local musicians and poets. There was even a citywide poetry contest for young people who visited the installation. Fifteen writers applied; they all took home first prize. After the installation’s debut in New York, its reach only continued to grow. In 2024, a sister project, Earth Song, was developed at the University of Michigan by Dr. Bénédicte Boisseron and a group of her students. Once it was complete, Dr. Boisseron invited Dr. Bennett to see the project in person, and to speak at a larger symposium on the role of ecological thought in African Diaspora Studies. Thus began their collaboration, which coincided with the process of bringing an updated version of the project from New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Bennett is a Professor of Literature at MIT. In collaboration with The Esplanade Association, Solon will debut a new vision of the installation, River Song, in Boston and Cambridge during the fall of 2026.
Which brings us to the present: we are now in the process of installing various iterations of this core design language across two continents. Each partner campus will design their installation based on the literary work that is most captivating to them, and relevant to their history: local, institutional, and otherwise. Every new installation will offer an opportunity to work with local schools—this was, in fact, a core component of Bond’s public programming, and will continue with River Song—and is an opportunity to engage students of all ages. Our work is meant to recall for them the wonders of not only poetry and song, but of the natural world, that timeless theatre of symbols, which is one of our earliest teachers. At every level, this is a community project. Our central aim is finding ways of bringing people together in public to discuss the beauty and breadth of the living environment, as well as how we might become better stewards of it. From our vantage, this is the most rigorous way to honor the history that is this project’s condition of emergence: to establish a space of both deep study and collective celebration. All so that every time we get together, it is a rehearsal for another world.
