The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Philadelphia Art Alliance
Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had: The Miss Rockaway Armada
2010 Exhibition Grant
$169,273
The Philadelphia Art Alliance is a multidisciplinary arts center with a focus on contemporary crafts that has been a vital resource for the local arts community for over ninety years. The alliance will commission Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had, a new installation by artists' collective The Miss Rockaway Armada, which will both challenge traditional notions and parameters of museum display and engage the community with outdoor components, specifically the construction of a flotilla of boats that will travel up the Schuylkill River from Bartram's Gardens to the Walnut Street docking area. The boats will then be transformed to travel by land and reach selected destinations in the University City and Kensington neighborhoods of Philadelphia. The Miss Rockaway Armada has been recognized for its highly-engaging mobile constructions, museum installations, performances, and vaudeville-style theatre. In 2009, the Armada "invaded" the Venice Biennale, sailing from Slovenia to the Grand Canal on "do-it-yourself" boats. The collective's charmingly ramshackle brand of assemblage reflects on sustainable ways of living and addresses environmental issues associated with renewable resources and the handmade. The Miss Rockaway Armada will explore the maritime history of Philadelphia with a series of flotilla trips down the Schuylkill as well as performances and installations at community sites throughout the city, resulting in community interaction that is both entertaining and educational.
