As another spring reaches Philadelphia, the arts and culture scene is in full bloom.
Read on to see what our grantees have to offer now and in the coming months, including immersive exhibitions, musical performances, and theatrical world premieres.
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Barbara Earl Thomas: The Illuminated Body
On view through May 21, 2024
Arthur Ross Gallery
In the artist’s first Philadelphia exhibition, cut-paper portraits depict Black subjects in moments of joy and creativity across class lines, from cultural icons to friends and family. Complements to these portraits include an installation made from Tyvek and light and an April 11 multimedia performance exploring identity, history, and personal growth from Grammy-nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods and dancer Roderick George, made in conversation with Thomas’ work.
Futures Without Guns
April 18–June 21, 2024
University City Science Center
A visual art exhibition presents visions of a future free from gun violence. Working in a variety of mediums, nine artists created new artworks and design propositions for the project. Informed by community members affected by gun violence, the artists—including Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jasmine Murrell, and Pew Fellow Tim Portlock, among others—investigate gun violence as a health equity issue through futures thinking and speculative design methods.
nkwiluntàmën: I long for it; I am lonesome for it (such as the sound of a drum)
Through April 30, 2024
Pennsbury Manor
A site-specific, sound-based installation, created by multidisciplinary artist (and Delaware Tribe of Indians member) Nathan Young, employs the sounds of wind, water, and wildlife to connect listeners to the environment while reexamining histories of colonialism on the site of the home of Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The project website observes, “The original composition amplifies indigenous agency, honoring and reimagining environmental song-making traditions that survive [Young’s] tribe’s diaspora across North America.”
Artist jackie sumell on Behind These Walls
May 8
Michener Art Museum
For its Behind These Walls: Reckoning with Incarceration project, the Michener—originally used as the Bucks County Prison—commissioned multidisciplinary artist jackie sumell to develop a “Solitary Garden,” designed in correspondence with a currently incarcerated person. In a conversation at the museum, sumell offers a preview on the forthcoming exhibition and an overview of the garden project, which replicates the footprint of a prison cell and aims to connect people through the restorative act of nurturing plants.
John Jarboe: The Rose Garden
May 11–September 29, 2024
The Fabric Workshop and Museum
An immersive performance-installation expresses the gender journey of multidisciplinary artist John Jarboe. The experience features video, music, and objects devoted to the artist’s consumed-in-the-womb twin, Rose, along with rotating live programming that includes cabaret, community conversations, and clothing swaps.
HILMA
June 4–23, 2024
The Wilma Theater
A world premiere performance (with a score spanning opera, rock, pop, and musical theater) explores the life, work, and spirituality of abstract painter and mystic Hilma af Klint (1862-1944). The performance pushes the boundaries of opera and traditional biography, inspired by the historical details of af Klint’s life while contemplating the implications of her visual and philosophical work.
Generate Music
June 8, 2024
World Cafe Live (presented by PRISM Quartet)
A collection of contemporary compositions written by Black and Jewish composers—including Pew Fellows Diane Monroe, Ursula Rucker, and Susan Watts—examines the musical traditions and intersections of two diasporic peoples and their roles in shaping American music and culture. Panel discussions at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (May 28) and Charles L. Blockson Afro American Collection (May 30), where the artists have been conducting research for their compositions, complement the performance.
Ramayana
June 13–16, 2024
FDR Park (presented by EgoPo Classic Theater)
Created in collaboration with two Indonesian theater companies, Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Theatre Movement, a contemporary retelling of the ancient epic poem Ramayana features contemporary and traditional puppetry, dance, music, and theater to explore the crossing of cultural borders. Staged in an outdoor tent, the performance is accompanied by a festival of Southeast Asian food, crafts, music, and dance. On May 19, EgoPo hosts an artist social featuring performances from and opportunities to speak with project collaborators.
ENGOMA ENTEERA: Classical Music from Uganda
June 14
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (presented by Orchestra 2001)
Ugandan composer Justinian Tamusuza premieres new compositions that marry contemporary classical music and traditional Kiganda folk music, using extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and polyrhythms. Conducted by Na’Zir McFadden and performed by Orchestra 2001 musicians, the compositions depict tableaus from Ugandan life in solos, chamber music, and chamber orchestra pieces.
Community of Images: Japanese Moving Image Artists in the US, 1960s–1970s
June 14–August 9, 2024
Philadelphia Art Alliance (presented by Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia)
An exhibition and screenings of film and video work preserve and reexamine the contributions and influence of Japanese artists working in the US in the mid-20th century, including Mako Idemitsu, Kenji Kanesaka, Yayoi Kusama, and Fujiko Nakaya. The exhibition and accompanying publication seek to illuminate the artists’ journeys to and through the US, their transnational identities, collaborations with US-based artists, and lasting impacts on both Japanese and American culture.
Enrique Bostelmann: Apertures and Borderscapes
June 18–December 15, 2024
Berman Museum of Art
A multifaceted retrospective of Mexican photographer Enrique Bostelmann (1939–2003) blends the artist’s experimental work with new interviews with his family, collaborators, and art historians to create an exhibition, bilingual documentary, and publication. Featuring images from throughout Bostelmann’s four-decade career, the project examines how his work negotiates and transgresses boundaries across cultures, countries, and genres.
