Category Archives: Arts Foundations

Change


Save the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy

iradiophilly started this petition to Mayor of Philadelphia Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny and 2 others

Link to Change.org petition

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney released a revised budget for fiscal year 2021 in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on May 1, 2020. Businesses have been closed and workers have been off the job for weeks, reducing the city’s tax revenue significantly. The Office of the Department of Finance projects that without any changes the city would have a $649 million deficit next year. The city cannot legally operate with a deficit. We understand that hard decisions needed to be made and that cut backs and program budget reductions were inevitable. However, to completely eliminate an office that supports a vital industry in the city of Philadelphia, especially one that has been hit very hard during this crisis, is short sighted and should be reversed.

In the new budget, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy was budgeted $0 dollars, down from approximately $4.4 million, effectively closing the office. Most of that budgeted money goes directly to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which gives grants to hundreds of non-profits in the city.

The presentation of the budget by the Mayor is only the first step. It still must be approved and voted on by City Council before July 1. 

SEE: Mayor’s Operating Budget – re: page 80
SEE: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney Delivers New Budget by Video; Jobs/Services Cuts, Tax Hikes

According to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the arts and cultural sector generates $4.1 billion in economic impact annually and supports 55,000 jobs. That creates $1.3 billion in household income and $224.3 million in state and local taxes.* The creative economy includes but is not limited to artists, musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers, actors, filmmakers, graphic designers, venues, theaters, museums, galleries, bartenders, waiters, chefs, box office workers, bouncers, sound engineers, tech crews, art/dance/recording studios, and all employed by those entities, as well as support industries such as accountants, lawyers, hotels, ride shares, parking, public relations, marketing, and media. On the other side there are the fans, patrons, concert goers, theater attendees, and more who support the arts and make the purchases.

Most of this industry has been shut down during this crisis and needs support now more than ever to rebound during the economic recovery.

The Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy’s mission is to close the gap in access to quality cultural experiences and creative expression through the support and promotion of arts, culture and the creative industries; connecting Philadelphians to enriching, arts-infused experiences; linking local artists and cultural organizations to resources and opportunities; and preserving the City’s public art assets. http://creativephl.org

The OACCE is also responsible for the Music Industry Task Force, the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, Art in City Hall, all of Philadelphia’s public art, and funding the Philadelphia Cultural Fund which gives grants to numerous Philadelphia arts and culture non-profits.

Philadelphia is a vibrant city teeming with culture that has been driving our identity for hundreds of years. The art created in Philadelphia reaches well beyond its borders and has touched the world and helps drive our other industries through attention and attraction to our area. As we look to rebound and recover from this crisis, there are certainly sectors that are essential to our health and safety and must be prioritized. However, unless we take care to ensure our cultural health is also revived, we risk losing our spirit.

Philadelphia’s creative economy deserves proper representation in City Hall. Understandably, it is likely not possible for the OACCE to be budgeted at the same level as the original budget, however, the industry’s economic impact alone justifies that the office’s budget be more than zero. We are simply asking that the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy not be eliminated.

*https://www.philaculture.org/why-arts-culture/prosperityStart a petition of your ownThis petition starter stood up and took action. Will you do the same?Start a petition

Updates

Over 6,200 Support the Creative Economy in Philadelphia!Thank you for all your support! Let’s keep the momentum going. Artists, musicians, actors, dancers, writers, back stage, front of house, all venue/gallery workers, recording studios, producers, photographers, video…iradiophilly5 days agoMore updates

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Homelessness

Homelessness, Carolyn Harper. MUSE Gallery
Lemuel, art quilt, 5.5′ x 5′, Carolyn Harper, MUSE Gallery

Look Me In The Eye: Portraits of Homelessness

Carolyn Harper, MUSE Gallery

I am a Philadelphian and an artist with an upcoming exhibition in Old City Philadelphia at MUSE Gallery,Look Me In The Eye: Portraits of Homelessness” is a show of large art quilts and oversized hand embroidered drawings that use personal stories of homeless individuals, Philadelphians, to inspire empowerment and  create visibility of those who have been left behind by our society.

My work combines art and action to produce meaningful social impact. The implementation of portraiture within quilting serves to empower the persons depicted, enabling them to see themselves through their own stories rather than qualifiers such as “jobless” or “homeless”. Through conversations and active listening, I learn about the individual stories of these overlooked and ignored community members. The large scale work forces the audience to confront images of people they would rather not see, and bear witness to the stories behind them. 

Carolyn Harper

This work is extremely relevant to the times we live in, and I am grateful to The Puffin Foundation for providing me with a grant in support of my work. The Artist Reception will take place at MUSE Gallery, 52 N. 2nd Street, Old City Philadelphia, on Friday, November 1st from 5 – 8 pm. The exhibition runs through the end of November; Gallery hours are Wednesday – Sunday from 12-5.

For more information and images please visit about Carolyn Harper: www.carolynharperart.com

About Muse Gallery:

Mission: Established late in 1977, the Muse Gallery is an artists’ cooperative dedicated to encourage and promote its members’ artistic expression through abstract, conceptual and representational forms. Reflecting an aesthetic that awakens awareness, the Muse Gallery affirms the shared experience of art between the artist and the community.  Please see the membership page to view a detailed history of Muse.
To join the Gallery: Muse Gallery is always interested in potential new members. We are often fully staffed and maintain a waiting list. Please visit our membership page.

Thank you to Carolyn Harper for the content of this post.

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Happily

Happily Ever After, Main Line Art CenterEmily Smith, when a man decides to hurt you series_existential

Investigating the Female Gaze in Happily Ever After

at Main Line Art Center

October 2 – 29, 2017

Artist talk and opening reception: Friday, October 13, 5:30 – 8:00 pm
2017 Digital Artist in Residence Jenny Drumgoole debut presentation
DESIGNPHILADELPHIA featured event
—-
Panel Discussion: October 26, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Happily Ever After and the Female Gaze: Philadelphia
Women Artist Trailblazers – Then and Now
—-
Portfolio Review with Main Line Art Center’s
Artistic Advisory Board: October 20, 1:00 – 4:00 pm

Main Line Art Center investigates the female gaze, modern femininity, and contemporary challenges to women’s rights with Happily Ever After, an exhibition of works by female artists running October 2 through October 29.

Curated by Amie Potsic, Executive Director & Chief Curator of Main Line Art Center, the show features the work of artists Aubrie Costello, (Philadelphia, PA), Jenny Drumgoole, (Philadelphia, PA), Jes Gamble, (Philadelphia, PA), Erica Zoë Loustau, (West Grove, Pennsylvania), Mari Ogihara, (White Plains, New York), Glynnis Reed, (Egg Harbor, NJ), and Emily Smith, (Philadelphia, PA). From self-defined vantage points of power, these women artists address the human experience through a female lens in the 21st century – a post-feminist era rife with demands for a new feminism. Addressing pre-pubescent characters, trans and female identities, emotionally charged language, and complex female forms, a single definition of woman is defied. In today’s fairytale, Cinderella is breaking the glass slipper and “happily ever after” remains elusive. A free artist talk and opening reception will be held on Friday, October 13, from 5:30 – 8:00 pm at Main Line Art Center, and starting at 6:30 pm, Aubrie Costello will be doing a live installation that will carry throughout the evening.

Happily Ever After, Main Line Art CenterMari Ogihara

Taking inspiration from the majesty and strength of samurai armor as well as the vulnerable sensuality suggested by women’s undergarments, Mari Ogihara creates ceramic chastity belts and female figures alluding to corporeal desire and implied violence.  Directly confronting the emotional impact of violence against women, Emily Smith’s paintings reveal the psychological and physical trauma of being attacked by a male stranger processed through paint, fabric, and memory.

Jes Gamble uses photography to document performance and fiber based works that explore an emotional journey from fear to empowerment, all the while referring to the inescapable history of female experience and the act of mending to build human connection. Celebrating the authenticity of female kinship, Glynnis Reed’s photographs meld confident female and transgender subjects with natural imagery to create auras of complex spirituality.  Influenced by the natural landscape, her girlhood home, and architecture, Erica Zoë Lostau creates site specific installations of repeated shapes on geometrically arranged lines of mono-filament seeking a sublime level of illusion and metaphor.

Happily Ever After, Main Line Art CenterGlynnis Reed

Imagining what would happen if the sexual awakening of puberty were averted, Jenny Drumgoole’s videos present her alter-ego named Soxx who turns traditional women’s behavior on its head by throwing parties for sanitation workers, eating pudding for hire, and running for Mayor of Philadelphia.  As if applying punctuation to the same city, Aubrie Costello’s silk graffiti speaks to women’s physical and emotional struggles, the power of language, and unrelenting natural elements.

The artists in Happily Ever After resist and embrace the traditional trappings of women’s beauty and identity while rewriting urban legend, redefining women’s work, and re-forging paths to power. In doing so, they not only actualize the female gaze, they stare you straight in the eye.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Main Line Art Center is proud to present the lecture “Happily Ever After and the Female Gaze: Philadelphia Women Artist Trailblazers – Then and Now” led by Cindy Veloric, MA, research assistant at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,  Artistic Advisor at Main Line Art Center, and independent art historian.  Veloric will explain an extended series of circumstances particular to Philadelphia that enabled a number of “firsts” for trailblazing women artists. In the context of Main Line Art Center’s exhibition Happily Ever After, Veloric will also lead a panel discussion with women artists in the show (Aubrie Costello, Jenny Drumgoole, Jes Gamble, and Emily Smith) looking at the female gaze and politics of influence in the their work today.

Main Line Art Center is the community’s home to discover, create, and experience visual art. The mission of Main Line Art Center is to inspire and engage people of all ages, abilities, and economic means in visual art through education, exhibitions, and experiences. Committed to increasing the visibility and accessibility of art, the Art Center presents innovative exhibitions and events in the community, including Panorama: Image-Based Art in the 21st Century, a Greater Philadelphia-wide celebration of the photographic image and digital media. Main Line Art Center’s educational offerings for all ages, abilities, and economic means span from traditional to contemporary, and are all held to the highest level of excellence. In 2015, Main Line Art Center received the Commitment to Cultural Access Award from Art-Reach for the Center’s Accessible Art Programs for children and adults with disabilities. Additionally, the Art Center grants over $10,000 in need-based scholarships annually. Last year, Main Line Art Center engaged 21,000 people through classes, exhibitions, and Summer Art Camp, and touched the lives of over 78,000 through Exhibitions in the Community and festivals across the Philadelphia area. Main Line Art Center is located at 746 Panmure Road in Haverford, behind the Wilkie Lexus dealership just off of Lancaster Avenue. The Art Center is easily accessible from public transportation and offers abundant free parking.

As the oldest design festival of its kind in the country, DesignPhiladelphia highlights the work of thousands of local designers, architects, and creative professionals to demonstrate Philadelphia’s reemergence as a 21st century city shaped by thoughtful design, collaborative business practices, and community engagement. Over the course of ten days each October, places such as universities, cultural institutions, civic associations, city agencies, retailers, manufacturers, and startups across the city participate in over 100 engaging events including panel discussions, fashion shows, participatory workshops, studio tours, book signings, professional development classes, design exhibitions, and imaginative celebrations.

For more information about Happily Ever After, please visit www.mainlineart.org or call 610.525.0272 X 116.

Thank you to Amie Potsic for the content of this post.

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Assembled

Philadelphia AssembledCity is Stage for Philadelphia Assembled

April through December 2017

Beginning in late April, a project entitled Philadelphia Assembled will manifest in a series of activities and actions throughout the city to illuminate and amplify a broad set of hopes, visions, and questions about Philadelphia’s future. Initiated by artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, working alongside an extensive network of collaborators—among them artists, writers, builders, storytellers, gardeners, healers, and activists—Philadelphia Assembled aims to shape a collective narrative about our city and some of the most urgent issues it faces at a time of heightened transformation. Deeply integrated into the fabric of the Museum, the project also questions the place of this institution in the midst of this change.

Philadelphia Assembled

Following this spring season of city-wide programs, the project will culminate in an exhibition opening in September at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This participatory installation, September 10 through December 10, 2017, will transform the Perelman Building’s ground floor galleries, café, and store into spaces that will celebrate the people, sights, sounds, and tastes of a resilient city’s multi-faceted identity. Admission will be Pay What You Wish.

Evocatively referred to as “atmospheres of democracy”, Philadelphia Assembled addresses a number of issues that are central to the future the city by focusing on key themes such as reconstructions—how we deal with questions of social displacement and reentry into society; sovereignty—how we define self-determination and autonomy; sanctuary—how we understand self-care, asylum, and refuge; futures—how to re-imagine our tomorrow; and movement—how we facilitate action and collective learning.

Philadelphia Assembled

Van Heeswijk’s work, which is often described as social practice or socially engaged art, combines art and activism. In this spirit, the project brings together voices of those who care about the changing landscape of Philadelphia and who, in life and work, seek to champion and secure a prosperous and equitable future for all of its citizens.

Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and CEO, stated, “Some of the most interesting work being done by artists today straddles the boundary between art and life.  In 2013, we invited the Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk to consider what an artist might do in engaging Philadelphia’s many neighborhoods and diverse communities. What began as a conversation has grown, and it has been fascinating—and rewarding—to watch Philadelphia Assembled take on a life of its own. We are looking forward to the moment when our galleries are appropriated to become a stage for the city itself. It promises to be exciting and full of surprises and presents an opportunity to consider how we might define the roles and responsibilities that the Philadelphia Museum of Art can play as a civic institution in a changing city in the 21st century.”

Denise Valentine, a collaborator and Philadelphia storyteller, reflected on this process: “We intend to re-imagine the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a place to unearth stories hidden deep in the soil of Philadelphia. We envision a place where narratives of the enslaved, the incarcerated, the displaced, and the disenfranchised are held in as high esteem as Eurocentric ideas about art, history, and culture.”

Philadelphia Assembled

The project’s five “atmospheres” are described below:

Reconstructions

This atmosphere will assemble personal and collective narratives of mass incarceration and gentrification. Its first site, in the Nicetown/Tioga neighborhood, will be realized in close collaboration with Reconstructions, Inc. and the Alumni Ex Offenders Association. This group will offer programs exploring concepts of home, healing and trauma in relationship to imprisonment and reentry, including a teach-in and a neighborhood-wide procession. At a second site, in South Kensington/Olde Kensington, collaborators are examining the impact of gentrification and displacement, working with the Women’s Community Revitalization Project and Healthy Rowhouse Project to re-imagine a community garden at 4th and Master Streets as a dynamic space for discussion.

Philadelphia Assembled

Sovereignty

Exploring the concepts of self-determination and autonomy, this working group is addressing land sovereignty and cooperative forms of commerce and cultural exchange. Philadelphia Assembled will create a “sovereignty room” at the African Cultural Art Forum on 52nd Street, which will serve as a dedicated space in West Philadelphia for creating unity and cultivating economic sovereignty. Established in 1969, ACAF is a community-based organization that manufactures and sells products by entrepreneurs throughout the African diaspora. In the “sovereignty room” ACAF will host skill trainings and exchanges in preparation for a large public “Sovereignty Marketplace” in June. The second site is envisioned as a network of four urban gardens located in North Philadelphia. Programming and installations across these gardens will inform the ways in which plants, seeds, and land reinforce people’s connection to ancestry and serve as vehicles for nourishment, healing, and future growth. Urban gardens involved include Urban Creators, Norris Square Neighborhood Project Gardens, Fair Hill Burial Grounds, and Stretch and Fly Youth Business Garden.

Philadelphia Assembled

Futures

The Futures atmosphere is drawing from anti-colonial ideas to model different ways of exploring the future and community building. The Futures site is an active mobile project, called the Mobile Futures Institute, which involves retro-fitting a small bus into a flexible work space that will travel throughout the city, engaging in neighborhood-based programs on issues ranging from decolonization, to environmental racism, to economic justice. Collaborators are working with community members and organizations to produce events and happenings via the Mobile Futures Institute. Current partners include the Center for Returning Citizens, Black Quantum Futurism, Friends Center, Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, Norris Square Community Alliance, Mighty Writers, and the Indigenous Peoples Day Movement, among others.

Philadelphia Assembled

Sanctuary

This group has proposed a combination of sites that will explore various models of self-care, asylum, and refuge. The larger site will be realized at a central location in Center City. The site structure is a geodesic dome inspired by temporary housing units for refugees in Europe. The space will be open for a month of summer programs, offering a layered definition of sanctuary through storytelling, advocacy, and direct action. In the months leading up to the fixed site, a portable site will host a series of activities working with identified partner organizations to address the provision of LBGTQ safe spaces, issues of immigration and migration, and harm reduction relating to drug use and sex work. Partner organizations include the Attic Youth Center, New Sanctuary Movement, Prevention Point Philadelphia, and Project Safe.

Philadelphia Assembled

Movement

The final atmosphere is one in which the various Philadelphia Assembled working groups intersect. This group is focused on the project’s production, dissemination, and communication, which is manifesting in audio recordings, a dedicated film series, project-specific graphics, an interactive web platform, and site-specific publications. Another component of the Movement atmosphere is the Youth Dream Trust, which will serve as a coalition of youth across the working groups in partnership with the Village of Arts and Humanities. Working closely with Philadelphia-based collective Amber Art and Design, the group will also orchestrate the performative movement of public sites to the Museum. Carrying objects, ideas, and conversations across the city streets, this public movement will culminate in a communal presentation along the ground floor of the Perelman Building, becoming a civic stage where the city is performed.

For Jeanne van Heeswijk, Philadelphia Assembled is a forward-moving process in which she is one among many participants imagining the city’s futures together. She stated: “My work is trying to get to the essence of aesthetics, to understand it as an engaged, inclusive, and proactive practice. This type of work is about using imagination to better understand how we live together. Rising, claiming, rooting, caring, moving – this is how we build a collective exercise of care.”

Philadelphia Assembled

Members of the public are invited to join the conversation and engage with collaborators by visiting the Philadelphia Assembled website and sharing their experiences via #phlassembled @phlassembled @philamuseum.

Program Events

For a full list of public programs and locations, please visit the dedicated website at phlassembled.net. All Philadelphia Assembled programs are free to the public unless noted otherwise.

Philadelphia Assembled

About Jeanne Van Heeswijk

Jeanne van Heeswijk is an artist who facilitates the creation of dynamic and diversified public spaces in order to “radicalize the local.” Her community-embedded projects question art’s autonomy by combining performative actions, discussions, and other forms of organizing and pedagogy in order to work alongside communities to take control of their own futures. Van Heeswijk’s work has been featured in publications and exhibitions worldwide, including the Liverpool, Shanghai, and Venice biennials. Accolades include the receipt of the 2011 Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change, the 2012 Curry Stone Prize for Social Design Pioneers, and the 2014 inaugural Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism at the Center for Curatorial Studies and Human Rights Project at Bard College. She lives and works in Rotterdam and Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Assembled

About Social Practice
Social Practice is an art medium that focuses on participation and collaboration with individuals, communities, and institutions in the collective creation of a temporary or permanent community. The process involves careful listening, thoughtful conversation, and community organizing. This is also referred to as socially engaged art, social justice art, community art and new genre public art.

Sponsors

Philadelphia Assembled is made possible by the William Penn Foundation, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Wyncote Foundation, Nancy M. Berman and Alan Bloch, Lynne and Harold Honickman, Mr. and Mrs. Milton S. Schneider, Constance and Sankey Williams, the Mondriaan Fund, and The Netherland-America Foundation.

Philadelphia Assembled

Collaborators

Philadelphia Assembled is initiated by artist Jeanne van Heeswijk and organized with Carlos Basualdo, The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art; Amanda Sroka, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art; Phoebe Bachman, Project Coordinator; and Sheldon Abba, Project Site Manager. Core collaborators include: Amber Art and Design, artist collective; Yana Balson, Associate Director of Exhibition Planning, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Kirtrina Baxter, community organizer and activist grower; Pascale Boucicaut, culinary artist and organizer; Maurits de Bruijn, graphic designer and web developer; Counter Narrative Society (CNS); Helen Cunningham, educator and conflict mediator; Gretchen Dykstra, Senior Marketing Editor, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Morgan Gengo, Marketing and Audience Development Manager, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Shari Hersh, Mural Arts Senior Project Manager and Founder of the Restored Spaces Initiative; Russell Hicks, entrepreneur; in•site collaborative, a research, design, and mapping collective; Nehad Khader, film curator and artist; Jason Killinger, graphic designer; Dianne Loftis, researcher and compiler; Charlotte Lowrey, Project Assistant for the Contemporary Caucus, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Zein Nakhoda, filmmaker; Michael O’Bryan, artist and youth facilitator; People’s Paper Co-op, a collaborative initiative for re-entry; Elisabeth Perez-Luna, journalist and public broadcasting producer; Damon Reaves, Associate Curator of Education, Community Engagement and Access, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Chris Rogers, educator and organizer; Kristin Schwab, community cook and organizer; 75B, design collective; Traction Company, artist collaborative studio; Denise Valentine, storyteller and activist; Phantazia Washington, LGBTQ activist and facilitator; A. M. Weaver, artist and curator; Gee Wesley, artist and curator; Jared Wood, artist; Karina Wratschko, Special Projects Librarian, Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Billy Yalowitz, playwright and community-based performance artist.

Community Partners and Program Hosts

African Cultural Art Forum, Alumni Ex-Offenders Association, The Attic Youth Center, Broad Street Ministry, The Center for Returning Citizens, Coalition for Racial Justice (CoRaJus), Community Futurisms: Time & Memory in North Philly (Community Futures Lab), The Culinary Enterprise Center, Deep Green Philly, The Enterprise Center, Experimental Farm Network, Healthy Rowhouse Project, Historic Fair Hill, Laos in the House, Mighty Writers, MOVE, Mural Arts Philadelphia, New Sanctuary Movement Philadelphia, Norris Square Neighborhood Project, North Central CDC, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance, Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities, Prevention Point Philadelphia, Project SAFE, Reconstruction Inc., Soil Generation, Take Back the Night Philadelphia, Ulises, Urban Creators-Life Do Grow Farm, The Village of Arts and Humanities, W/N W/N, and the Women’s Community Revitalization Project.

Locations

In the City: April – July 2017

Movement to the Museum: July – August 2017

Perelman Building, ground floor: September 10–December 10, 2017

Philadelphia Assembled is a project undertaken in collaboration with stakeholders from across the city and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The views expressed by individual participants or in materials developed as part of Philadelphia Assembled are representative of the project’s collective conception and production and are not, necessarily, the views of the Museum or any other individual involved.

Social Media
Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/YouTube: @philamuseum @phlassembled

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. We are a landmark building. A world-renowned collection. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call (215) 763-8100.

Thank you to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post.

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Love

Alien Architect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelley

Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher

Equidistance: All Love All Praises Kunst Art Arte Exhibition

Love Joyous Celebration Inner Inter Connectivity Gentle Kindness Exhibition

at The Kugel Collaborative Art Gallery

Alien Architect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelley

Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher recalls, “it was or i was, capital I or lowercase i, posting and acting upon magical uninhibited kindness and inspiration peace love vibrations without feeling a need to read all the pages before getting to that point in the story, skipping a head, and skipping, bouncing bubbly as if solution or… na not exactly, just as if state of being, and not as to dominate or subordinate other states of being fore there is more to it and a plethora of realities, though this too is part of it, he thought to him self maybe…. which was when Doniel and I connected and the seeds that would later be this, my exhibition of making peace and harmony with rootedness revisited were planted and began to grow, though the seed that led to those seeds had already been seedlings fore shore.”

asher4Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelly

asher3

“Before returning to Philly, Alien had been speaking intimately with Nereo Zamitiz of Colectivo la Pesera and Arturo Lopez on their radio show entitled El Vortice on SaberSinFin radio in Puebla Mexico  (http://www.sabersinfin.com/audios/119-el-vortice/14205-el-proyecto-de-alien-architect). Alien said to them, “soon, October 2nd, I come to Philly for a collective exhibition named Correspondencia or Corresponence in english, a touring exhibition that will travel through many countries… the participating artists met in hungary… one artist from Germany… one from Hungary, another from Chile living in Czech Republic … others from Mexico …” (check this DoN Brewer article for more info about Correspondencia ::http://www.donartnews.com/correspondencia/ )  …. At the same spot that is currently housing and showcasing this traveling Correspondence exhibition, Community Futures Lab on October 12th, Alien Architect / Cohen Asher / Devin A. Cohen performed a musical poetry words set at an incredible concert which also featured Curta, Wino Willy, John Morrison, Has-Lo, JPEG Mafia; it was a musical experimental progressive meta Rhythm and Poetry (RAP) show. Alien Architect performed with Lem Pidlaoan on drum set, Ras Aleph Judah on bass, and his bro on percussion. Alien/Cohen recalls moments after the fact, in a retrospect of mere moments, that the feeling of this performing experience on this night was a bit like a revisiting or a do over of an aspect of reality but then on second thought or from a different angle was simply simply a beautiful experience all its own in totality anew in which many of the congestions within Alien were expelled and evaporated into useful fueling energy sources as well as energies them selves and others.”

Alien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelley

“The next day Alien awoke. Instead of the ‘normal’ Art opening way of presenting his solo exhibition at Kugel gallery, an exhibition which had actually been up for some time, maybe a month-ish, though it had more so been seen in extremely festive vibrant joyous celebratory magical inspirational mystical stellar private events and not through the channelings of some other folks and cats as well, whom Alien exuberantly enthralled ecstatically and excitedly wanted to also share it with;  he wanted to simply arrange visitations and kind meetings. Yes, prior to this exhibition had been huge festive vibrant gatherings, one of which Alien/Cohen had the pleasure and blessing to attend, and the many others Alien has only imagined with such smiling glee and fulfillment at the though of such a connectivity inner inter spirit joy…

And so on this Day, Thursday October 13th at Noon, Alien Architect at his exhibition met with Ruthie Schanbacher, an incredible experimental avant gard left field fabrics happening fashion artist whom also has a fantastic arts website with news and interviews, which we recommend you check out.  A few years ago, Alien was interviewed in Ruthie’s arts website:: this is the link to that interview

https://mandismag.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/cohen-asher-alien-architect-artist-musician-vocalist-writer-an-interview/ . The site, as you can see when you click on the link, is called Manufactured Dissent (like a play on the Noam Chomsky film Manufactured Consent, a film dealing with analysis on power structure, print and projection screen media like tv, language systems, and News and the channels it goes through before reaching an audience and the ways in which that effects its accuracy and what it perpetuates and who that perpetuation benefits and why and since when and so forth… ).  Anyways these are the stellar photos that Rutherford took of Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher and his vibration magnetism art works whilst at his peace love kindness exhibition of transcendence ::

Alien Arcitect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelley Alien Arcitect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd KelleyAlien Arcitect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher recalls “sometimes in the transcend of other-ness, what would have otherwise been associated with self-ness per haps, becomes alien or otherly, this experience and exhibition is very much about transcending that as well.”

Day 2: FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  October 14th ::

Alien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Ruthie Schanbacher

Before Alien and friends arrived, there had already been a gathering of children’s activities from 10-10:30 on site at the gallery exhibition, which made Alien smile at the thought that his paintings could be an aspect of the environment of such positive kind happenings.

Alien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Ruthie SchanbacherAlien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Floyd Kelley

Alien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Ruthie SchanbacherAlien Architect, Cohen AsherDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Ruthie Schanbacher

“Alien entered the space with that feeling pulsating through his being as he met some magical kin folks at 11am, which was a blessing. They experienced the exhibition and felt its vibration as well as the inner self and each other from their inner mostest to their outer aspects, as well as the non localized experiencial. Many of the pieces in this exhibition are retrospect and a recontexualizing of Alien’s Philadelphia collection of his works which he created in Philadelphia while time traveling and astral projecting, though a few of the pieces were newer and created in Hungary as well. (Alien also has a Mexican collection of his work as well, which exists n Mexico right now and bulk of it was created there, much of it at Liliput, he and Rebeca’s Gallery in Puebla). Alien’s work also exists in private collections in Paris (where Alien last year performed as featured poet at three incredible stellar poetry event happenings, He also created art works, paintings while there), in Hungary, California, New York, Philadelphia, London. He has exhibited his art which he exudes and cries sweats and bleeds out form his ARTeries lots in many different spaces in Mexico, across realities in Philadelphia, and at the beginning of this year in Spain and Japan now too. In fact, Alien Architect’s latest droney dramatic poetico musical poetry record is titled Arteria, which means Artery in Spanish. This is a link to Arteria on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/cohen-asher/sets/alien-architect-arteria

Feel free to Purchase Arteria or any other Alien Architect Album on his band camp at:

https://alienarchitect.bandcamp.com/

Ok, Flashback a little, when Alien had first set up this exhibition, was when he had returned with his love and artistic cohort companion, contemporary artist gothic metal head and photographer of culture and music and art for magazines and the avant gard, Rebeca Martell. Well, she had to head to Mexico to work on billions trillions of projects; Alien. still in Philly for a little, wrote to Doniel-Reuvana Leah Grodnitzky, and in a magic moment Doniel came by serendipitously, as they had been speaking of this for some time now though in different countries and physically at distances (equidistance)::: now this was the moment of fruition. Doniel came by. Alien felt the divine mystical intuition and began feeling and percieving and loaded Doniel’s car with his art works and brought the pieces over and hung them by means of flow and acceptance of the divine moment and existence that seems to be part of Alien’s process (including the transcendence of the pedestaling of such an idea too, but also the acceptance of all, including that and all all). Once they arrived at Kugel Gallery with Devin Alien’s art, Doniel stepped out for a moment to take care of some other things; when he returned Alien was just about finished placing his pieces upon the walls, Doniel began to shoot a few photos and each shot had such an precision and beauty to it, anecdotal and in that moment joyously.”

These are the photos that Doniel shot on that day of the beginning of this experiential inner inter connectivity shed layers exhibition:

Alien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Doniel Reuvena Leah GrodnitzkyAlien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Doniel Reuvena Leah GrodnitzkyAlien Architect, Cohen Asher, The Kugle CollaborativeDevin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher at Kugel Collecive Gallery FOTO by Doniel Reuvena Leah Grodnitzky

Ok, back to the present story, DoN Brewer arrived at 3PM, they were thrilled to see each other, Alien felt encouraged and accepted to be excited and kind and thrilled and friendly, Don is great spirit soul. They knew each other prior to this return from Mexico, however they had been sparking and energizing especially now;  At the Plastic Club’s Photographic Society Exhibition of which Don was a part of, and then moments later at Correspondencia, both October 2nd (which is still on display now). This is Don’s Article about Corespondencia:   http://www.donartnews.com/correspondencia/

And so, In moments, just after DoN and Cohen quite cathartically candidly and openly conversed “on the level,”  DoN shot a SUPER COOL  live VIDEO OF COHEN ASHER / ALIEN ARCHITECT PERFORMING A mINI EXCERPT FROM “ALL PRAISES” as well, this version a bit more calmly spoken on the low key, and as if calm descriptor of the wandering experience in relation to the inner inter of the exhibition, as well as the umbrella concept overarching generality specificity it alludes and tributes and attributes to.

This is that video:

https://www.facebook.com/DoNArTNeWs/videos/1274031232672272/?pnref=story

——We’ve also found this, which has surfaced, it is WHAT appears to be A REHEARSAL  ACOUSTIC PRIVATE PERFORMANCE TESTING ENERGY LEVELS FOR ALIEN ARCHITECT SONG “ALL PRAISES” and super awesome ! Seems it is live from Alien Architect’s / Cohen Asher‘s Philadelphia artist studio.

https://www.facebook.com/asher.cohen.908/videos/10208234199626810/?pnref=story

—– SOON COHEN‘S BOOK IS COMING PRINTY PRINTY, WHICH INCLUDES ‘ALL PRAISES’ AS WELL  AS COHEN‘S other WRITINGS from 2001 till 2016 from all his records as well as his recent poems of the past few years in this next period (etc). RUMOURS OF This book’s TITLE HAVE BEEN CIRCULATING, WITH THE MOST PREVALANT CONJECTURE BEING THAT IT SHALL BE TITLED “REMNANTS.”  RUMOURS OF A POSSIBLE COMPANION MUSICAL RECORD TO ACCOMPANY THE BOOK HAVE BEEN SURFACING AS WELL, AFTER IT SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN ALLUDED to OR IMPLIED IN ALIEN ARCHITECT’S RECENT RADIO INTERVIEW ON EL VORTICE RADIO ON SABERSINFIN (This was Alien’s second appearance on the show, the same one spoken of at the beginning of this article).

Alien Architect 2016 Saber SinFin Interview: http://www.sabersinfin.com/audios/119-el-vortice/14205-el-proyecto-de-alien-architect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prdvvlD0Wno

Soon Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher shall venture off into the distance to Mexico with his love. As for Alien, always more to say and details to articulate, but he shall return’th from the abyss one day. Feel free to follow the rabbit whole that is his Art and his website and that of links leading to links leading to interviews to articles to videos to subtext to intertextuality in his art works (poetry, art, music, theater) and the stories both linear and nonlinear and more info, adventures, wanderings, constructs, deconstructs, journeys, quests, and so forth. We will end off with three brief quotes from Alien Architect / Cohen Asher / Devin Asher Cohen, himself; excerpts from his upcoming book, these are also to a degree statements of art from perspective that of internal feeling as consciousness as lens from which as art and thoughts that go beyond language but also poetry as an internal experience which speaks to the tunneling and path and way and process of Cohen‘s Peace Love Joyous Celebration Inner Inter Connectivity solo Exhibition at Kugel Gallery:

triviality

trivia

clever

wit

ends

silence

starts

direct connection

unmediated

most immediate experiential

an infinity of self contained unity         peripheral expanse

tabula rasa

baggage and weight up lifted gravitational pulled

microscopic vibrations live

as we fall

in

love

immediate rooted extension overarching omni is

an infinity of self contained unity         peripheral expanse

tabula rasa

filled full emptiness

empty fullness

fulfilled

triviality

trivia

clever

wit

ends

silence

starts

direct connection

unmediated

immediate experiential

gazing outward

—— Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher, March 15, 2016 ——

————————————————————————

”     sounds massing multi layered over under over under; micro, macro, bio, geo, textural cement: rocky, blue, red, yellow, maze – path – all at once –

overlap detail, fields surrounded by lines, lines filled in with patterns; stacked: developed multi mixed media rates of growth; textural all at once, soundly massing pictorially.

minimalism, maximalism, gestalt, mere, open ended indefinite into fixed though non specific to beholder’s eyes witnessing; inner inter-active, is.

process; result as residual of experiential   

—— Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher, 2016 ——


one cannot

act real

one cannot

behave real

but one

can feel real

one can

imply real

one can

imply

feeling real

through acting and behaving

——Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher, 2006 ——


Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher websites (follow the rabbit whole, portaling):

http://alienarch.wixsite.com/arteria

https://www.facebook.com/alienarchitect/?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/alienarchitect

https://soundcloud.com/cohen-asher/sets/alien-architect-arteria

http://alienarchitectcohenasher.tumblr.com/

Liliput websites:

http://liliputxperimental.wixsite.com/liliput

https://www.facebook.com/liliput.gallery/

https://twitter.com/LiliputGallery

Rebeca Martell: http://rebecamartell.wixsite.com/doom

Ruthie Schanbacher’s Manufacured Dissenthttps://mandismag.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/cohen-asher-alien-architect-artist-musician-vocalist-writer-an-interview/

https://www.facebook.com/Manufactured-Dissent-52989847157/?fref=ts

Community Futures Lab: https://www.facebook.com/communityfutureslab/?fref=ts

DoNArTNeWs:

http://www.donartnews.com/correspondencia/

Thank you to Devin Asher Cohen = Alien Architect = Cohen Asher for the content of this post.

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