Listening In, Brittany Papale @ UArts, Broad & Pine Streets.

Nostalgia simply oozes from the dual pay phones installed outside UArts, harking back to the late days of public access to affordable communications.  DoN recalls the uproar when a 3 minute local call jumped from a dime to 25 cents – now, public phones are rare, cell phones so pervasive that young people can’t imagine a wired world with huge, magnificent switches manned by teams of technicians opening and closing connections.  Listening In allows you to eves-drop on private conversations in a very public setting.  “Stop phonin’, stop phonin’, I don’t wanna think anymore – I got my head & my heart on the dancefloor.”  Lady Gaga.

“My piece consists of two eye charts arranged in a V, with one facing north and the other south.  Since the eye chart always corresponds to a certain distance from which to view it, I have not only blown up the eye chart 10X but scaled up the optimal viewing distance proportionally.“

Justin Rubich, artist.

The continuing series of sculptures presented in the niches of the temple @ Pine & Broad Streets is always a nice surprise with thoughtful, contemporary installations casually placed right out on the street which really forces the artist to think about the environment of the sculpture.  The quest to be creative yet use materials that the artist won’t be totally devastated if something is damaged has resulted in works made from plastic milk crates, wire & broken glass, cellophane…so far the only damage DoN has noticed has been weather related.  Philly LoVeS ArT!!!