Fairmount Park Art Association Launches Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO @ Philadelphia’s LOVE Park Thursday, June 10 at 11:00 a.m.
New, innovative and accessible audio program for Philadelphia’s public art reveals untold histories of 51 outdoor sculptures through 35 unique audio segments
WHEN: Thursday, June 10, 2010 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Opening remarks followed by speakers 11:25 a.m. Sign dedication 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Select participant “voices” will be available for interviews at sculptures featured in the program along the Parkway
WHERE: LOVE Park, JFK Plaza at 16th and JFK Blvd Rain location: Inside the Fairmount Park Welcome Center, 16th and JFK Blvd WHO: Penny Balkin Bach, Executive Director, Fairmount Park Art Association; Gary Steuer, Chief Cultural Officer, City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy; Mark Focht, Executive Director, Fairmount Park, City of Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation; and more. INFO: This event is free and open to the public. Three attendees will have a chance to each win a 2GB iPod shuffle.
WHAT: On Thursday, June 10 at Philadelphia’s famed LOVE Park beginning at 11:00 a.m., the Fairmount Park Art Association will launch Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO, a multi-platform, interactive audio experience created to engage the public with Philadelphia’s preeminent collection of public art and outdoor sculpture.
The event will offer participants an opportunity to experience and learn more about the AUDIO program and to meet some of the audio segments’ “voices,” who will be stationed along the Parkway at various sculptures from 11:30 a.m. – 12: 30 p.m. Three attendees will also have a chance to each win a 2GB iPod shuffle pre-loaded with all 35 Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO segments.
The diverse narratives are told by over 100 authentic voices with personal connections to the artwork.
Philadelphia has more outdoor sculpture than any other American city. Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO invites passersby to stop, look, listen and experience public art in a new light, through professionally produced three-minute interpretive audio segments revealing the untold histories of 51 outdoor sculptures at 35 stops along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Kelly Drive. The diverse narratives are told by over 100 authentic voices with personal connections to the artwork.
The launch event will feature Penny Balkin Bach, Executive Director, Fairmount Park Art Association; Gary Steuer, Chief Cultural Officer, City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy; and Mark Focht, Executive Director, Fairmount Park, City of Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation.
A sign dedication at the LOVE (1976) sculpture by artist Robert Indiana will follow the program introduction. On the Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO segment for LOVE, listeners have the rare opportunity to hear Indiana himself talk about the now iconic sculpture. Each Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO narrative compliments the viewer’s experience of outdoor sculpture with a program that is as unique as the artwork it describes, featuring different voices, themes, and production styles, produced by award-winning public radio producers and journalists. Programs explore personal and cultural connections to the art, while offering insights into the artists and their processes, what the sculptures represent, the history surrounding the works, and why the pieces were commissioned and installed at specific sites in Philadelphia. Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO ambassadors will distribute program maps and guide participants interested in experiencing the program.