Re-issued in 2022 to celebrate the Association for Public Art’s 150th Anniversary, you can now purchase t-shirts and a tote bag with Barbara Kruger’s artwork Untitled (When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook). This 1985 artwork by Kruger was first featured on a t-shirt given to attendees as part of our organization’s Public Art in America ’87 conference held in Philadelphia. The conference was the first national, interdisciplinary forum to examine public art in its broadest context through the perspectives of politics, urban design, cultural anthropology, and the social sciences.

Commissioned 40 years ago by the Association for Public Art for Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia, the “Louis Kahn Lecture Room” by Siah Armajani is on its way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Oldenburg became well known locally when his iconic Clothespin was installed across from Philadelphia’s City Hall in 1976, becoming the talk of the town.

Now in its 40th year, our conservation program is one of the longest continuously operating programs of its kind in the country. Here’s a look at some of the work we did this season, including the deinstallation of Mark di Suvero’s iconic red-orange “Iroquois” sculpture for major restoration.

In May, the Association for Public Art is temporarily removing Mark di Suvero’s massive Iroquois from its home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for conservation restoration. Disassembling the sculpture will take a full day of work from a team of professionals, including conservators, welders, and riggers.

Artists are invited to submit their qualifications by May 1, 2022 for an opportunity to create a proposal. The goals of the commission are to display a strong likeness of Marian Anderson, capture the powerful and gifted spirit of the contralto as well as her energy as a civil rights trailblazer and her dignity in the face of injustice.

Commissioned through the U.S. General Services Administration’s Art in Architecture Program, Moe Brooker’s The Fruit of the Spirit – a 30-foot painting full of life and color – is “an invitation that celebrates the architectural space and adds warmth to it,” described the artist.

As 2021 comes to a close and we gear up for a big year ahead, aPA remains committed to offering meaningful opportunities for outdoor enjoyment and exploration through our public art partnerships, programs, and commissions.

Monumental Tour is a touring group exhibition of sculptures by artists Arthur Jafa, Hank Willis Thomas, Christopher Myers, and Coby Kennedy that honor and examine aspects of the African American experience. The Association for Public Art highlights nearby sculptures in Philadelphia that relate to these nationally-touring works.

Fireflies was applauded for its egalitarian, equitable and democratic values that are the heart of artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s work. The role of the artist and art in society is an important one, and suppressing artistic expression is not an acceptable position.