New Center-Funded Publications from Mural Arts and The Print Center
Katharina Grosse: psychylustro
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
In the spring of 2014 with Center support, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program unveiled psychylustro, a massive episodic painting from Berlin-based artist Katharina Grosse, splashing waves of color across a five-mile-long stretch of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Though these seven large-scale paintings are impermanent and have transformed over time, from exposure to outdoor elements, they are now preserved in a striking, full-color exhibition catalogue published by Walther König, Köln, alongside documentation of the sites' pre-existing graffiti. The images are accompanied by essays from psychylustro curator Elizabeth Thomas, Institute of Contemporary Art Chief Curator Anthony Elms, and art writers Douglas Ashford and Daniel Marcus, as well as an afterword from Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden.
Demetrius Oliver: Canicular
The Print Center
Combining astronomy, music, and the visual arts, this Center-funded 2014 exhibition at The Print Center challenged audiences' expectations about interacting with art, as gallery spaces were converted into an observatory. A live-feed video projection, sourced from a telescope mounted on the roof of The Franklin Institute, was aimed at the Sirius and Canis Major constellations and made available to visitors only one hour per day. The Print Center has now released a meticulously crafted artist's book, Demetrius Oliver: Canicular, designed by Jeff Ramsey and featuring fold-out images of the exhibition, as well as essays by exhibition curator John Caperton, Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts, and Menil Collection curator Michelle White.
Take a virtual tour of the original Demetrius Oliver: Canicular exhibition, led by curator John Caperton, and read more about the show's reception in The Philadelphia Inquirer, NewsWorks, and other media.