(Cranes in photos by Alison Dilworth, windmills by Dayton Castleman)

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UPDATE (8/15): Today’s event at Broad Street Ministry has been postponed because of the rain, check out Philadelphia Assembled’s events calendar shortly to see a new day/time for that Move-In event.

In the meantime, I’d like to invite y’all to join me for an equally visual (aka Instagrammable) Philadelphia Assembled Move-In event, Visages of the Underground: Economic Sovereignty, taking place this Thursday, August 17 from 7-9pm starting at the African Cultural Art Forum, 221 South 52nd street (52nd street between Walnut and Locust streets.) This Move-in event will see Keir Johnston and Ernel Martinez of Amber Art and Design traveling the carved wooden boat from the site of the African Cultural Art Forum along Lancaster Avenue, a route that leads from the outer edges of the city directly into its center, where they will continue along the path of the Schuylkill River towards the Museum. In doing so, Amber Arts is engaging indigenous histories, the traverses of illegal immigrants, past and modern passages from slavery to freedom, and those who are forced to travel under persecution – each following nature-provided markers and pathways… Hope to see y’all there!
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So excited to tell y’all that Philadelphia Assembled is about to take over the Philadelphia Museum of Art‘s Perelman Building and I will be covering the Move-In! This will be the first in a series of collaborations I’ll be partnering with the Philadelphia Museum of Art for over the next few months, all to document and explore their Philadelphia Assembled exhibition, a project that joins art and civic engagement. If you missed it, click here to read my announcement of this partnership from last week.

So what’s this “Move-In?”

Starting next week, Philadelphia Assembled collaborators working alongside Amber Art and Design will create a series of performances to bring art objects, conversations, and installations from the Philadelphia Assembled public sites across the city to the PMA’s Perelman Building. These Move-In events are free and open to the public, and you can learn more about all of them here.

I’ll be live-documenting three of these Move-Ins next week on @StreetsDept’s Instagram and Instagram Story feed, so be sure to follow along there.

Of all the Move-Ins, there’s one in particular that’s relatively centrally located and going to be especially visual (aka Instagrammable,) and I don’t think you’ll want to miss. That’s the Visages of the Underground: Sanctuary Move-In performance. For this Move-In, Philadelphia Assembled collaborators and Amber Art and Design will move paper cranes from Broad Street Ministry through the streets of Center City and into the PMA’s Perelman Building. These cranes usually hang atop Broad Street Ministry’s sanctuary space where they soar above the food and fellowship offered to a large portion of the city’s homeless population. Inside the cranes are message from BSM clients and residents. Carrying the BSM spirit of “radical hospitality,” the passage of these objects symbolizes the movement of this space of shelter and welcome to the Museum.

Please join us for this Move-In performance on Tuesday, August 15th from 3-5pm starting at Broad Street Ministry at 315 South Broad Street (on Broad between Spruce and Pine streets.) Hope to see y’all there!