Playful New Public Art Installation at Philly’s Navy Yard Invites Us to Daydream

A new installation from London-based artist Morag Myerscough is now located at the Marine Parade Grounds at Broad Street and Constitution Avenue at Philly’s Navy Yard! Created with anonymous Philly-based curatorial Group X, Morag Myerscough initially created the artwork, titled Magical Fantasy, for AEG and the 2021 Firefly Music Festival, a four-day music festival in Dover, Delaware. Through the artist and AEG’s dedication to reuse it has been relocated to the Navy Yard for the public to enjoy for one year: now through the end of October 2022! The Navy Yard is free and open to all to access everyday from sunrise to sunset.

“Magical Fantasy is totally about escapism,” Morag elaborated in a press release about the project. “A place to be alone or to share with others. An embracing arch to draw you through into another world and a place where you can let your imagination take over. Three dwelling structures to spend time in to dream, dance, sing–what ever it makes you feel. They are deliberately small to have a feeling of intensity. The colours and patterns are intense to stimulate the brain. The work is there for people to enjoy and embrace. It was so important to me that the work found the perfect permanent home. As an artist I am very aware that making temporary work that is only up for a few days can be very bad for the environment and we must take responsibility for the work we put into the world, to be aware what materials use their sources and how important giving work as long a life as possible, and then at the end of it that it can be recycled and put back into the system not in landfill.”

Magical Fantasy follows the popular Sea Monsters HERE inflatable art installation with artists Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas in 2018, the interactive tape sculpture Tape Philadelphia: Enter the Cocoon with experimental European arts collective Numen/For Use in 2019, and a series of six installations from seven world-renowned artists in 2020 for a project called M.I.M.O.S.A.

Absolutely love this artwork, and could see so many people from the area spending an afternoon exploring the Navy Yard and this installation with their friends, families, (and maybe a little wine, haha)!