The museum phase of Philadelphia Assembled hosts a large-scale indoor city panorama in the atrium space outside the Perelman galleries. This panorama holds layers of soft data (personal narratives), local data (geographical information/policy), and connective metadata that reflects global and geographic systemic issues. Reflecting the urgencies and relationships of collaborators from each of the project’s organizing “atmospheres” - Futures, Sovereignty, Reconstructions, Sanctuary, and Movement - the panorama presents images of resilience from across the city. In addition to providing information, it is also conceived as a platform for ongoing discovery, learning, and relationship building and will continue to evolve over the course of the museum phase of the project. Regularly scheduled workshops will offer the opportunity to continue to “deconstruct global, national, and local events, policies, and actions in relation to people power and acts of resistance/resilience across time, in order to reconstitute our collective histories.” Situated in the physical corridor of Perelman Building, the panorama provides context for the  interweaving issues embodied within the project’s atmosphere, serving as a place of passage and learning as visitors enter into the galleries.

In this way, the panorama introduces PHLA visitors and participants to a spatial, non-linear, sense of history and future. These are neither comprehensive nor static images and narratives of our time, but rather serve as a collection of dates derived from collaborators and project discussions, each entry a starting point for conversation about our city’s history and experiences. While they depict actual events in history, we recognize that the ‘gaps’ between these dates are of equal importance, and such ‘gaps’ should be filled in with your own personal or historical acts of resistance or resilience.

The panorama was conceived by PHLA initiating artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, in collaboration with graphic designers Jason Killinger and Janneke Absil, Movement editor Shari Hersh, illustrators Charlyn Griffith of Wholistic Arts and Bri Barton of Everybody Colors, along with concept design framework, research, and mapping from Larissa Begault, Rania Dalloul, Nora Elmarzouky, and Sara Minard of in•site collaborative.

Individual Panels

Each panel is dedicated to reflecting one of the five atmospheres that make up Philadelphia Assembled, with the exception of Sovereignty, which covers two panels to account for histories of Land and Economic Sovereignty. Aligning the City Panorama with the project-wide graphic, font, and colors, the color of each panel is atmosphere-specific: green reflects Futures, purple is Sovereignty, red is Reconstructions, and Yellow is Sanctuary. These panels are grounded in both the concepts of the atmosphere, as well as the geographic section of Philadelphia where public programming in the city-wide phase (spring 2017) took place. The atmosphere concepts are reflected through the multi-scalar timelines, data mapping, collaborator and partner mapping, and illustrations from the artist collaborators of the project.

Photographs Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, Joseph Hu.