From sunset to midnight through March 18, the Parkway Council presents “Winter Fountains,” an installation by artist Jennifer Steinkamp.
In case you haven’t heard, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway has been around 100 years, and this is the once-in-a-century centerpiece of “Parkway 100,” the yearlong centennial celebration of Philadelphia’s grand cultural boulevard.
A winter fountain? Won’t it freeze?
Although “Winter Fountains” is inspired by the fountains along the Ben Franklin Parkway, they’re not fountains in the literal sense. Steinkamp is a video and new media artist. “Anyone who’s ever observed water melting and glistening on a piece of ice will get my project,” she said in a press release.
Commissioned by the Association for Public Art, “Winter Fountains” is comprised of four large-scale architectural fiberglass domes – glittery by day and glowing by night – conceived specifically for the section of the Parkway between the Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Winter Fountains” evokes natural grandeur in a technical way by projecting eight different digital animations onto the surface of the 13 x 26-foot domes. Using 16 projectors, each animation features dream-like imagery in a distinct hue, like cool green or blue, or warm red/pink or yellow.
Layers of animations evoke tiny dust particles colliding to create lightning, or to spark static electricity – think Ben Franklin’s electricity experiment. Others depict water turning into gas and steam, asteroid-shaped particles hurtling in space and constellations of shapes coming at you, moving up and down or changing directions randomly.
Will I only be able to see it in a drive by?
The Winter Fountains domes will be installed over the course of a mile at: Aviator Park, 20th Street and the Parkway, adjacent to the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences and Moore College of Art & Design; 21st Street and the Parkway, between the Rodin Museum and the Barnes Foundation; 22nd Street and the Parkway, across from Park Towne Place Museum District Residences; and Spring Garden Street and the Parkway, near the Art Museum.
There’s more information at www.parkway100.org/winterfountains.
There was actually a time when Philadelphia didn’t have the Parkway?
The development of the parkway took place over decades, and groundbreaking got started in 1907. The one-mile Benjamin Franklin Parkway stretches from City Hall to the Art Museum, connecting the city’s business district to Fairmount Park, and some of the city’s most well known museums and abundant public art. Trees and international flags line the boulevard, and other landmarks include the Fairmount Water Works, the Cathedral Basilica of S.S. Peter & Paul, Free Library of Philadelphia, Friends Select School, Moore College of Art & Design and the Philadelphia Mormon Temple.
In a statement, Gail Harrity, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and chair of the Parkway 100 Committee, said: “Parkway 100 is the result of an exceptional collaboration among the institutions that line Philadelphia’s great cultural axis. We are especially proud that, with the support of the William Penn Foundation, this major new work of art will debut as a marquee event in an anniversary year filled with activities. Not only will Winter Fountains animate the Parkway Museums District at night during the coming winter months, but its themes will also serve to deepen appreciation for the parkway’s significant collections.”