PHILADELPHIA — May 15, 2014 — Celebrating the completion of its most ambitious and unexpected installation to date, The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program will host a special Ride the Rails SEPTA tour and opening reception in honor of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Katharina Grosse, whose world premiere public artwork, psychylustro, was created for Philadelphia’s rail gateway as a seven-part exploration of scale, perspective and the passage of time. As of May 15, the event is sold out.
A perfect complement to psychylustro’s bold vision, the LED light system on the exterior façade of the Cira Centre, Brandywine Realty Trust’s flagship property, will illuminate the colors of psychylustro on the evenings of May 16-18.
An artist talk between Grosse and Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is scheduled for 2 p.m. on May 18, 2014, at the Museum.
About psychylustro
Visible primarily to passengers on Amtrak (traveling between Philadelphia and New York), SEPTA Regional Rail (Chestnut Hill West and Trenton lines) and New Jersey Transit (Atlantic City line), psychylustro is a large-scale, site-specific, temporaryinstallation created by artist Katharina Grosse and curated by Elizabeth Thomas. The work will transform over time as the elements reclaim the space. psychylustro unfolds in a series of seven passages — from vast, dramatic warehouse walls to small buildings and stretches of green spaces — meant to be framed through the windows of the moving train, creating a real-time landscape painting that explores shifting scale, perspective and the passage of time.To view a map of the project sites and learn more about the work, visit muralarts.org/katharinagrosse.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Access to railroad property is prohibited. The public is warned NOT to attempt to walk along, cross or approach the tracks as trains can operate on any track in any direction at any time. Trespassing on railroad property is extremely dangerous and violators will be prosecuted.
psychylustro is presented in cooperation with Amtrak and has been supported by: The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, National Endowment for the Arts, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Fierce Advocacy Fund, PTS Foundation, AT&T, Philadelphia Zoo, David and Helen Pudlin, halfGenius, The Beneficial Foundation with support for the exhibition publication from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation. Media partners: WHYY’s NewsWorks.org, Metro Newspaper.
