Explore the Museum Without Walls
Activity: The Museum Without Walls Audio Tour of Philadelphia
Age Group: We recommend this for students from 8th Grade to Adult.
Cost: Free!
Time Needed: Flexible
Location: Center City, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Fairmount Park
Description:
The Museum Without Walls… allows us to become tourists in our own city.
Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures than any other American city but for those of us who live here, public art often fades into the backdrop of a too-familiar landscape. There is the danger of these works becoming invisible. The Museum Without Walls audio tour seeks to cure that with a unique interactive experience that tells the story of the artwork and allows us to become tourists in our own city. Located throughout Center City, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Fairmount Park, Museum Without Walls offers more than 60 audio programs, each featuring different voices with their own story to tell.
The audio tour offers several free ways to participate. One way is to call 215-399-9000 and enter the stop number that is located on the sculpture sign or map. You can get the mobile app for your iPhone or Android. Audio download/streaming audio is available on the official program website, museumwithoutwallsaudio.org.
Of course the best way to participate in the Museum Without Walls audio tour is on foot. You can download a map from their website or pick up a free map from the Fairmount Parks Welcome Center in LOVE Park or any of the Parkway institutions. Since there is no chronological order or predetermined path you are free to wander along and view the art at your own pace. Ashley Lippolis, program assistant for the Association for Public Art says the aim is to attract the “spontaneous user” on the street who might not necessarily buy a ticket to a museum or feel compelled to go research the sculpture they pass every day.
The audio tour is different from a traditional museum experience in that instead of a standard individual narrator, the voices featured in Museum Without Walls audio tour come from all walks of life and are united by their connection to the particular piece of art. The voices featured are not only that of other artists and family members of the artist, but of scientists, curators, civic leaders, and historians. This diversity gives you greater insight into the artist and their creative process. It also makes it easier to see the connection or importance the piece of art has to the city of Philadelphia. You come away feeling like you were part of the conversation.
If you are in Center City, a good place to start the tour is at the Frank Rizzo Monument located on the Municipal Services Building Plaza steps on JFK Boulevard between 15th and Broad Streets. The sculpture of the controversial former mayor offers a piece of not-so-distant Philadelphia history. The artist, Zenos Frudakis, said he wanted his Rizzo statue to reflect a man who many believed was larger than life. Frudakis also explained that he deliberately placed his sculpture on the ground level because he wanted people to approach and touch the sculpture.
On Walnut Street in Rittenhouse Square, between 18th and 19th Streets, you can find Paul Manship’s Duck Girl in mid-step across the fountain. Major Jackson, a Philadelphia poet, reads portions of his poem, “Duck Girl on the Occasion of Spring,” which was commissioned and performed by Philadelphia’s Concerto’s Soloists.
Right off of Kelly Drive at 25th Street is the Joan of Arc sculpture created by French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet. The sculpture was recently re-gilded so try to catch it on a sunny day. Art historian Suzanne Lindsay explains that some read this golden glow as part of Joan’s saintliness while others see it as a reflection of her exceptional qualities in history.
Museum Without Walls audio tour is a program of the Association for Public Art. This past September the audio tour recently expanded to include 30 new audio programs throughout Fairmount Park and Center City.