Temple Contemporary

Announcing the 2019 Velocity Fund Grantees

For its second year of regranting, The Velocity Fund—established in 2018 by Temple Contemporary at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture with the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts—has awarded grants to 14 art projects by Philadelphia artists. You can learn more about the selected projects here.

Above: "Music for Plants, by Plants," by artist Raul Romero, one of the 2019 Velocity Fund grantees.

Symphony for a Broken Orchestra update
Earlier this year, Temple Contemporary installed repair kits for musical instruments in every Philadelphia public school music classroom—the latest phase of Symphony for a Broken Orchestra project, a multi-year, city-wide effort initiated by Temple Contemporary, its many institutional partners and hundreds of professional and amateur musicians throughout the city. Together, these musicians performed a unique composition written by acclaimed composer David Lang specifically for the sounds these instruments can only make in their broken state. For more information, please visit symphonyforabrokenorchestra.org.
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1000 Ways to Listen earns a Pew grant
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage has awarded a grant to 1000 Ways to Listen, a multi-year performance project involving theater artists Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone (known as 600 HIGHWAYMEN) and curator Simon Dove that will connect a broad cross-section of Philadelphia residents with 1,000 Philadelphia performers/listeners in order to create opportunities for empathetic listening. Image: 600 Highwaymen, "The Fever," 2017. Photo courtesy 600 Highwaymen.
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How & Why
Many of our peer museums and galleries come up with a great idea and then start looking for an audience to come and see it. At Temple Contemporary, we start with the public first! Our programming is designed with the public at the forefront of our process. Learn about how we do it here.
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Temple Contemporary

Our mission is to creatively re-imagine the social function of art. All of our programs are free and open to everyone. More

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“Hannah Wilke: Sculpture in the Landscape,” which ran from April 25–July 12, 2019 at Temple Contemporary, showcased photographs by Hannah Wilke—the iconic feminist artist and Tyler alumna—that she titled the 'Gum in Landscape Series,' as well as photographs of ceramic and bronze sculpture in the landscape that were never printed or shown during her lifetime.

Upcoming

Temple Contemporary’s Advisory Council met earlier this month. Through their process of asking questions that they care deeply about and collectively deciding which of these questions carry the most local relevance and international significance, they voted on the following two questions to guide Temple Contemporary’s upcoming programming:

What does it mean to be counted? Who counts?

“Up to $40 billion dollars will be reapportioned in accordance with the upcoming census. Based on the significant undercounting of Philadelphia’s disinvested neighborhoods in the 2010 census, this city is now cited as one of the most at risk counties in the state to be undercounted in the 2020 census. How can we hold onto the histories and communities of our proud neighborhoods while living in one of the United States’ most rapidly gentrifying cities? Questions of citizenship, belonging and displacement are prevalent throughout Philadelphia and our nation’s borders. Recognizing that culture often leads policy, how can we as cultural producers lead in the effort to recognize, honor, and show who counts?”

What is play?

Why is play only acceptable up until a certain age? Can we play through hard things? Can play be used as a tool to think through something else? At what age do we turn play into a commodity? What is the age that you need to have gear to play? How can we play more in work?How do we unleash people in their offices? How do you assess play? What does it mean to introduce and create play in difficult environments? Race has a role in play. Playing quietly is different from loud play and it is interpreted differently in regards to race. How can this be re-interpreted? Our public education system is struggling to learn from play–eliminating recess, gym, music and art class. Increasingly maturity is being falsely equated with a seriousness that is devoid of play and being playful. You can’t wear cat sweaters.