February 27, 2016
As the skateboarding community in Philadelphia and beyond begins to envision life after LOVE Park, Drexel University's Leonard Pearlstein Gallery is preparing to transform into an illuminated, multimedia skate park for an upcoming pop-up gallery that will be free and open to the public this spring.
The new exhibition, "Philly Radness: An Interactive Pop-Up Skate Park," will feature the immersive work of Miami-based multimedia artist Eric Cade Schoenborn and pro skater Ed Selego, who previously produced the installation in the Miami Design District in 2013 for the annual NikeSB Go Skateboarding Day.
“We turned life into an animated GIF and skated it,” the pair said of their original park, which uses sound and motion responsive projections to bring glowing visuals to a series of skateable boxes, ramps and gallery walls.
This time around, the experience at the Pearlstein Gallery will be enhanced with a photo and video show curated by Philly-based skate videographer Chris Mulhern, who along with Sabotage Productions videographer Brian Panebianco has been an aesthetic anchor of the local skateboarding community.
Karen Curry, executive director of Drexel's Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies, played an instrumental part in coordinating the upcoming exhibition and praised Schoenborn and Selego's creativity.
“Eric and Ed’s wonderfully rich and whimsical installation will pay homage to Philadelphia’s place in skateboarding history and let the city’s skateboarders create art while they do what they love,” Curry said.
The gallery will be open to the public beginning April 5 and will run until May 22. An opening reception and skateboarding demo will be held April 7 from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Visitors who want to skate are welcome to bring their boards.
Tuesday, April 5 - Sunday, May 22
Open Tuesday - Sunday from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Leonard Pearlstein Gallery in Drexel University's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
3401 Filbert Street
