Tag Archive "jacob-hellman"
Philadelphia and its Manufactures— Jacob Hellman, Phillip Taylor
August 20th, Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction.– Pretty tickled by this presentation. Jacob [i.e. speaker Jacob Hellman] and I have, on numerous occasions, swapped ideas on the arcane beauty of both former Philadelphian industry and its currently-aching hell-neighborhoods. But rather than getting lost in the mythos and delirium, as I always have, Jacob remained admirably embedded in the history of it all; drawing from research, anecdotes, and his definitive resource, Philadelphia and its Manufactures, by Edwin T. Freedley.
Learning from the past–lecture on Philadelphia manufacturing
artblog contributor Jacob Hellman will be giving a lecture this Thursday about a project he’s been “mildly obsessed” about for the last two years, the history of Philadelphia as a manufacturing powerhouse. Hellman, an artist and activist, discovered an 1859 book, Philadelphia and its Manufactures, and he’s been tracking down old factories and taking pictures of their ruination ever since.
Jacob Hellman among the ruins in Amman, Jordan
email from Jacob (writing in reference to his Feb. 25 post Pilgrimage to D.C.: thanks for the posiivity, and excuse the spelling errors. i’m still travelling in israel (jordan, actually, at the moment) and have been carrying with me for 3 weeks the scribbled papers on which i took notes from that performance the night before i left, opening nite feb.2nd. it’s been weighing on me, and i finally sat down in a internet cafe and typed it. guy knocked the power out mid-session, so i was impatient at the end and hit ‘publish’…
Fair and Fowl at the Fringe
Post by Jacob Hellman On this final weekend of the Fringe/Live Arts Festival, and after my third year in attendance, I finally grasped the meaning of the phrase “Live Arts.” Thursday night, as we waited for Norwegian artists Verdensteatret to fix technical glitches in their show “louder,” I read and re-read their program – “[We are] artists from different fields who work together and make live-art and other art projects.” That little hyphen provided the elucidation: “Live Arts,” more than an umbrella term for theater, is also live-art, something akin to “fine art” as covered by this blog. Just as ... More » »
Oedipus at FDR Skatepark–a Philly Fringe event
Post by Jacob Hellman Notes from Oedipus at FDR created by Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey for Fringe Festival 2008 Cast bowing after performance of Oedipus at FDR Skatepark. All photos in this post by Jacob Hellman. Pig Iron, our forcefully creative theater company, has multiple presences at this year’s Fringe Festival. Last night, I let my $25 ticket expire to their headliner, Sweet By-and-By, when a spare one surfaced to the free but long-sold-out Oedipus at FDR. Emmanuelle Delphech-Ramey, former Pig Iron member, has done here what classics are made for, and re-imagined an old play in the present. By school bus ... More » »
Peregrine’s trial run for Hidden City
Post by Jacob Hellman in Girard College’s Founder’s Hall, photo courtesy Peregrine Arts. Last night, a year in advanced of the much-anticipated May 2009 festival to be known as “Hidden City,” Peregrine Arts produced a trial run — an “essay” — a site-specific sound piece in Girard College‘s Founder’s Hall. LA-based artist Steve Roden gently flooded the third-floor domed chamber with “field” recordings, all made in the derelict rooms of the historic building – or, as his title puts it, “nothing but what is therein contained.” Founders Hall is a building austere in style and imposing in scale. Through giant ... More » »
Puppet Uprising packs ‘em in
Post by Jacob Hellman A musical interlude. Puppet Uprising is more of a category than a fixed thing. Its organizers bring traveling shows and related vaudeville acts to our city, occasionally stage puppetry of their own, and sell legendary cheap art at their voluntary-donation shows. Their aesthetic is always grassroots, their politics are always radical, and their tone is usually silly. They entertain the young and old. Last night, they strayed from their habitual venue to host the Boxcutter Cabaret, at Fishtown’s new Walking Fish Theater. I have never seen an Uprising begin less than 15 minutes late, but when ... More » »
Jacob Hellman’s disappearing Philly wonders
One of Jacob Hellman’s photo collages of abandoned buildings in North Philadelphia In a modest, December exhibit of photographs, photographic collages, words and found objects, Jacob Hellman managed to have big impact. The exhibit, Philadelphia Has Wonders, was at White Lodge, an art space available for rent at reasonable prices at the Philadelphia School of Rock. Hellman used photographs, collage, words and artifacts to raise questions about the nature of time and change, about values, neighborhood, the economy and people’s lives. The exhibit was a monument to how ephemeral and at risk everything can be, including ourselves. Hellman exhibits the ... More » »
