250 Miles Crossing Philadelphia Screening and Q&A

Join Netherlands-based artist duo, PolakVanBekkum, University City Science Center, and Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program, on April 16 for the premiere screening of their innovative navigational documentary, 250 Miles Crossing Philadelphia, followed by a Q&A with the artists. They are looking forward welcoming you, and exchanging thoughts about this new form of documentary making, and the way it portrays the city experience.

Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum arrived from the Netherlands to work on 250 Miles Crossing Philadelphia in May 2014. Their goal was to explore the intersection of art, science and technology through satellite imagery, photography and GPS. The resulting work includes a website documenting their journey, 250miles.net, with an interactive map;a scrim mural at 780 S. 52nd St.; and a 50-minute location-based documentary film.

Philadelphia residents played a large role in creating this new city narrative. Polak and van Bekkum divided the city into a grid and asked volunteers to make recordings from each sector. These routes were expressed in the documentary film using Google Earth satellite images, overlaid with synchronized on-the-ground recordings, to create an audible map of the city. 

The evening will formally conclude PolakVanBekkum’s residency with the University City Science Center’s novel public art program, Art Along the Avenue of Technology (AAAT). The Science Center created AAAT as an innovative way to fulfill its Percent for Art obligation, which requires that at least one percent of the budget for new construction is used for commissioning original works of art.

Tickets (suggested donation)*: $5.00 advance; $10.00 door

*All ticket proceeds will benefit public art in Philadelphia.

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