Cosmic Terrarium / Motion Painting Project

A live outdoor mural painting unfolded in Northern Liberties over two weeks of the Fringe Festival in September 2010. In Cosmic Terrarium, four artists transformed a vacant weed-infested lot across from the Festival Box Office into a visual spectacle, using paint and found objects. The mural installation evolved daily as the artists visually riffed off of one another, responding to the work from the day before, to transform the site. The entire process was documented through digital photography and edited into a time-lapse video short.

Motion Painting culminated with an afternoon of short street art film and animated painting screenings plus a panel discussion at the Ibrahim Theater at International House Philadelphia. Featured movies included NEXT: a Primer on Urban Painting by Pablo Aravena; the Philadelphia premiere of Muralmorphosis, an animated short video of the 2009 Philly Fringe mural painting event; short films by Blu, the Barnstormers, and Jennifer Levonian; and a slideshow of Cosmic Terrarium. The panel discussion included Mural Arts Program director Jane Golden, Motion Painting Project curator Sean Stoops, filmmaker Pablo Aravena, and artist Paul Santoleri.

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (lost to new construction ca. 2015).