Freedom Constellations: Philadelphia

The billboards depicted here were part of Freedom Constellations: Philadelphia, a project that asked the question: can art create a map toward a more free future? Freedom Constellations looked to youth leaders to guide us toward that vision. Working with over 50 youth leaders, and an array of community partners, the project used art to create a blueprint for a more just world. Using their portraits and poetry, youth leaders co-designed these billboards with a group of local and national artists. Each billboard represents a theme that youth leaders identified as a building block toward a future where all youth are safe, free, and healed.

Freedom Constellations: Philadelphia, was a citywide project that featured:

-Monumental portraits that come alive through augmented reality animation
-20 art billboards and banners across Philadelphia
-A massive interactive exhibit full of immersive story-based experiences
-A bus from the future full of portraits and poetry
-All imagining a future where Philly youth are free, safe, and thriving

Mural Arts Philadelphia, Performing Statistics, over 50 youth leaders in Philadelphia, and artists from across North America collaborated to create a series of interactive public artworks that use new technology to imagine a more just, whole, and safe future. The central installation for Freedom Constellations featured a monumental portrait of youth leaders that came alive through augmented reality (animations triggered by viewers’ phones visualize a future world in the clouds above Philadelphia).

Featuring a city-wide constellation of massive banners, billboards, temporary murals, immersive exhibitions, and robust public programming, this rare project looked to Philadelphia’s youth to help guide us all to a future where all children are free, healed, and thriving.

Location Note: Billboards no longer on view (temporary project). However, the entire project is documented and archived at the Performing Statistics: Freedom Constellations website.

Learn more about Freedom Constellations on the Performing Statistics website