Calder Gardens, a new cultural institution dedicated to Alexander Calder‘s art, is opening in Philadelphia on 21 September.
The 1.8-acre site includes a landscape featuring more than 250 varieties of plants in gardens created by renowned Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf.
“Here in Philadelphia, Calder’s sculptures will be placed in dialogue with gardens that are constantly evolving,” said Oudolf.
“Those artworks and the plants I have selected and placed, will be moving in time at different speeds, in relationship to one another and the seasons, for many years to come.
“I look forward to watching this unfold.”
Calder Gardens also includes an 18,000 square-foot building designed by Herzog & de Meuron, which houses a rotating installation of artworks by Calder.
“Calder Gardens embodies a kind of ‘no-design’ architecture, allowing the works of art to express their diversity and ambiguity across numerous different spatial contexts,” said Jacques Herzog.
“It’s a place where you can sit, wander, and observe, whether it’s nature or art, with the ease one has when one sits under a tree.”
Visitors will find a wide range of works by Calder inside and outside, with the artworks on display to change over time. Some are also going on public view for the first time.
New destination for Alexander Calder’s art
Unlike traditional museums, Calder’s mobiles, stabiles, paintings and drawings will be presented without labels, allowing the pieces to speak for themselves.
The new attraction is a collaboration between the Calder Foundation, which is providing the curatorial vision, and the Burnes Foundation, which is offering administrative and operational support.
“Calder Gardens is an extraordinary space, and in joining the other cultural treasures along the [Benjamin Franklin Parkway] – including the Barnes, the Rodin Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art – it will further solidify Philadelphia’s position as one of the world’s most exciting cities in which to experience, and be transformed by, art,” said Marsha Perelman, president of the trustees of Calder Gardens.
Joe Neubauer, founding board member of the trustees of Calder Gardens, said: “Calder Gardens is a vision born from passion, persistence, and the belief that Philadelphia deserves this cultural treasure.”
Ahead of the public opening on Sunday, there will be a free public parade called ‘Chaos and Kisses’ on Saturday, 20 September, from noon until 2pm.
Images courtesy of Calder Gardens
