Ghalya Alsanea – LO-11 – PULSE

PULSE, PHILADELPHIA, PA GREEN LINE PHASE, 2018

PROJECT: PULSE

ARTIST: Janet Echelman

Janet Echelman is an artist who defies categorization. She creates experiential sculpture at the scale of buildings that transform with wind and light.

This is the first part of a permanent installation which opened on September 12, 2018 in the heart of Philadelphia’s thriving downtown. It is integrated with Kieran Timerlake’s Dilworth Park Plaza (opened to public in 2014), on the west side of City Hall, where many transit lines run below. The artist was commissioned by the Center City District to incorporate the site’s historic associations with water and transportation. The trains passing below will activate four-foot-tall curtains of colorful atomized mist that shows the path of a specific transit line. “These rail lines bring over 70,000 passengers to the site each day.”

This piece is really interesting because the specialized pumps create an ephemeral fog-like mist made of filtered, softened water onto which lighting is projected so it is completely safe for children to play in. I learned that this design and plaza integration took 9 years from the start of construction to the first reveal and launch of the green line phase and they’re fundraising to open the blue and orange lines, each will correspond to different SEPTA transit lines. I think this project starts to show how Philly is really harnessing the strength of their Center City District, a non profit org, to show how public efforts can successfully be directed towards creating better lives and experiences for people in the city. As much as this art celebrates history (first water pumping station in this area and also across from Pennsylvania Railroad Station) it also embraces the future by bringing technology into public space for not only spectatorship, but also interaction.

CREDITS

Artist: Janet Echelman
Studio Echelman Team: Melissa Henry, Daniel Zeese, Cameron Chateauneuf, Drew Raines, Melanie Rose Peterson, Rachel Kaede Newsom, Becky Borlan, Daniel Lear
The Olin Studio: Susan Weiler, Richard Roark, Ben Monette, Greg Burrell, Kasey Toomey
ARUP Lighting: Brain Stacy, Christoph Gisel
Urban Engineers: Andrew Scott
Kieran Timberlake: Steve Kieran, Marilia Rodrigues
CMS: Nadine Nemec, Chris Cook, Roy Kaplan
Center City District: Paul Levy
Images: Sean O’Neill, Melvin Epps, Sahar Coston-Hardy