The United States of America began as a colony founded on land taken from indigenous peoples. Its revolutionary texts espoused the idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—while embracing slavery and denying women the right to vote. In the nineteenth century the USA became an empire itself, and remains so through its ongoing colonization of Puerto Rico. How is one to swallow such massive contradictions?
Since 2018, the curatorial team has been meeting in our respective cities, considering these questions and formulating a collaborative project—one that would reflect shared values and commitments while respecting differences in our institutions, our contexts, and our perspectives. This work has been accelerated in 2020—a year that began with earthquakes in Puerto Rico and has continued with the historic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Movement for Black Lives. Now more than ever it feels essential to actively build solidarity across contexts, and to make space for collaborative critique and imagination without ignoring or smoothing over differences.
In August 2019, Philadelphia Contemporary formed a community council that has been meeting monthly, guiding the development and focus of the Philadelphia presentation of Commonwealth, including commissioning two Philadelphia-specific projects. As part of their work, the Community Council helped to direct a substantial regranting initiative in which funds from the William Penn Foundation are supporting a number of local organizations in West Philadelphia.
Over the course of the fall of 2020, Commonwealth will be presented in each of the 3 cities in a variety of different mediums, including a bilingual, hybrid print + digital publication designed in San Juan, a substantial neighborhood regranting program and series of community-lead commissions in Philadelphia, and an indoor/outdoor exhibition in Richmond.
