Barnes Jawn(t) was commissioned by the Barnes Foundation and created by Obvious Agency. There were six Jawn(t)s between July 7th and August 21st 2018, and several ran concurrently on October 11th, 2019. Each Jawn(t)s was an improvised tour through The Barnes Foundation collection guided by fascinating local personalities. These off-the-cuff, sure-to-run-off-the-rails tours were led by artists, community leaders, and performers—all experts in their fields.
Press
“By inviting community activists to serve as docents and make up the stories behind its art, the Barnes is disrupting itself–and connecting to its founder’s anti-elitist philosophy.” – Colin Lodewick, The Philadelphia Citizen, 2018
“I absolutely see this project as a disruption of space–disruption of elitist space, disruption of straight, cis, white space, disruption of colonial sensibilities.”– Shani Akilah, 2018 tour guide and Co-founder of the Black and Brown Workers Co-Op
Team
Created by: Arianna Gass, Daniel Park, and Joseph Ahmed
Videography* by: Joseph Ahmed
Photography* by: Meryl Sands
Performed by: 15 Philadelphia-area activists, artists and community leaders, listed further down
*All images and footage appear courtesy of the Barnes Foundation.
We developed a short game distributed to Barnes Jawn(t) attendees that was designed to supplement the tours given by our expert tour guides. The goal of the game was to offer attendees yet another way of engaging with items in the Barnes’ collection through a guided creative and playful process, appropriate for players as young as five.
“Behold!” can also be played in any museum or gallery.
2018 Barnes Jawn(t) Tour Guides
Ariell R. Johnson (Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse)
Ashley Vogel (Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia)
Chris Grant (Senior Vice President of Polygon, and The Verge)
Elicia Gonzales (Executive Director, Women’s Medical Fund)
Jas Morrell (Founder and Resident Tattooer, Spiritted Tattooing Coalition)
Madhusmita Bora (Co-Artistic Director, Sattriya Dance Company)
Mo Manklang (Communications Director, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives)
Morgan FitzPatrick Andrews (Medium Theater Company)
Reverend Nicolas O’Rourke (POWER, Living Water United Church of Christ)
Shani Akilah (Facilitator and Founder, Black and Brown Worker’s Co-op)
2019 Barnes Jawn(t) Tour Guides
Esteban Kelley (Anti-Opression Resource and Training Alliance)
Marangeli Mejia Rabell (Afrotaino Productions/Philadelphia Latino Film Festival)
Timaree Leigh/HoneyTree EvilEye (Sex with Timaree)
Starfire (Director’s Gathering)
Mel Hsu (Girls Rock Philly)