Mural Arts Philadelphia
Bressi has been an advisor to and collaborator with Mural Arts Philadelphia for nearly two decades. He has helped launch major projects and exhibitions, and laid the groundwork for is curatorial and research and development initiatives. Most recently, he has helped commission several murals that are destined to be icons for years to come.
Date | 2008 (ongoing)
Client | Mural Arts Philadelphia
Since 2008, Bressi has consulted with Mural Arts Philadelphia, now the nation’s largest public art program, helping to conceptualize, plan, and manage some of the organization’s most complex and highly acclaimed projects. More than half a dozen of his projects have won recognition from the Public Art Network Year in Review.
His projects have varied widely, including interactive installations along the Schuykill River in Center City and Manayunk, seven large-scale murals by Katharina Grosse, neighborhood-based hub spaces for community revitalization, and a program of nearly 10 murals on transit underpasses in North Philadelphia. As leader of muraLAB and the Visiting Curators Initiative, he laid the groundwork for three exhibitions, Open Source, Monument Lab, and Site: Sound. Most recently, he has helped Mural Arts with three iconic projects – The Past Supporting the Future mural; Lay-lah Lay-lah, the nation’s largest Holocaust mural in public space; and Printmaking by the People.
Tasks have involved technical research, negotiation with stakeholders, artist recruitment and selection, and hands-on project management through installation.
Through these projects, he is helping MAP organize itself to take a stronger curatorial approach to planning and commissioning artworks. He is also helping MAP position itself in a role of creative leadership when it works with other public agencies and civic organizations.
In every circumstance, he helps foster discussion about how MAP can remain true to its founding principles of muralmaking and community involvement, while stretching the definition and application of those principles as the needs and opportunities in Philadelphia change.
The outcome of these efforts has been an energized leadership, staff, and board, along with a growing body of non-traditional mural projects that is gaining increased recognition for its creativity and quality.
