Happy Juneteenth!
It’s hot outside, and so is this Semiquincentennial. There seem to be endless things brewing in the City of Brotherly Love, and I can’t drink enough coffee to keep up.
This list is not omniscient; nor is any art round-up anywhere. Take my subjective perspective with a grain of salt. Speaking of salt, Jazmyn Crosby is experimenting with the material in a new solo show called Teleplasm Hotline at Big Ramp. In Philadelphia, there’s also baseball art, meditative scenes of Los Angeles, floating paper boats, not-so-sappy love, and street art at Suburban Station. Rather than claim to be all-knowing, I want to admit my utterly finite abilities to maneuver my way around every corner of this city while living in the suburbs and raising an energetic toddler. I am an art lover, not an art consumer. When I say lover, I mean I like to strip art naked and read it from head to toe. And some art takes much longer to read than others.
And as I write this, the debate rages on between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration regarding the slavery panels at the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park. The full truth of U.S. history is for everyone.
Below are six standout exhibitions happening in Philadelphia this June and July 2026.
Big Ramp presents a solo show, Teleplasm Hotline by Jazmyn Crosby, curated by Will Schwaller, on view through July 25, 2026. If you ever wondered how to communicate directly with cows and cats, this is the show for you. In addition to interspecies communication, there are two video projections documenting Crosby’s research, an electro exchange cabinet that includes salt foraged from boiling ocean water, and a DIY science experiment involving circuits made with alligator-clip leads, various containers of water, and pennies. Crosby channels charcoal from the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak burn scar; you can hear it shrill when it’s touched. The artist generously offers guests caramel delights—but be warned—taking may summon the cats. The artist recently published a zine titled Other Networks: Interspecies Communication Operations Manual. These zines are on sale for $20 (or 2000 U.S. pennies) at the gallery. I left this exhibition feeling slightly more optimistic about the future and appreciating the laws and expansive nature of science.
Ducks on a Pond, a solo show by Alexandria Nazar, showing at Automat in the Crane Arts building on view now through June 27, 2026, is and is not about baseball. I’d reviewed a previous baseball show titled Shoulder to Shoulder, Skin to Skin at Information Space back in April, in which a few of Nazar’s paintings were included. As I stated in that review, I am a baseball hater, but I am a lover of Nazar’s paintings. Curated by painter Whitson Ramsey, this exhibition is timely, given Philadelphia’s MLB schedule happening right smack dab in June. The term “Ducks on a Pond” is baseball slang for runners on base, bases loaded. The phrase has potential far beyond baseball. A home run is possible, but not guaranteed. Nazar’s works teeter on the edge; bodies are in a tangle, neither hugging nor harming, yet certainly touching. And rumor has it that the phone number on the man’s jersey—the man being Nazar’s father—still works! If you’re ever in the Bay Area, looking for a place to eat, why not try Bravo Pizza!
L: Freedom Dreams, 2026. The Barnes Foundation, installation view. David Hartt. On Exactitude in Science (Watts), 2021. R: Freedom Dreams, 2026. The Barnes Foundation, installation view. David Hartt. On Exactitude in Science (Watts), 2021. Images © Barnes Foundation. Barnes’ Freedom Dreams* is on view now through August 9, 2026, and the exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in the memories, dreams, and histories of Black Americans. The exhibition features work by Arthur Jafa, David Hartt, Garrett Bradley, Ja’Tovia Gary, and Tourmaline. It’s co-curated by Maori Karmael Holmes, Chief Executive and Artistic Officer of BlackStar Projects, and James Claiborne, Fleischner Family Deputy Director for Community Engagement at the Barnes. Each artist’s moving image is presented in a dark room, and the glow of the wall text is both haunting and illuminating. Particularly striking was On Exactitude in Science (Watts), 2021, by Philadelphia-based artist David Hartt, which focuses on Black domestic environments in Watts, Los Angeles. I highly recommend this exhibition.
Presented now through July 24, 2026, A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs at Twelve Gates Arts is an immersive, multidisciplinary storytelling experience that brings together four diasporic artists. This exhibition is part of the ArtPhilly What Now: 2026 Festival and includes work by filmmaker Shehrezad Maher, interdisciplinary artist sāgar kāmath, interdisciplinary artist Alexei Mansour, and poet Mir Masud-Elias. All connected to Philadelphia, these artists delve into identity, migration, and historical narratives in the year of America’s 250th. Though the four artists are working in different mediums and carrying different stories of lineage, they all use color to move the viewer through the gallery space. I sit for a while at the front table, gazing out at the busy 2nd Street, listening to Mansour’s intimate family archive via cassette tape where his mother recounts her day’s travels. kāmath’s American Dreams series includes gestural paintings depicting four character archetypes, all of whom are in pursuit of the Dream. Fragile, child-like paper boats float above, softly touching as the audio of The Curfew by Maher bellows.* The AC unit gently blows the boats to and from each other. Masud-Elias’ participatory desk station invites guests to investigate the question: Why are we here now?
Kati Gegenheimer’s solo exhibition We’ve Only Just Begun at PAFA in the Morris Gallery, on view through December 31, 2026, is one of those slow kinds of loves. It’s a not-so-sappy kind of love. Though I hardly know Kati, this exhibition feels close to me. I, too, graduated from Tyler School of Art, endured many late nights pacing the floors staring at the very specific green walls, and before that, I grew up in the suburbs of Pennsylvania. I remember listening to The Carpenters, especially around Christmas time; We’ve Only Just Begun, an ode to Karen Carpenter, gone far too soon. I saw Kati’s work opening weekend back in April and have been germinating words for my feelings. This is her first solo museum exhibition. It wasn’t until meeting Kati in person that I’d encountered such a force of nature in human form. She told me she still believes in America. There was a painful hopefulness in her voice. If Kati still believes in America, maybe I can too. Maybe it’s not a lost cause. Maybe we’ve only just begun.
Artwork by Kitchen$ink at Step Outside Show. 
Images courtesy of Step Outside Show.
Step Outside Show presents USA 250 (The Good, Bad, & Ugly America), a street art exhibit at Platform X, underground Suburban Station. The show features 250 pieces of art from the Philly street art and graffiti scene, where 100% of sales go back to the artists. It’s organized by street art leaders like Doomed Future and Robb Quattro (RoboQ4), among others, with partners including Tattooed Mom. While I haven’t seen this exhibition in person yet (I plan to!), it reminds me of the 99Cent pop-up exhibition, a collaboration between The Hole and Jeffrey Deitch, that showcased legendary street artist Barry McGee’s work from his personal collection, as well as pieces from over a hundred friends. At 99Cent, artists filled the aisles of the former convenience store; here, that energy spills out into Philadelphia’s Suburban Station. 99Cent was facilitated by large galleries (The Hole recently coming under fire for late payments to its artists), where Step Outside is funded through a non-profit called United Street Art. When I see images of the Step Outside show, I think about how Keith Haring got his start making chalk drawings on empty ad panels in NYC subways. Earlier this year, I did an Art File on EL TORO, a beloved Philly sticker artist known for his horned character. In March, he passed suddenly at the age of 43 (WHYY’s Billy Penn created a beautiful tribute to his life). I see his work honored in the photo above. In the words of the great Keith Haring—who also died far too young—“Art is for everybody.”
*If anyone is interested in writing about Freedom Dreams, please reach out. I’m looking for writers to cover it. <3
Editor’s Note: Thoughts on the word “bellows.”
After the piece was published, I spoke with Twelve Gates Arts about my use of the word “bellows,” for which my intention was positive in describing the audio of The Curfew as strong and anchoring for the show. While one might interpret bellows to mean too loud, my intention with the word was to describe the sound from the film as bathing the entire exhibition or drenching/filling the space with important acoustic texture.
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Emily Logan is a nomadic art writer and publicist. Since 2020, she’s been building Space On Space. Previously, she worked as a publicist at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art and an MS in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship from Fox School of Business, Temple University.
Space On Space is a media movement started in 2020. Originally a cathartic impulse to process the times, SOS has evolved into an investigation into the connections between land, power, and art. The outlet creates content and offers PR services to help artists, designers, and businesses take up more space in the media. At the intersection of art writing and public relations, SOS interrogates the line between myth-making and the historical archive. The publication has produced three print magazines and a mountain of digital content covering artists from around the world. The magazine hosts parties, art talks, and poetry events. In a media landscape built for speed, SOS slows down—because depth is disruptive, and attention is power.