A new, bold art installation entitled “Labyrinth” has popped up outside of Philadelphia’s City Hall and it’s got people talking.
The 40-by-40-foot maze made of chain link fencing, which many people are saying resembles jail and is currently sitting in the Thomas Paine Plaza, is part of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s Open Source — a citywide celebration that encourages artists to engage in community-centered explorations, addressing a variety of topics, including immigration, recycling, mass incarceration, the environment, community reinvestment, and displacement.
“Labyrinth” by artist Sam Durant addresses the quagmire of criminal justice. It functions as a double metaphor, symbolizing not only the struggle of criminals caught in the Department of Corrections but for how, as a society, we are all navigating the labyrinth of mass incarceration.
The art installation is on display now until Saturday, October 17.
The public are invited to interact with the maze by hanging personal items on the structure, using it as a platform to address issues surrounding mass incarceration. Initially the structure will be transparent, and as the public interacts with the art, it will become opaque.
Durant is a multimedia artist whose works engage a variety of social, political, and cultural issues. Often referencing American history, his work explores the varying relationships between culture and politics, engaging subjects as diverse as the civil rights movement, southern rock music, and modernism.
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