Artist(s): Ali Rufrano-Ruffner; sporting: Ben Emmanuel,
Location: The Rail Park, Philadelphia, PA
Supported by: The Rail Park, Mural Arts, Site/Sound Revealing the Rail Park, American Composers Forum, Philadelphia Chapter, The Tire Swing Fund Micro grant, The Rail Park
*This project is no longer in collaboration with the Rail Park & is operating as an independent project by artist Ali Rufrano-Ruffner with neighbors in the area.
The first iteration of this project was about celebrating the interconnection of sound and visual art in public spaces. It took place during Site/Sound - a unique new festival that took place in October 2019 to celebrate the past, present, and future of Philly's Rail Park. Through community workshops, panels, tours, and performances, temporary audio-visual art installations and diverse music performances brought to life a shared urban space from the tracks and thoroughfares that were once the terminus of the mighty Reading Railroad. Ali Ruffner’s exhibition specifically looked at allowing visitors to experience the Rail Park through the voices of five long-term neighbors who have lived through the space’s evolution, captured through interviews and broadcast as a sound art installation along the Park. Full-length interviews are transcribed and available for download at sitesoundphl.org. The installation also included photos of the surrounding neighborhood as it is/was in this current moment, understanding the importance of showing a neighborhood's fullness before/during the violence of gentrification.
The second iteration of this project was in response to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing guidelines. Artist and cultural worker Ali Ruffner created Voices of the Neighborhood: Mapping Messages and Memory. This project is a follow-up to their installation at Site + Sound in 2019 which highlighted the stories and experiences of long-term residents of the North Philadelphia & Rail Park adjacent communities.
“I feel like connection and community are aspects of survival right now. Parks are a space where neighbors can meet, talk, kickback, explore, share, and love. I moved this project into the virtual realm in an effort to keep neighbors connected in a safe way across the Rail Park Space” describes Ruffner. This map will allow folx to experience stories, browse oral histories, and share their own messages / memories.
This North Philadelphia community-generated story sharing platform hopes to connect neighbors across social distancing guidelines, ages, languages, and temporality.