reForm

From August 28 through the end of April 2016, Puerto Rican artist Pepón Osorio, renowned for his large installations, presents the exhibition titled "reForm." The exhibition is the result of two years of preparation that began in response to the closing of Fairhill Elementary School in 2013 by the School Reform Commission in the city of Philadelphia. The prospect of this closing was the main motivator for Osorio, who through installations, performances and public art has achieved a framework that explores the situation surrounding the closing of the school. The exhibition will be presented at Temple Contemporary, an exhibition space in Temple University's Tyler School of Art, where Osorio "relocated" the school. Osorio recreates the everyday spaces of the school with backpacks, pictures of classrooms, desks, chairs, cabinets, all full of memorabilia of the place. With this project and all the objects that comprise it, Osorio aims at successfully collecting the feelings and expressions of many of the residents in North Philadelphia, who feel invisible before the government's decision to close several schools in the area. According to the director of Temple University, Robert Blackson, "reForm" intends to put a human face on this conflict. The exhibition "reForm" will be accompanied by a color catalog to be published in the summer of 2016. It will contain essays by Tom Finkelpearl, commissioner of cultural affairs for the city of New York; Amalia Mesa-Bains, artist and writer; Martha Roesler, artist; Mark Warren, sociologist; and Nijmie Dzurinko, former executive director of student unions in Philadelphia.