by J. Nathan Matias

Art Installations at Eastern State

Eastern State Penitentiary encourages artists to apply their skills within the prison. Each year, they offer grants to artists who can come up with creative ways to install art in the penitentiary environment.

Some of the art installations are political. In fact, the museum encourages art installations that cause people to think about their surroundings. Portraits of Inmates in the Death Row Population Sentenced as Juveniles is one such installation

Other installations, like Ghost Cats are about the history of the penitentiary.

Others, like Juxtaposition and 142 Ways to Mark Time, address the way visitors observe and interact with the penitentiary environment. Both are designed to cause visitors to think, listen, and look more carefully at points of beauty within the prison's decaying walls.

Some encourage visitors to seek beauty. Others ask them to seek justice. One asks them to seek cats. But they all elicit visitor participation in some way. This focus on visitor agency is what makes Eastern State's contribution unique and instructive.