Casanova Music Center serves as the final stop on the 90-minute 9th Street Stock Exchange tour.
Photo by Joseph Myers
Has making a purchase in one store ever inspired you to ponder a stop in another for a completely unrelated product? What if that secondarily sought item were also available at the initial business? Through Dec. 7, Mural Arts Philadelphia is considering the benefits of that hypothetical with the 9th Street Exchange, an initiative that enlists eight stores to peddle neighboring establishments’ goods on a rotating schedule.
“This is an amazing way to build camaraderie among the locations,” curator and project manager Theresa Rose said Sunday morning ahead of the participatory art project’s second guided tour. “The opportunity is also amazing for consumers because they can engage in a discussion on commercial diversity and learn about how sites can play a role in strengthening a shopping district’s overall sense of unity.”
The Passyunk Square resident comes to the brainchild through a 2013 Knight Arts Challenge grant that united her and interdisciplinary artist Jon Rubin for the task of creating a 9th Street Italian Market-situated endeavor. Outreach to spaces commenced in January, with the “resulting alternative social ecosystem” helping Rose, who received a matching endowment from Mural Arts Philadelphia through the City of Philadelphia, to sate her enthusiasm for promoting local projects and nurturing “art that makes things happen.”
Minus Thanksgiving week and this Sunday for tour registration, daily visitors to the historic expanse can venture to participating venues, all bearing circular signs that declare which fellow store’s wares they are selling that week, and fraternize with store owners to learn of their presence in the Market and the reasons behind their engaging with the exchange concept. Starting from Mighty Writers, 1025 S. Ninth St., Sunday’s dozen tour members excitedly set out on their three-block odyssey, with Ann Mintz particularly eager to renew her acquaintance with the environs.
“I’m realizing my foolishness in not coming more often,” the West Mount Airy resident said of her two-year hiatus as an admirer of the numerous entities. “Something like this helps us all to appreciate life here on a granular level, and that’s wonderful, like Theresa said, for intensifying morale among the businesses.”
Having worked with Rose on other artistic undertakings, Mintz, joined by husband Clifford Wagner, whose fascination with the exchange idea led him to state “I love the endeavors of human beings,” beamed as she and the others stopped at Betty Ann’s Italian Market Florist, 902 S. Ninth St.; Fante’s Kitchen Shop, 1006 S. Ninth St.; Molly’s Books & Records, 1010 S. Ninth St.; J&J Discount, 1018 S. Ninth St.; Alejandra Boutique, 1102 S. Ninth St; Casanova Music Center, 1137 S. Ninth St.; Botanica Sigua, 1167 S. Ninth St.; and Chocolate Arts and Crafts, 1168 S. Ninth St. With mums, pasta machines, vintage paperbacks, hats, stretchy jeans, disco lights, Santa Muerte statues, and hand-beaded Mexican necklaces as their rotating commodities, the businesses make for interesting visuals, especially on Sunday when Fante’s showed off the stretchy jeans, drawing laughter for how they might catch one’s eye upon entering the store. Aside from aesthetic considerations, the chance to champion peers thrills Molly Russakoff, whose eponymous space has delighted customers for 15 years.
“It can be easy to concentrate on your store or what have you, and that’s fine,” the proprietor said. “This gives us an opportunity to show our connectivity, and that’s a wonderful gift.”
As the overseer, Mural Arts Philadelphia is gladly uniting Russakoff et al in its tireless mission to “empower people, stimulate dialogue, and build bridges to understanding with projects that attract artists from Philadelphia and around the world, and programs that focus on youth education, restorative justice, mental health and wellness, and public art and its preservation.” Proud to tackle her first task for the nation’s largest public art program, Rose, who will also guide the Nov. 20 tour, appreciates the enthusiasm that the 9th Street Stock Exchange has generated among the storefronts and the guests, especially when the latter go from wondering why certain objects are in stores to loving the novelty of the whole experience.
“Art is supposed to unify no matter the diversity of the creators and the viewers,” the artist, whose connection to the creative community includes a relationship with Bella Vista’s Fleisher Art Memorial and founder status for Philly Stake, which is “a locally sourced, recurring dinner in which money is raised for creative and relevant community engaged projects,” said. “As this unfolds, I hope people see the value not only of supporting businesses but also being receptive to out-of-the-box thinking.”
“I’ll definitely spread the word,” Mintz said at the tour’s conclusion, with she and the other constituents bonding with Casanova helmer Ricardo Garcia as he hawked Betty Ann’s mums. “It’s just a perfect idea. The merchants are enjoying the experience, and, from what I gathered, everyone here had fun, too. Hooray for art’s many applications!” SPR
Visit muralarts.org.
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com.
Casanova Music Center serves as the final stop on the 90-minute 9th Street Stock Exchange tour.
Photo by Joseph Myers
Casanova Music Center serves as the final stop on the 90-minute 9th Street Stock Exchange tour.
Photo by Michael Reali
