Say goodbye to the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork, and hey to … maintain onto your hats … the Philadelphia Artwork Museum! *crickets*
On Wednesday, October 8, the historic arts establishment introduced a significant overhaul of its model, together with a brand new emblem with a serif typeface and a barely slimmer identify that has some nodding in approval and others scratching their heads. It’s the most recent museum rebranding to trigger a public stir, following controversial campaigns by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York, and the Brooklyn Museum over the previous decade.
For these exterior of Philly, the redesign could not appear to be a big change (in any case, “Philadelphia Museum of Artwork” and “Philadelphia Artwork Museum” are each massive mouthfuls). However for native residents, lots of whom already knew the establishment as merely “the Artwork Museum,” it might come as a pure step.
“After I point out to people who aren’t engaged within the arts and tradition neighborhood and I say the PMA, they don’t know what I’m speaking about,” the museum’s director and chief govt officer Sasha Suda informed public radio station WHYY-FM. Below its new identify, the museum now takes on the George Michael-esque acronym, “PhAM” (maintain the exclamation level), which has already been included into the URL of its redesigned web site.
Not everyone seems to be as enthusiastic concerning the change. “The #phart museum? You gotta be kidding me!” quipped costume designer Rita Squitiere on X. “We had no drawback calling it the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork … We’re good folks, we will deal with phrases.”
For the model redesign, the museum labored with Brooklyn-based design studio Gretel, whose shoppers embrace the Museum of Trendy Artwork in New York and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Artwork in Arkansas. Its portfolio additionally lists the New York Metropolis Soccer Membership as a earlier buyer, which won’t be stunning to critics who took subject with PhAM’s new emblem depicting the museum’s longstanding symbolic griffin.
“It appears like a soccer workforce emblem,” wrote one consumer above a congratulatory remark from the Institute of Modern Artwork, Philadelphia, on Instagram. The sentiment was echoed by artwork media outlet The Arts District in a publish claiming that the emblem resembled an athleisure advert marketing campaign.
“It feels each oppressive and bland, not just like the charming treasure trove that’s PMA’s assortment,” commented artist and filmmaker Lex Brown on Instagram.
Some additionally lambasted the museum for hiring a NYC design agency versus an organization rooted in Philadelphia. “For a museum crammed with a lot lovely and inventive artwork, they actually approached this branding shift with the vitality and thought means of a NYC design company working with a soon-to-be-open Fishtown espresso store,” fumed artist Rushawn Stanley on Instagram.
Greg Hahn, founding father of Gretel, informed Hyperallergic that the corporate sees the general public’s reactions to the museum’s redesign as “a powerful response to altering issues that they’ve grown to like.”
“Any model (individual, place, or factor) develops an viewers, and in the event that they’re fortunate, a following. When that’s the case, there’ll all the time be opinions on any adjustments made, generally based and generally merely reactionary,” Hahn mentioned.
Nonetheless others opined that the model’s new customized typeface, a font often called Fairmount Serif, appeared too dystopian. (Gretel famous in its announcement that the kind pulls from the museum’s origins because the Pennsylvania Museum and College of Industrial Arts, in addition to architectural particulars like its authentic seal and wall engravings.)
“The emblem appears like some sort of Chilly Conflict monstrosity,” mentioned illustrator Bonnie Watts, citing the establishment’s current disputes with its workers union. In June 2023, unionized staff accused management of backtracking on agreed-upon provisions for longevity pay. The allegations had been made not even a yr after staff held a 19-day strike in demand of wage will increase, paid household depart, and extra reasonably priced healthcare.
“Do higher for the individuals who truly make a distinction on the museum,” Watts mentioned on Instagram. “Then perhaps folks will truly wish to go to.”
