Calder Gardens

Calder Gardens An oasis where Calder’s art moves with nature, architecture, and activations that shift how we see and feel. Now .

Spending time with “The Putney Mobile” in the Open Plan Gallery.On public view for only the second time in its history, ...
05/25/2026

Spending time with “The Putney Mobile” in the Open Plan Gallery.

On public view for only the second time in its history, the work unfolds gradually as you stay with it. The mobile’s composition is in constant flux—changing with the light, the air, and where you stand.

Calder spoke about the role of the viewer in completing a work. Repeated viewings can facilitate novel observations.

Plan your visit to Calder Gardens in Philadelphia ➡️ https://bit.ly/4w9A5ZZ

© 2026 Calder Gardens. All works by Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

A quiet moment to look around. 🌀Held within the curve of the wall, the space is shaped to slow you down. Everything happ...
05/19/2026

A quiet moment to look around. 🌀

Held within the curve of the wall, the space is shaped to slow you down. Everything happening above and around you comes into focus a little differently from here.

Plan your visit to Calder Gardens in Philadelphia ➡️ https://bit.ly/4w7H31C

© 2026 Calder Gardens.

The Moon Alignment Series continues June 1 with an after-hours gathering during the full moon. 🌕Led by Calder Gardens Co...
05/17/2026

The Moon Alignment Series continues June 1 with an after-hours gathering during the full moon. 🌕

Led by Calder Gardens Contemplative Arts Fellow Isha Strasser, each session moves through a shared contemplative practice shaped by the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth. The evening begins with a brief discussion, followed by walking meditation, silent meditation, and time for reflection.

As the light shifts across the galleries and gardens, the experience unfolds through movement, stillness, and attention to what changes from one moment to the next.

Strasser’s work draws from contemplative practice, ancient wisdom traditions, disability studies, and ecological thinking, creating space for participants to connect with the environment around them and their own experience within it.

Moon Alignment Series: Full Moon
📅 Monday, June 1
🕒 6–7:30pm ET
📍 Calder Gardens

🎟 Limited capacity. Reserve your spot ➡️ https://bit.ly/3RA1uEw

The standing mobile “Sword Plant” is set into a niche between the Tall and Open Plan Galleries.From here, the curves and...
05/16/2026

The standing mobile “Sword Plant” is set into a niche between the Tall and Open Plan Galleries.

From here, the curves and cutouts shift as you move around it—opening and closing against the wall, changing how the forms come together from each angle.

Plan your visit to Calder Gardens in Philadelphia ➡️ https://bit.ly/4w9A5ZZ

© 2026 Calder Gardens. All works by Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

For a few hours, the pace shifts.On the fourth Wednesday of each month, Calder Gardens opens its galleries and gardens i...
05/14/2026

For a few hours, the pace shifts.

On the fourth Wednesday of each month, Calder Gardens opens its galleries and gardens in silence—creating space to move more slowly, with fewer people and fewer distractions.

During Silent Days, visitors spend time here without conversation or devices. Some walk through the galleries, some sit, read, or sketch, and others pause longer than they expected. Chairs, tables, and areas for rest are available throughout, and you’re welcome to bring a book, a notebook, or something to sit on.

The experience is shaped by attention—what you notice, what you return to, and how the space unfolds over time.

Designed as a reduced-sensory environment, Silent Days also support visitors with autism, dementia, and other sensory sensitivities, while offering a quieter way to spend time for anyone seeking a more grounded visit.

Silent Day at Calder Gardens
📅 Wednesday, May 27
🕒 3–7pm ET
📍 Calder Gardens

Reserve your spot ➡ https://bit.ly/4cRNtuk

Out in the garden, hands in the soil. 🌱Horticulture Manager Erin Monda planting Stachys byzantine ‘Big Ears’—one of many...
05/11/2026

Out in the garden, hands in the soil. 🌱

Horticulture Manager Erin Monda planting Stachys byzantine ‘Big Ears’—one of many moments that shape how the landscape comes together over time. What’s planted now will settle in, spread, and change with the seasons.

Plan your visit to Calder Gardens in Philadelphia ➡️ https://bit.ly/4w7H31C

© 2026 Calder Gardens. All works by Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

A view across the surface. 🪟Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the building’s metal facade holds a softened reflection of w...
05/07/2026

A view across the surface. 🪟

Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the building’s metal facade holds a softened reflection of what surrounds it — shifting with the garden, the light, and the movement of the day.

Plan your visit to Calder Gardens in Philadelphia ➡️ https://bit.ly/4b1BGr8

© 2026 Calder Gardens. All works by Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The evening begins as the light starts to shift. 🌑During the new moon, the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth marks a...
05/01/2026

The evening begins as the light starts to shift. 🌑

During the new moon, the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth marks a quieter point in the cycle—a time often associated with reset and reflection. At Calder Gardens, this moment becomes an opportunity to slow down and spend time with what’s around you.

The Moon Alignment Series is an after-hours practice that unfolds each month during the new and full moons. Each session begins with a short introduction, then moves through walking meditation, stillness, and time to reflect before closing. The structure stays the same, but each gathering shifts with the season, the space, and the people in it.

Led by Calder Gardens Contemplative Arts Fellow Isha Strasser, the series offers a consistent rhythm—one that returns each month, but never in quite the same way.

Moon Alignment Series: New Moon
📅 Friday, May 15
🕒 6–7:30pm
📍 Calder Gardens

Reserve your spot ➡ https://bit.ly/42qwOYw

From May 7–31, Calder Gardens presents Pictures in Motion: Films & Videos by Agnès Varda, Lucy Raven, Rosa Barba, and Ep...
04/30/2026

From May 7–31, Calder Gardens presents Pictures in Motion: Films & Videos by Agnès Varda, Lucy Raven, Rosa Barba, and Ephraim Asili—a series of moving-image works originally commissioned by the Calder Foundation (). Created in response to Calder’s practice, each film explores how form shifts, how motion unfolds, and how time can be experienced differently through looking and listening.

Agnès Varda’s “When Sandy Dreams” brings together footage of the sea, Calder’s mobile Vertical Foliage (1941), and photographs of the artist taken decades earlier—connecting memory, friendship, and the movement of wind and water.

In “Shape Notes,” Lucy Raven turns to Calder’s sound-making standing mobile Chef d’orchestre (1966), animating still images from a live performance of Earle Brown’s Calder Piece (1963–66) to reflect on rhythm, coordination, and the relationship between sculpture and music.

Rosa Barba’s “Enigmatic Whisper” returns to Calder’s studio in Roxbury, where a hanging mobile, Untitled (c. 1968), becomes part of a larger portrait of the space—its objects, its energy, and its sense of continuity over time.

Ephraim Asili’s “Calder for Peter” follows the monumental stabile Five Swords (1976) within the landscape of Storm King Art Center, observing how it exists within shifting weather, light, and the rhythms of the surrounding environment.

Together, these works expand Calder’s ongoing dialogue with movement and perception—offering another way to experience his ideas through the lens of film.

Pictures in Motion: Films & Videos by Agnès Varda, Lucy Raven, Rosa Barba, and Ephraim Asili
📅 May 7–31
🕒 Screened daily during open hours
📍 Calder Gardens
🎟️ Free with admission ➡ https://bit.ly/3OTdjoj

Rosa Barba, Enigmatic Whisper, 2017. 16mm film, color, optical sound, 8 min. Original music by Jan St. Werner, John Colpitts, and Andrew Barker. Image © Rosa Barba. Produced and commissioned by the Calder Foundation, New York, in collaboration with Vic Brooks. All artworks by Alexander Calder © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A circle forms, and the conversation begins with listening. 🔵On May 8, Calder Gardens launches the Listening Circles ser...
04/24/2026

A circle forms, and the conversation begins with listening. 🔵

On May 8, Calder Gardens launches the Listening Circles series, a new program inspired by Indigenous talking circles—gatherings where people come together to share stories, reflect, and listen across generations.

Guided by Denise Dunkley of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, each session opens with a story and creates space for dialogue shaped by lived experience. For this first gathering, Mirian Masaquiza Jerez joins the circle, sharing perspectives from her work with the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where recent conversations have focused on climate change and the health of Indigenous Peoples.

In many Indigenous communities, circles like these are part of everyday life. Elders, adults, and younger voices sit together without hierarchy, listening closely and responding with care. Over time, knowledge builds through presence, reciprocity, and attention to one another.

This gathering takes place outdoors at the Calder Gardens Disc, just beyond the main entrance. If needed, the program will move indoors.

Spring Listening Circle with Denise Dunkley and Mirian Masaquiza Jerez
📅 Friday, May 8
🕒 6–7:30pm
📍 Calder Gardens
🎟️ Free admission. Register ➡ https://bit.ly/48aIWAu

Address

2100 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
Philadelphia, PA
19103

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Calder Gardens posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category