Thursday, October 15, at 6pm, join us in discussing creating, caretaking, and ideating an archive alongside Alina Josan, Librarian from The Free Library's Art Department, John Anderies, Director of the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives and Library and Tim Belknap, Director of Icebox Project Space / VCR.
About our featured speakers:
Alina Josan is a Philadelphia-based artist and librarian with former lives as a conservation technician and later archivist, who now works in the Free Library's Art Department.
John Anderies is Director of the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives at William Way LGBT Community Center, one of the country's leading LGBTQ archives. He has also worked as a processing archivist at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania, and as Head of Special Collections at Haverford College. John has served as Principal Investigator or Project Manager on numerous library and archives grants, including those from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Park Services, Pennsylvania Library Services and Technology Act, Council on Library and Information Resources, Pennsylvania Abolition Society, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. He is program co-chair of the biennial Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists, is a board member of the Friends Historical Association and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL), and is an organizer of the Pennsylvania LGBT History Network. John holds degrees from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music (BM), Case Western Reserve University (MA), and Indiana University (MLS).
Timothy Belknap is a Philadelphia artist and curator and co-director of Icebox Project Space. Timothy received a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MFA in sculpture from Tyler School of Art. He has curated and collaborated with over 100 artists, and his own work has recently been exhibited in both Philadelphia and New York City, garnering coverage in ArtNews, Title Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY, among others. In 2018, Belknap received a Center Project grant to present Killjoy’s Kastle, a large-scale, interactive performance in the form of a haunted house created by the collaborative artistic team of Allyson Mitchell and Deirdre Logue.
This discussion is presented alongside 2 exhibitions at 704 Catharine St as part of Collective Futures (@collectivefutures.info).
In Circulation, a solo exhibition by Natalie Manes, 2026 Linda Dubin Garfield Fellow, sources archival materials from the John J. Wilcox Jr. Lending Library at William Way LGBT Community Center. Reproduced fragments of the library have been redistributed in public spaces throughout Philadelphia, highlighting the urgency that people need to understand the past to navigate the future.
Taking a step sideways then circling around, a temporary archive curated by DVAA Executive Director, Samantha M Connors, features documentation from retired Philadelphia collectives. With groups stretching from the 1970s through the early 2020s, the featured collectives’ work continue to inspire the narrative and practice of today, creating a lasting echo within the cultural narrative.
In Circulation and Taking a Step Sideways Then Circling Around are on view now in galleries 1 & 2 through October 25th.
$10 for non members! Free for members to attend.
