PHILADELPHIA, PA–The Association for Public Art (aPA) and the Parkway Council are thrilled to announce that a new temporary public artwork by Philadelphia-based artist Nicolo Gentile, titled Bar None, will be installed in Maja Park at 22nd Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The installation will be on view from July 17 to October 26, 2025 as a signature highlight of The 2025 Oval and Parkway to Park Festival, initiatives of the Parkway Council and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. There will be an opening reception for Bar None on July 17, 2025–open to the public–at Park Towne Place’s Oar Pub. More information on The 2025 Oval and Parkway to Park Festival will be released by the Parkway Council and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation on June 11, 2025.
The artwork was the selected proposal for Art on the Parkway, a juried open call commission organized by the Association for Public Art (aPA), in partnership with the Parkway Council and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR). Support for the project was provided, in part, by AIR Communities/Park Towne Place and Prudent Management Associates.
Bar None honors the Parkway’s legacy as a site of collective assembly—not by commemorating a singular event or individual, but by offering a testament to collective action, to the overlapping movements and voices that have surged through this civic spine in pursuit of justice, celebration, and change. Gentile has proposed a horizontal installation: a winding procession of transformed steel barricades that will rise and sink into the earth. Spanning 80 feet in length and ranging up to 8 feet in height, the installation emphasizes continuity over monumentality, creating a path-like structure that will invite viewers to walk alongside it, not solely to observe, but to move through history itself.
Bar None will be constructed from prefabricated steel barricades interspersed with colored etched acrylic panels. These etched surfaces will reflect moments of protest, pride, and public gathering on the Parkway through images sourced from historic archives. The panel colors will intentionally echo the energy and tone of each etched event. For example, deep red is emblematic of urgency, anger, and power and for potential use on the panels representing uprisings born from violence and injustice (e.g. the George Floyd Protests). Gold is symbolic of resilience, legacy, and optimism and may be used for panels representing cultural pride activities and liberation movements. Violet/purple might be used for panels etched with imagery from Pride parades and trans rights marches.
Rather than a fixed monument, Gentile considers Bar None a dynamic site of reflection, where the lines between protest and celebration blur and where the act of gathering itself is honored. It will reaffirm the Parkway as a vital stage for collective care, memory, and civic imagination.
“Given aPA’s involvement in the founding of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, it is very fitting that we are presenting Nicolo Gentile’s work Bar None there, where it pays tribute to the right of the people to peaceably assemble, as set down in the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights,” says Charlotte Cohen, Executive Director of the Association for Public Art. Nicolo’s work shows us examples of civic action in Philadelphia from different points in history and demonstrates the power citizens have to publicly voice their concerns, express their joy, and petition their government. The aPA is thrilled to highlight this history.”
In its second year, Art on the Parkway, which is open exclusively to artists and designers living or working in the Greater Philadelphia area, invites proposals that explore the ways art can help create and define a sense of place; celebrate the Parkway’s historic built environment; and explore its future as a more inclusive and vibrant public space for all Philadelphians. The selected proposal was chosen by a panel of outside jurors, including Dejay Duckett, Vice President of Curatorial Services at the African American Museum in Philadelphia; Rachel Hsu, interdisciplinary artist and 2024 Art on the Parkway artist; and José Ortiz-Pagán, Philadelphia artist. The jury also recognized three other semifinalists: Viola Bordon, Emilio Maldonado, and Julia Wilson.
About the Artist: Nicolo Gentile is an artist and educator based in Philadelphia, PA. He holds an MFA in Sculpture from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University and a BFA in General Fine Arts from the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Gentile’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including The Athenaeum, Commonweal Gallery, Temple Contemporary, and Automat (Philadelphia); Fragment Gallery and Trestle Gallery (New York); The Vault (Denver); LVL3 (Chicago); Portland Contemporary and Carnation Contemporary (Portland, OR); SOIL and The Vestibule (Seattle); TSA LA, Cannery Village Gallery, and Last Projects (Los Angeles); as well as exhibitions in Paris and Melbourne.
He is a recent recipient of the Velocity Fund, supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and is currently an Artist in Residence at the Fitler Club in Philadelphia. Gentile teaches at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture and has served as a guest lecturer at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, and Nazareth College.
About Maja and Maja Park: After sitting in storage for decades, Gerhard Marcks’ sculpture Maja (pronounced \Mah-ya\) was installed in 2021 in Maja Park, a newly-designed park at 22nd Street and the Parkway named after the sculpture. The development of this public space was a private/public partnership between AIR Communities and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, with support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The aPA originally purchased Maja in 1949, and has been working with its partners to create a welcoming space for the sculpture and the public. associationforpublicart.org/maja
About the Association for Public Art (aPA): The Association for Public Art is a non-profit organization that commissions and preserves public art in Philadelphia, while advancing the pivotal role art can play in creating and enhancing public space and civic life. Neither a government agency nor a traditional museum, the aPA’s work takes place at the intersection of art, architecture, landscape, celebration, performance, and public history.
About the Parkway Council: The Parkway Council, a not-for-profit organization, works to accelerate the transformation of Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway into a great urban park for all. www.parkwaycouncil.org
For more information, visit: associationforpublicart.org/artontheparkway.
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