Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, Folk art environment and mosaic gallery in South Street, Philadelphia, United States.
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens is a mosaic art installation and gallery in South Philadelphia, United States. The site covers three city lots with indoor rooms and outdoor courtyards where thousands of tiles, glass bottles and found objects appear on walls, floors and ceilings.
Isaiah Zagar began working on two vacant lots beside his studio in 1994 and transformed them into a walkable artwork. The organization opened these spaces to the public in 2008 as a permanent gallery.
The garden carries elements from Latin America, India, Morocco, Iran, China and Indonesia that reflect Zagar's travels around the world. These fragments appear in walls and floors as signs of his artistic relationships with other cultures.
The entrance is at 1020 South Street, and the gallery opens from Wednesday to Monday between 11 in the morning and 6 in the evening. Guided tours and mosaic workshops are offered at different times throughout the day.
The installation contains around 3,000 square feet (around 930 square meters) of mosaicked passages, some of which run underground. Bicycle wheels, broken ceramics and kitchen tiles appear among the glass pieces and together form a three-dimensional labyrinth.
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