Moore College of Art & Design is pleased to present Michelle Lopez: Pandemonium, a two-pronged exhibition presented concurrently at The Galleries at Moore and the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute, connecting the two institutions along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as part of a new partnership announced earlier this year.
Join us for the premiere performance and opening reception on Friday, October 3rd, read more about it here.
Lopez’s Pandemonium, a new, immersive multimedia video commissioned by Moore and filmed specifically for the planetarium, anchors the 4D experience of the exhibition. Known for three-dimensional work that questions and undermines traditional histories and materials of sculpture as a form of social and art historical critique, Lopez pushes her artistic approach into new territory. Extending her toolkit to include mechatronics, animation, sound, and VR film, Lopez captures the riotous beauty of a rising tornado in a 360-degree format. As the whirlwind of Pandemonium unfolds across the vast space of the planetarium, animated debris and archival material swirl past which include 1950s-70s newspaper headlines that speak to social and political upheaval. Lopez considers the tornado as a devastating natural phenomenon stemming from unstoppable climate change and as a symbol of the swelling media landscape of misinformation. Cyclical and destructive, the tornado points toward imminent global collapse.
Around the corner in Moore’s galleries, the exhibition will present selected sculptural works that seem to teeter on collapse or imply imminent changes in atmosphere and perception. Significant sculptural works that prefigure Pandemonium such as House of Cards (2016) and Smoke Clouds (2014) demonstrate Lopez’s deep understanding of material and formal strategies to bring precarious forms to life. These will be juxtaposed with an in-gallery presentation of Pandemonium in the form of a hovering disc onto which Lopez’s film will be projected, offering an alternate experience of the maelstrom as if caught in an oculus or skylight.
Related Programs
The following programs will be held to celebrate and amplify Michelle Lopez: Pandemonium:
Premiere Performance
- Date: Friday, October 3, 2025
- Location: The Fels Planetarium, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th Street, Philadelphia PA 19103
- Admission: SOLD OUT
- Times:
- 6:30 pm (check-in at 6:00 pm)
- 7:30 pm (check-in at 7:00 pm)
- Each 30-minute performance will feature an immersive screening, accompanied by a live score.
Exhibition Reception and Preview
- Date: Friday, October 3, 2025
- Location: The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design, 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia PA 19103
- Time: 5:30-9:00 pm
- The Galleries at Moore and The Franklin Institute are within two blocks of each other on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Guests can view the exhibition at The Galleries at Moore any time between 5:30 pm and 9:00 pm; directions between the two sites and details for the event will be provided upon registration.
Weekly Screenings of Pandemonium at Fels Planetarium
- Location: Fels Planetarium, The Franklin Institute
- Dates and times: Thursdays and Saturdays at 4:00 pm on the following dates:
- October 4, 9, 11, 16*, 18, 23, 25, 30*
- November 1, 6, 8, 13, 15*, 20, 22
- December 4, 6
- Admission: Free with admission to The Franklin Institute; no admission required for screening only. Entry is at the ground-level entrance on 20th Street, beginning at 3:30 pm.
- Screenings on October 16, October 30 and November 15 will feature a special talk with the artist and/or curatorial team after the film concludes.
Vinyl DJ Set
- Experience the audio selections of Occasional Sound & Music Service (Eugene Lew, Anthony Elms, and Lauren Downing) that draw inspiration from Pandemonium, during The Franklin Institute’s Science After Hours: Celestial Sips.
- Date: December 5, 2025
- Location: The Franklin Institute
- Admission: Advance tickets for Science After Hours are required.
A Conversation with Michelle Lopez and Anne Ishii
- Artist Michelle Lopez is joined by writer and musician Anne Ishii, to dive into the creative choices behind Pandemonium that have expanded upon recurrent themes in Lopez’s work.
- Location: The Galleries at Moore
- Date and time: November 5, 5:30 pm
Making Pandemonium: Artistic Collaborator Roundtable
- Join the interdisciplinary collaborators who contributed to the making of Pandemonium to learn how a complex, 360-degree work on a vast scale is envisioned and realized.
- Location: Graham Auditorium at Moore College of Art & Design
- Date and time: To be announced
Michelle Lopez: Pandemonium is curated by Cole Akers, Curator & Associate Director of Special Projects at The Glass House, with Erica F. Battle, Curator, Battle Projects, and in collaboration with Gabrielle Lavin Suzenski, Rochelle F. Levy Director & Chief Curator of The Galleries at Moore. The project is presented at the Galleries at Moore College and at the Fels Planetarium in partnership with the Franklin Institute. The exhibition and related programming has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Research and production funding provided by Guggenheim Fellowship, The University of Pennsylvania University Research Foundation, University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, and the UPENN Weitzman School of Design, Fine Arts Department, and the Knight Art + Technology Expansion Fellowship.
The project is presented at the Galleries at Moore College and at the Fels Planetarium in partnership with the Franklin Institute. The exhibition has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Join us in The Galleries for an exhibition walk through and conversation with Artist Michelle Lopez joined by writer and musician Anne Ishii on Wednesday, November 5th.
