Above image: Impermanent Life, at the Confluence of Spacetime New Space and Time is Born, 2018, teamLab

We’ve been genuine fans of Philadelphia’s Fitler Club since it debuted back in 2019, a design+experience-focused private members club tucked discreetly away on a hidden stretch of S. 24th Street in Center City (just a couple of blocks from our beloved Mütter Museum). At that time we had reported on its astounding art collection, which included works by Alex Katz, Joseph Beuys and even Damien Hirst.

Yet Fitler Club was also thoroughly committed to supporting Philly’s local and regional art scene; and this past October BlackBook spotlighted five activist artists from their ongoing and quite impressive Artists-In-Residence program, at a time when their voices especially needed to be heard, considering the escalating socio-political divisiveness that was plaguing America (and sadly still is).

But now the club is going international with its art aspirations, striking up a noteworthy new partnership with New York’s exalted Pace Gallery. The collab finds the work of three high-profile artists being exhibited in prominent positions around Fitler Club; and nodding to the current cultural zeitgeist, they are all specifically digital pieces. Israeli Michal Rovner has gained significant recognition for her stunningly realized multimedia installations – which are now featured in both the Louvre and the Whitney – and here she contributes Terra and Blue Lines, which are both environmentally focused works.

From Tokyo, teamLab, an artist collective referring to themselves as “ultra-technologists,” here contribute Universe of Fire Particles and the epically named Life, at the Confluence of Spacetime New Space and Time is Born, which meditate on themes of renewal, the life / death cycle and the intersection of art, technology and the natural world. And an especially good get is Large Cloud Drawing I, by renowned American LED artist Leo Villareal, which reflects his long-held interest in the phenomenological effects of light.

“These five digital works help redefine the ways that we experience art,” observes Fitler Club co-founder Michael Forman, “which is something we’ve sought to do here from the beginning. Partnerships like this one with Pace Gallery can both expand our city’s artistic conversation, and re-contextualize the pieces themselves.”

Still, Fitler Club’s dedication to young talent and diversity remains undiminished, as they have simultaneously partnered with Mural Arts Philadelphia to bring select works from the Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists collection to the club. And as with all collaborations related to their Artists-In-Residence program, 100 percent of the proceeds of sales go directly to the artist.

Above images from top:

Universe of Fire Particles, 2021 by teamLab

Large Cloud Drawing 1, 2017, Leo Villareal