Six Standout Exhibitions in Philadelphia Happening in June and July 2026
Salt, baseball art, meditative scenes of Los Angeles, floating paper boats, not-so-sappy love, and street art at Suburban Station.
Originally published onSpace on Space SubstackOriginally published on Space On Space — June 19, 2026. By Emily Elizabeth Logan.
Happy Juneteenth! It's hot outside, and so is this Semiquincentennial. There seem to be endless things brewing in the City of Brotherly Love, and I can't drink enough coffee to keep up.
Below are six standout exhibitions happening in Philadelphia this June and July 2026.
1. Jazmyn Crosby, Teleplasm Hotline at Big Ramp
Curated by Will Schwaller, on view through July 25. If you ever wondered how to communicate directly with cows and cats, this is the show for you. Interspecies communication, two video projections, an electro exchange cabinet with salt foraged from boiling ocean water, and a DIY science experiment involving alligator-clip leads, containers of water, and pennies. Crosby channels charcoal from the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak burn scar; you can hear it shrill when it's touched.
2. Alexandria Nazar, Ducks on a Pond at Automat (Crane Arts)
Through June 27, curated by Whitson Ramsey. A show that is and is not about baseball. "Ducks on a Pond" is baseball slang for bases loaded — a home run is possible, but not guaranteed. Nazar's works teeter on the edge; bodies are in a tangle, neither hugging nor harming, yet certainly touching.
3. Freedom Dreams at the Barnes
Through August 9. Co-curated by Maori Karmael Holmes (BlackStar Projects) and James Claiborne (Barnes). Moving image works by Arthur Jafa, David Hartt, Garrett Bradley, Ja'Tovia Gary, and Tourmaline — each presented in a dark room, the glow of the wall text haunting and illuminating. Highly recommended.
4. A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs at Twelve Gates Arts
Through July 24, part of the ArtPhilly What Now: 2026 Festival. Filmmaker Shehrezad Maher, interdisciplinary artists sāgar kāmath and Alexei Mansour, and poet Mir Masud-Elias — four diasporic artists using color to move the viewer through the gallery.
5. Kati Gegenheimer, We've Only Just Begun at PAFA (Morris Gallery)
Through December 31. Gegenheimer's first solo museum exhibition — a not-so-sappy kind of love, an ode to Karen Carpenter. "She told me she still believes in America. There was a painful hopefulness in her voice."
6. USA 250 (The Good, Bad, & Ugly America) — Step Outside Show at Platform X, Suburban Station
250 pieces of art from the Philly street art and graffiti scene, where 100% of sales go back to the artists. Organized by Doomed Future and RoboQ4 with partners including Tattooed Mom, funded through United Street Art.