Some Institute

It turns out Port Fishington's PIFAS is exactly the utopian campus of higher learning it pretends to be.

by Jakob Dorof

Jessica Kourkounis EDUCATED JEST: Brandon Joyce (top row, second from right) and the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

At first glance, the Web site of the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study paints the picture of an academic utopia. Modeled upon the international Some Institutes for Advanced Study consortium (but conspicuously absent from its esteemed roster of Ivy League schools and deep-pocketed foundations), the young organization seems to offer much for the inquiring mind. The faculty page lists nearly 50 names involved in a diverse array of programs, ranging from biological studies to acoustic research; the Eric James Johnson Memorial Fellowship maintains a steady flow of visiting experts and professionals on loan from England, Argentina and Germany; and the calendar shows a constant stream of activity each week, from language classes like Intro to Mandarin to workshops on kinetic geometry. Best of all, every event is open to the public and, less the occasional materials fee, offered free of charge from within the beautiful seaside research complex that PIFAS proudly displays on its homepage, pifas.net.

And — wait a minute. Seaside ... in Pennsylvania? And that pristine, palatial glass-and-steel structure — in Port Fishington? Besides, what kind of legit institution hosts lock-picking seminars, a class called "Motorcycle Anatomy and Manual Transmission 101," or the International Noise Conference festival tour? Perhaps it's just all one big gag, after all.

But during a tour of the PIFAS property, co-founder (and self-described "court philosopher") Brandon Joyce insists that every word of the Web site is true. "It's in no ways misleading, it's just that ... " He pauses to think for a moment.

"Well, I won't say 'no ways.' But ... it's actually a better indication of where our heart is," he concludes. "All the events, the departments, the projects — they really do happen, you know."

The physical reality of PIFAS' North Philly chambers is, of course, not a multimillion-dollar research facility, but rather a modest warehouse. But beyond its timeworn façade, the space brims with life, energy and ideas in motion. Young artists and thinkers circulate about a small village of studio shanties, the exteriors of which are decorated with various magazine cutouts and used Doug E. Fresh vinyl. In the lobby, visitors can indulge in photocopied zines and how-tos, dubbed John Mellencamp cassettes and a game of foosball; in the back, the strains of a band testing the limits of its instruments can be heard emanating from the basement, right next to the makeshift darkroom and custom bicycle atelier. In between, there's the "Town Square," where a TV set seizures and distorts to the melody of some organ foot pedals grafted to the wall; overhead, a large, kaleidoscopic obelisk hovers and revolves indefinitely, occasionally threatening to collide with a quivering pyramid structure that comes within a centimeter of its path. PIFAS is sensory overload, even just to observe.

So what exactly is it?

"I'd call it a free university," says Constance Mensh, head of the PIFAS residency program. Emeritus K-Fai Steele compares it to a think tank; photographics chairperson Wendy Jane Hyatt sees it as more of a chemistry lab.

"I think of it as an organism," says co-founder Richard Davis, who helped Joyce jump-start PIFAS in January 2007, after their last space, the South Philadelphia Athen�um, was shut down by licensing inspectors. "That was run as a dorm, where people lived, whereas this is simply a workspace. ... Everyone's work and ideas help shape the space, and every event has a resultant impact on the whole."

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"That's where the Web site becomes not a hindrance, but rather a tool," says Joyce. "It helps separate us from what we don't want to be. We don't want to be thought of as a gallery, or a venue — or even a traditional institute. You basically have to do some misleading to keep people from latching onto you with false ideas."

For example, this month's calendar offers a series of Haverford professors lecturing on the classroom as "a form of presentation and expression." Tonight, there's John Muse's talk on "Taking Tests, Making Tests," which will serve as a springboard for collaborative projects between PIFAS, the Haverford faculty and any interested attendees — culminating in the exhibition, party and final exam on Aug. 30.

Can anyone get involved? "Absolutely," Joyce says. "If you have something you want to present and think PIFAS is a good context, you're welcome here. We're a bit saturated in terms of shows, though — we don't mind doing them from time to time, but there are so many more possibilities. I mean, if you have an economic idea, or an engineering idea, however amateurishly or professionally we have to approach it, we want to help you do it.

"Besides, if you wanna play a show, all we can do is sit and watch," he says. "And that's no fun for us."

(jakob.dorof@citypaper.net)