Art Exhibition Intern (PAID)

SUMMER ARTS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

American Chimera Exhibition/Installation

Philadelphia

June 13 - August 1st (Saturdays, 11 am - 5 pm)

Exhibition Intern (Paid Position)

AMERICAN CHIMERA is an extended multimedia project by artist Mark Kendall that considers the bald eagle as a chimeric figure in American life. Launching in Philadelphia on June 20 and on view for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence, this project integrates moving image, exhibition, and research-based practice to examine the bald eagle as both species and ubiquitous American symbol — a site of cultural projections, values, memories, beliefs, and fantasies.

We are seeking an exhibition intern interested in and engaged with curatorial, archival, and/or artistic research practices to join our team for the summer premiere of this project. This is a paid position offering a $100 daily stipend.

Responsibilities include: 

○ Overseeing the exhibition space during open hours (generally 12-5 on Saturdays, with an early arrival to set up the space)

○ Learning and engaging with the project’s history, concepts, and materials to act as a docent / project representative

○ Welcoming visitors, providing information

○ Light communications, administrative, and gallery upkeep duty

○ Opportunities for writing and creating promotional materials and other engagements, depending on interest and level of experience

Experience sought: 

○ Upperclass undergraduate arts/humanities students (Junior or Senior)

○ Knowledge/ exposure to art history and contemporary conceptual art

○ Strong communication skills

○ Organized, reliable, passionate about learning, self-starter

More details about AMERICAN CHIMERA

AMERICAN CHIMERA is centered around an immersive video work that documents, examines, and expands on the process of Jim Day, a self-taught taxidermist who constructs “bald eagles” from the parts of other birds. Mark Kendall, whose research-based work blends documentary and fictional techniques to track the transformation of seemingly familiar everyday objects, was struck by Day's “speculative taxidermy” and the innovative methods Day had devised to create a "bald eagle" while avoiding using actual bald eagle parts (which would be a felony). Taxidermy objects — often the trophies of hunters – can be seen as emblems of imperialist pasts. Yet Day’s “eagles” are born out of a non-linear process in which feathers from non-migratory, non-protected birds are gathered and painstakingly transformed, feather by feather. Kendall proposes this chimeric figure as an archetype for this milestone moment of the US Semiquincentennial, as we reflect on and continue to uncover the myriad events, stories, experiences, and mythologies that come together to form the nation’s collective identity.

AMERICAN CHIMERA will premiere at the CENTER FOR DECELERATED PRACTICE, headquartered in a desacralized historic church in Fishtown reclaimed from pending demolition by Kendall and converted into a mixed-use space. The video installation will be accompanied by an exhibition of historic and contemporary eagle-related materials, alongside a series of original archive-based works, all sourced from the archives of Philadelphia-based collecting institutions. During the exhibition and extending into the fall, a series of public events held in partnering Philadelphia venues will tease out various themes of the project as they relate to their own institutional areas of focus, ranging from taxidermy and natural history to archival preservation, moving image art, and political history. 2026 Programming partners include: Academy of Natural Sciences, Free Library of Philadelphia, Lightbox Film Center, and ArtPhilly.

Interested candidates: Please send a resume and cover letter to contact@americanchimera.com by May 15, 2026