Strike a Pose: Insta Philly Comes Alive in Old City
With 22 interactive Instagram-ready installations, your timeline is about to get a lot more colorful.
A brand new interactive and Instagrammable exhibit is opening in Old City, colorfully paying homage to Philly and its artists. Insta Philly opens July 10 at 219 Market Street with 22 unique installations that invite you to pose, play, and post!
Founded by Laura Eaton and Katie Kupstas, Insta Philly features installations that celebrate the many sides of Philly—from design to food to sports mascots—along with some candy-colored whimsy to round it all out. The resulting experience is that you’ll find murals by local artists including Alloyius McIlwaine, Britt Miller, and Jalapeño Miles alongside unicorns, rainbow walls, and lots of sparkles. Instagram trends (e.g., mural wings, a flower wall, shimmer curtains) appear throughout the exhibit, ensuring you’ll get that perfect shot.
The founders’ goal was to highlight Philly artists, businesses, and history, which is reflected in little touches like a record wall to honor Philly Soul, a Franklin Fountain ice cream vignette, and, of course, a heavy “love” motif.
In addition to supporting local artists, Insta Philly will support local nonprofits throughout its run, starting off with a giant lemonade stand installation to honor—what else?—Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. As long as the lemonade stand is part of the space, a portion of proceeds from Insta Philly ticket sales will go to the childhood cancer research foundation. As the installations change with the seasons, Eaton and Kupstas hope to feature and support different charities.
Occupying the former Smak Parlour space, Insta Philly retains some of the boutique’s design like decorative molding and the dressing rooms, which become little selfie “booths” containing phones and flippy sequins, which kids will especially love. Other playful interactive details include hula hoops, a trampoline, and even a giant inflatable soft pretzel. So if your kids are camera-shy, or just hate posing for you, just letting them explore the space will yield some stellar candids.
Insta Philly is located at 219 Market Street in Old City, Philadelphia. Timed tickets are available online, and should be purchased in advance as capacity is limited. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for kids.
Photographs by Laura Swartz.
Katie Kupstas July 8, 2021
Thank you for this wonderful article! We so appreciate that our mission and purpose have been described so well. We can’t wait to have you back and hope this will excite other Philly families to stop by!