Kimmel Center Showcases Provocative Sculpture Series in Second SEI Innovation Studio Installation

West Collection Artist, Long-Bin Chen, and "The Composers" Marks the Second Installation for the Kimmel Center Plaza

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/16/14 -- Find yourself face to face with some of the world's greatest composers at the Kimmel Center's most recent art installation. Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese artist Long-Bin Chen's unusually realistic sculptures, aptly named "The Composers," is the second of public art installation in the Kimmel Center Plaza. The sculptures are on loan until June from the West Collection through a partnership with SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC). The first exciting installation, Jonathan Schipper's "The Slow and Inevitable Death of American Muscle," simulated a head-on collision of two-muscle cars and was on display for 90 days.

Created in 2013, Chen's over-life-sized suite of sculptures features the heads of famous classical composers: Liszt, Schumann, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Wagner, Mendelssohn, and Strauss. When activated, each bust serenades the onlooker with audio recording courtesy of The Philadelphia Orchestra Archives. Knifed, machine sawed, and carefully sanded from books gathered from his own and other "found" libraries, Chen dutifully crafts each of his busts to resemble likenesses straight out of history books. Rather than betraying their origins as mostly discarded paper products (the artist often salvages tomes from bookstores, publishing companies, and university libraries), his carved heads -- with their noticeable grooves and striations -- appear as if they've been chiseled from noble materials like hardwood, marble, or stone.

Long-Bin Chen's work is an interpretation of human consumption, waste and mourns the pre-digital era of bound books. Chen's talents explore different cultural meanings, and seek to combine ideas and concepts from the East with those of the West.

A native of Taiwan, Chen received a BFA from Tung-Hai University and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1996, he was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in both 1997 and 1998. His exhibits have been seen widely throughout the United States, Germany, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Recently, his group exhibitions include The Invisible Thread: Buddhist Spirit in Contemporary Art at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island, New York; The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama organized by the Dalai Lama Foundation, a traveling exhibition; and Kidspace at MASS MOCA.

The sculptures are among the 3,200 works owned by the West Collection of emerging art. Developed in the 1990s by Alfred P. West, Jr., Chairman and CEO of SEI, and his daughter, Paige West, the West Collection is featured at SEI's offices around the world and can be seen at various art institutes across the United States. SEI's partnership with the Kimmel began in November 2013, with the opening of the SEI Innovation Studio, a 200-seat venue at the Kimmel Center that is housing jazz and theater residencies during the 2013-14 seasons.

About the Kimmel Center
KIMMEL CENTER, INC., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center. Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts Merriam Theater on the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Campus, home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, The Philly Pops, Pennsylvania Ballet, PHILADANCO, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and American Theater Arts for Youth. Our mission is to operate a world class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience which includes providing arts in education, community outreach and a rich diversity of programming. The Kimmel Center Presents Season is sponsored by TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org. The Broadway Philadelphia Season is sponsored by American Airlines.

About SEI
SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC) is a leading global provider of investment processing, fund processing, and investment management business outsourcing solutions that help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of December 31, 2013, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages or administers $559 billion in mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including $232 billion in assets under management and $327 billion in client assets under administration. For more information, visit www.seic.com.

Company Contact:
Dana Grosser
SEI
+1 610-676-2459
dgrosser@seic.com

Kimmel Center Contact:
Dafni D. Comerota
Kimmel Center
+1 215-790-5847
ddcomerota@kimmelcenter.org

Source: SEI

Released April 16, 2014