Monument Lab: A Citywide Public Art and History Exhibition

Philadelphia Mural Arts Program presented a series of five temporary public artworks, created by artists Mel Chin, Emeka Ogboh, Kaitlin Pomerantz, Kara Crombie, and Alexander Rosenberg, exploring notions of monumentality within the civic sphere. The project built on a 2015 Center-supported discovery phase, conceptualized by scholar and curator Paul Farber, artist Ken Lum, and curator A. Will Brown. Mural Arts engaged this creative team to co-produce the exhibition around their ongoing, guiding question: "What is an appropriate monument for the current city of Philadelphia?" On-site "laboratories" designed to solicit the public's visions for appropriate monuments accompanied the artists' installations. These contributions from the community were displayed on screens in the laboratories, as well as in a central gallery space at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for the duration of the project.

Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.