Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies

Paul M. Farber 
(Director, Monument Lab, Philadelphia)

Virtual Event – Register Here to Receive Zoom URL

Monument Lab Director and Co-founder Paul Farber shares insights on the reckoning and reimagining of our nation’s monuments. Over the last decade, artists, activists, and cultural organizers have pushed the status quo in public art, especially to reckon with symbols and systems of power and injustice. Farber explores current practices and debates around art, memory, and history, on and off the pedestal, by sharing stories from Monument Lab projects and partnerships, reflections on recent monument events around the country, and a wishlist and action items for the next generation of monuments.

Paul M. Farber is Director of Monument Lab. Farber is the author of A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall and co-editor of Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia. He also currently serves as Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art & Space at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design.

This multi-year series responds to current challenges to rational public debate. Following Part II of the series in 2020-2021 entitled “Data & Democracy,” and Part I in 2019-2020 “Race and the Promise of Participation,” the 2021-22 speakers series turns to the question of transforming institutions in public life. From public health and the university to museums and monuments, institutions have received increased scrutiny and renewed attention in recent years. In this series, humanities scholars and practitioners reflect on institutions and their transformation. The series brings together speakers who share insights on global healthcare, public monuments, African American heritage, and the university. From diverse interdisciplinary perspectives, speakers will share their efforts to reimagine institutions and generate their transformation.