Monument Lab

Monument Lab Public Art + History studio. We cultivate and facilitate critical conversations around the past, pres

Monument Lab is a nonprofit public art, history, and design studio based in Philadelphia. We are dedicated to advancing justice by reimagining monuments as places for belonging, learning, and healing. We believe that our unreconciled past and our inherited monument landscape continue to reinforce systems of injustice, haunt our present, and impact our individual and collective futures. We center a

rtists and local changemakers to collectively transform how monuments are created, interpreted, and experienced. We cultivate conversations about the past, present, and future of monuments as a means to animate democracy and foster generational change.

Monument lab was thrilled to partner with  as our Lead Catering Partner for this year’s Summit!12th Street Catering has ...
06/01/2026

Monument lab was thrilled to partner with as our Lead Catering Partner for this year’s Summit!

12th Street Catering has been a Philly institution for over 40 years, pushing the boundaries of traditional catering to deliver elevated culinary experiences rooted in expertise, creativity, and care.

Good food asks us to gather, and we couldn’t think of a more fitting partner to nourish our community through the Summit experience.

At the heart of our Monument Lab events is a commitment to investing in the local businesses that sustain Philadelphia’s creative communities and shape the cultural life of the city.

05/22/2026

How do movements—and educators—teach us what monuments should become?

Shakia Gullette Warren, Executive Director of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia and Dr. Andrea Douglas (), Executive Director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, explore the educational and community activism behind the removal of Confederate monuments.

Major support for the 2026 Monument Lab Summit has been provided by the  with additional support from the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial. The Lead Hotel Partner for the 2026 Monument Lab Summit is . The Lead Catering Partner is .

05/22/2026

How do movements—and educators—teach us what monuments should become?

Shakia Gullette Warren, Executive Director of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia and Dr. Andrea Douglas (), Executive Director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, explore the educational and community activism behind the removal of Confederate monuments.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2026 Monument Lab Summit: “School of Monumaking”We are so grateful for our t...
05/19/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2026 Monument Lab Summit: “School of Monumaking”

We are so grateful for our time connecting, playing, and learning together. ✏️📚🚌

From our inspiring presenters and distinguished awardees, to our generous sponsors and the incredible local partners and vendors who brought it all to life, this convening was truly a community effort.

05/10/2026

The Re:Generation roundtable at the 2026 Monument Lab summit brought together three community-centered monument projects that honor collective action—from labor organizing in the Appalachian coalfields, to care work in Little Manila, to Indigenous remembrance and land reclamation in the Black Hills.

05/09/2026

What does it take to make monuments in and with the public sphere?

Walla Walla tribal member and former Director of the National Park Service, Chuck Sams () and Monument Lab director examine the municipal, coalitional, and stewardship-driven aspects of monument-making.

05/08/2026

Day 2 of the 2026 Monument Lab Summit opened with “Monumaking 101,” an interactive, hands-on workshop exploring monumaking as a collective.

05/08/2026

How do monuments move beyond single heroes to hold many stories at once?

Through research, memory, and material exploration, Artist and educator reveals overlooked histories embedded in the present, often illuminating hidden individual and collective histories of Black life and imagination.

05/07/2026

Keynote speaker Devon M. Henry () offers a firsthand account of the physical and emotional labor of removing more than two dozen Confederate monuments across the American South.

05/07/2026

Elizabeth Alexander () opens days two of the 2026 Monument Lab Summit with “A Mark of Resistance,” by poet Adrienne Rich.

Grounding us on why we do the work of monument-making, learning, and what it takes to build a more just public landscape.

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101 N Merion Ave
Bryn Mawr, PA
19010

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