Monument Lab

Paul Farber:You are listening to Monument Lab Future Memory where we discuss the future of monuments and the state of public memory in the US and across the globe. You can support the work of Monument Lab by visiting monumentlab.com, following us on social @Monument_Lab, or subscribing to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts. Li Sumpter:Our guest today on Future Memory is artist, scholar, and composer, Nathan Young. Young is a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and a direct descendant of the Pawnee Nation and Kiowa Tribe, currently living in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His work incorporates sound, video, documentary, animation, installation, socially-engaged art, and experimental and improvised music. Young is also a founding member of the artist collective, Postcommodity. He holds an MFA in Music/Sound from Bard College's Milton Avery School of the Arts and is currently pursuing a PhD in the University of Oklahoma's innovative Native American art history doctoral program. His scholarship focuses on Ind

Li:Welcome Jon Kaufman and El Sawyer to Future Memory. Jon:Thank you for having us.El:Thank you, cool name. Li:So what's your origin story? How did Jon and El become Ming Media? Jon:It's an interesting story and there's not really one particular magical spark, but it definitely was an organic process from my perspective, right? El his own journey and perspective with it, but I never really considered filmmaking as a career at all when I was younger, I never wanted to be like a Hollywood person, never wanted to direct or anything like that, but I was always interested in storytelling and especially advocacy and just trying to combat the narratives that I knew were false. I didn't know how to do that. And then it wasn't until I went to Temple and took a class, which was, I forget the name of, it's something around community media, which was a film class. I wasn't a film major at all, didn't study a film at Temple, but this class took me to the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philly where El was teaching

​​Li Sumpter:So welcome back to another episode of Future Memory. My guest today is Jesse Hagopian. He is a Seattle-based educator and the author of the upcoming Teach Truth: The Attack on Critical Race Theory and the Struggle for Antiracist Education. Hagopian is an organizer with the Zinn Education Project and co-editor of the books Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice and Teaching for Black Lives. Welcome, Jesse.Jesse Hagopian:Oh, thanks so much for having me. Good to be with you. Li:Thank you for joining us. Well, I want to get started with some questions about your own education and how you got started. I was curious about what your own early education and high school experiences were like. As a youth, what ways did you relate to or even resist to your own classroom curricula? Jesse:I was very alienated from school growing up. I felt like it didn't really speak to me. I didn't feel like I was intelligent. I can remember very clearly a parent-teacher conference in third grade

Concluding the Plot of Land series, we look at the work being done across the United States to repair our relationship with the land, from the Tongva conservancy in Los Angeles to the Sea Islands of South Carolina. What will it take to imagine a radically different future? With the stakes rising along with the temperature, what is the scale of change we need to shift power and build a more just world?Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Katherine Nagasawa @Kat_Nagasawa, Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees:Kavon Ward; Twitter:@JusiceforBruc1Liz Ogbu; Twitter: @lizogbuDoug Kiel Twitter: @Doug_Kiel *seems deactivated. @’s fail on twitter.John Echohawk, JD  Org tag: @NDNrightsKimberly Morales Johnson MPH, P.h.D William Horne, Ph.D. @wihorneAshleigh Lawrence-Sanders @AshleighWritesNikil Saval; Twitter: @SenatorSavalDesiree Fields, Ph.D.;Twitter: @fieldsdesiree Daniel Aldana Cohen, Ph.D.; Twitter: @aldatweetsTara Raghuveer ​​@taraghuveerLuke Melonakos-Harrison @l_melo_h

We return to Louisiana and the Joneses, where in recent decades family members have moved away for work and to escape the increasingly toxic air and water leaking from the neighboring chemical plants of Cancer Alley. As stronger hurricanes and vanishing wetlands reconfigure Louisiana’s topography, new industries continue old patterns of environmental harm. What will this mean for the future of Jonesland? What can their story on the front-lines of climate change teach us as the nation faces the dire consequences of extractive economies?Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees: Jazmin “Jazzy” MillerFamily: Laverne JonesReverend Samuel “Papa” JonesReverend Joseph JonesSharon LavigneWjuankeil JonesCora Jones RossClaudette JonesImani BrownJoy Banner, Ph.D; Twitter: @drjoy08Jo BannerAnne Rolfes; @annerolfes, Organization’s Twitter: @labucketbrigadeSheila Tahir @labucketbrigade

We learn the incredible story of Sedonia Dennis, a woman once enslaved in Louisiana, who came to own a piece of the plantation that had once claimed ownership of her family. And we explore how, over time, the plantation economy gave way to the petrochemical industry. Join us as we spend time with Sedonia Dennis’s descendant, Jazzy Miller who is documenting her family’s fight to exist at the intersection of each of these forms of extraction.Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees: Jazmin “Jazzy” MillerFamily: Reverend Joseph JonesReverend Samuel “Papa” JonesWjuankeil JonesCora Jones RossAnissa JonesLaverne JonesJoy Banner, Ph.D.; Twitter: @drjoy08Jo BannerAnne Rolfes; @annerolfes Twitter: @labucketbrigadeSheila Tahir @labucketbrigade

We’re looking at what happened after subsidized affordable housing programs expired in the 2000s on New York’s Roosevelt Island. Some residents managed to buy in, build equity and stability. Others experienced precarious tenancy or displacement while an ongoing influx of wealthier residents is changing the face of the island. We ask the question, can Roosevelt Island’s past guide state and federal investments in multi-racial, multi-income neighborhoods for the future? Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Melissa Fundira @MFundiraInterviewees:Ted Liebman FAIA ; Twitter: @liebman_tYonah Freemark, Ph.D.; Twitter: @yfreemarkRosemary Ndubuizu, Ph.D.Kim Phillips-Fein, Ph.D., kimphillipsfein.comDorothy Davis @diasporantouchMarion Ntiru @marionntiruResidents past and presentSasha Ross *Note: residentLionel Fundira *Note: residentCourtney Francis *Note: previous residentBarbara Spiegel *Note: residentRita Ombele *Note:previous residentNikki Leopold *Note: residentEneaqua Lewis *Note: residentLudi Nsimba *Note:

New York’s Roosevelt Island was imagined as an idyllic, multi-racial, multi-income community, developed as part of the social housing movement in the 60s and 70s. But by the 1980s, socially-minded investments in housing were overtaken by neoliberal policy. We talk to current-day and displaced residents to see how this change affected them, while looking back from the point of divergence to find the decisions that created and dismantled housing as a human right. Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Melissa Fundira @MFundiraInterviewees:Ted Liebman, FAIA; Twitter: @liebman_tYonah Freemark, Ph.D.; Twitter: @yfreemarkRosemary Ndubuizu, Ph.D. Affiliate Twitter: @GU_AFAMKim Phillips-Fein, Ph.D.; Affiliate Twitter:  @CUHistoryDeptMarion Ntiru @marionntiruResidents past and presentSasha Ross *Note: residentLionel Fundira *Note: residentCourtney Francis *Note: previous residentBarbara Spiegel *Note: residentRita Ombele *Note:previous residentNikki Leopold *Note: residentMarie Orraca *Note: residentEneaqua Lewis

Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Katherine Nagasawa @Kat_Nagasawa, Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees:ResidentsNate Bradford, Sr.Nate Bradford, Jr.; Instagram: @gline_ranchTheola Cudjoe JonesFannie WashingtonPatricia HarrisAmanda BradfordHenrietta HicksDamien McCormickDr. Willard TillmanKendra Field Ph.D.; Twitter: @TuftsRCDMelissa Stuckey Ph.D.; Twitter: @melissanstuckeyRussell Cobb Ph.D.; Twitter: @RussellSCobb

Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Katherine Nagasawa @Kat_Nagasawa, Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees:ResidentsNate Bradford, Sr.Nate Bradford, Jr. ; Instagram: @gline_ranchTheola Cudjoe JonesFannie WashingtonLucy EllisPatricia HarrisHenrietta HicksDr. Francis Marzett Shelton, Ed.D. (Mayor)Damien McCormickClaudio Saunt, Ph.D.Twitter: @ClaudioSauntKendra Field, Ph.D.; Affiliate Twitter: @TuftsRCDMelissa Stuckey, Ph.D.Twitter: @melissanstuckeyRussell Cobb Ph.D.; Twitter : @RussellSCobb

What happens when the place we call home, the communities we form around it, and our sense of safety, is at the mercy of forces far outside of our control? We visit Long Beach, in Los Angeles, where oil and gas pipelines have jeopardized people’s homes and security. Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond, Mark Nieto @COMBATmusicInterviewees:Lisa NietoJacqueline CasillasRobert DavisSarah Elkind Ph.DAshley Hernandez; Affiliate Twitter: @CBECal, @STAND_LA

Have you ever seen billboards on the highway offering cash for houses? Has a stranger called you offering money for your home sight unseen? In Plot of Land’s second episode, we wade into the world of housing speculation, considering how private equity markets and real estate investment trusts have transformed the places we literally call home. How did housing become such a profitable market? And so volatile that it could lead to the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression?Reporters: Jameela Hammond @JameelaHammond , Anya Groner @anyagronerInterviewees: Nikil Saval; Twitter: @SenatorSavalDesiree Fields; Twitter: @fieldsdesiree Daniel Aldana Cohen; Twitter: @aldatweetsTara Raghuveer; Twitter: @taraghuveerLuke Melonakos-Harrison; Twitter:@l_melo_h

Plot of Land dives into the history of land ownership through the emerging future: real estate in the Metaverse. In creating virtual land, we could make literally anything true, from universal public space to zero gravity, so why have people chosen to replicate real-world patterns of land use when we know they are highly inequitable, exploitative, and unjust? In this first episode, we meet the Plot of Land team of producers and go deep into the ways land, housing, and memory intertwine. Reporters: Jameela Hammond, Irina ZhorovInterviewees:Mike Borden; IG: mikebbordenAllan Greer, P.h.DLouis Rosenberg, P.h.D; Twitter: @LouisBRosenbergAlexander Cho, P.h.D; Twitter:@alexcho47K-Sue Park; Twitter: @ksuenamuLars Andreas Doucet, Twitter: @larsiusprime

Plot of Land is a podcast mini-series by Monument Lab that explores how land ownership and housing in the United States have been shaped by power, public memory, and privatization. Over the last year, we have assembled a team of storytellers and reporters to explore the invisible forces that shape both the land and story of this country. The podcast breaks down how race, class, land, and power have been used to create unfair systems that harm nearly everyone today. We believe that to build the future we deserve, there must be a radical change in our approaches to policy and practice. Join us to remap and rethink land ownership. Major support for Plot of Land has been provided by the Ford Foundation.

This episode, co-host Li Sumpter, caught up with multidisciplinary artist, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh at the onset of her mural project, Flight. Tatyana sees flying as a metaphor for liberation, escape, and transformation. She informs and illuminates this vision through the experiences, hopes, and dreams of everyday people who dare to look up. Li and Tatyana dig into the layered meaning of flying and share some of the literary and pop culture inspirations for Flight. From Toni Morrison to Kendrick Lamar, this conversation connects the souls of black folx and airborne archetypes across history, myth, and the radical black imagination that knows no bounds.

In this episode, co-host Li Sumpter turns the mic to Future Memory co-host and Monument Lab Director, Paul Farber, to go behind-the-scenes on the production of his new podcast project The Statue from WHYY digital studios and the NPR podcast network. The series investigates one of Philly’s most monumental destinations visited by millions from around the world each year --- the Rocky Statue. Li and Paul discuss some of the local and global stories that make the history of the statue as epic as the legend of the under-dog boxer turned worldwide hero. Tune in for Paul’s take on the hope and controversy the statue stirs up and why Rocky – "the greatest Philadelphian who never lived" – continues to have a firm grip on our collective memory.

For this episode, we take a trip to the Brooklyn Museum with Future Memory co-host Paul Farber where he moderated a program for the popular discussion series Brooklyn Talks. How can we memorialize and visualize the extraordinary loss of life caused by COVID-19? Farber explores this question in a dynamic exchange between Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Sekou Cooke – two powerful practitioners working in separate but intersecting fields. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a media artist working at the crossroads of architecture and performance art. ⁠Sekou Cooke is an architect, researcher, and founding member of the Black Reconstruction Collective. Monument Lab: Future Memory was a part of documentation of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s A Crack in the Hourglass, An Ongoing COVID-19 Memorial – an participatory exhibition and “anti-monument” installation previously on view at the Brooklyn Museum and the inspiration for this public conversation. Lozano-Hemmer's project demonstrates the power and possibility of re-imagining the existence of

This episode, co-host Paul Farber speaks to multidisciplinary artist Lava Thomas. They catch up about a major project a long time in the making – a monument honoring Dr. Maya Angelou – prolific poet, Civil Rights activist, and American memoirist. The monument is slated for installation outside of San Francisco’s main public library in the near future. Lava’s monumental journey begins with bike tours with her family in Washington D.C. and makes a sharp turn in when she learned monuments had the power to embody ideology and ignite a movement.

We kickoff a new season of the Monument Lab podcast Future Memory with Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta B. Mayson, two renowned former poet laureates of Philadelphia. Wisher and Mayson are the creators of ConsenSIS, a project that summons “sisterly history” to preserve the past and present literary legacy of Black women and femme poets in Philadelphia. ConsenSIS is a part of Monument Lab’s nationwide Re:Generation project, supported by the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project. ​​Co-host Li Sumpter speaks to Wisher and Mayson about ConsenSIS, their upcoming event, The Clearing (inspired by Toni Morrison), and the meaningful historic images and authors that guide their project’s vision.

Welcome back to the Monument Lab podcast. This episode, we focus on St. Louis. For the past two years, Monument Lab has worked closely with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, mapping monuments in St. Louis. That includes traditional landmarks and unofficial sites of memory, whether they are existing, potential, or erased. To mark the close of our project together, we wanted to speak with locally-rooted MADAD, a brilliant and thoughtful collective of artists and designers from St. Louis whose work illuminates spatial injustice and cultural memory gaps in the region.MADAD’s Damon Davis, Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, and De Nichols work to reimagine how joy, justice, and interactivity improve public spaces. The group started their collaborations during the making of Mirror Casket, a sculpture, performance, and visual call to action composed in the aftermath of the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. Mirror Casket is now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.Th