Monument Lab

Join us on April 10, for the second in a series of guided conversations about The Shape of Power exhibition at The Smithsonian American Art Museum. Monument Lab curators Yolanda Wisher and Aubree Penney will unravel the intersections of race, culture, and identity as reflected in the power of hair to shape our perceptions of style, beauty, and resistance. Monument Lab will provide a toolkit for creative ways of looking at art and generating conversation around the exhibition. Learn more and register today! https://lnkd.in/ea_9fKdY

Join Monument Lab for our Summer 2025 Student Internship Program with paid opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. The 10-week program works to connect, accompany, and strengthen professional pathways for students in public art, public history, design, and nonprofit leadership. Interns will engage with field building, public practice, and narrative change projects across the organization. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with Monument Lab’s team of artists, curators, and researchers. In addition, interns will gain valuable experience in nonprofit administration, organizational practice, and creative production. Applications due Monday, April 21st, at 5 PM EST. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e2fp6cTP

We are excited to welcome Amy Donghee Oh as Monument Lab’s new Operations Assistant. Amy Donghee Oh is an arts administrator with a decade of experience supporting arts and cultural organizations in Philadelphia. With a global mindset developed from living in six different countries and fluency in three languages, she brings a unique international perspective to her work. She joins Monument Lab following her role as studio manager and project manager for project Convalescence, a multi-faceted installation by artist Pepón Osorio at Thomas Jefferson University, where she helped manage the complex installation ensuring the artist’s vision was fully realized. Dedicated to creating meaningful impact through creativity and organization, Amy previously worked at Mural Arts Philadelphia, advancing from Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer/Office Manager to Executive Assistant to the Executive Director. Amy holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Art History from Tyler School of Art, Temple University.

Join Monument Lab for our Summer 2025 Student Internship Program with paid opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. The 10-week program works to connect, accompany, and strengthen professional pathways for students in public art, public history, design, and nonprofit leadership. Interns will engage with field building, public practice, and narrative change projects across the organization. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with Monument Lab’s team of artists, curators, and researchers. In addition, interns will gain valuable experience in nonprofit administration, organizational practice, and creative production. Applications due Monday, April 21st, at 5 PM EST. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e2fp6cTP

Monument Lab is thrilled to welcome our new Senior Project Manager Nina Young! Nina Young is a screenwriter, director, and producer from Detroit, MI with a passion for exploring Black female identity through film. In 2019, she earned her MFA in Film from Howard University. Since then she has worked on a number of short independent films. Recently she served as the unit production manager and first assistant director on Leo Films’ Alemanji, associate produced Tepui Media’s award-winning short film Safe Word, and produced and assistant directed Christopher Cunetto’s Crystalline. In the Fall of 2023, she wrapped post-production on her short film, The Problem with Erin- a story about a young woman who struggles with the decision to finalize her divorce. The Problem with Erin was an official selection of the 2023 Idlewild International Film Festival. She currently is writing a feature-length film.

Artist Omar Tate’s dinner series is part of his living sculpture,?Blue, currently on view in the?Slow Motion?exhibition at Grounds For Sculpture. Tate’s sculpture and dinner series were inspired by “haint blue” a protective color motif whose origins were drawn from Hoodooism and the traditions of the Black American south.?“Blue”?reflects on the role of sound, taste, sight, and smell in memory-work, forging a monument that honors the multiple roots that constitute Black history and experience. Watch the full video of the first dinner held in September: https://lnkd.in/eS3ZBcqR

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our public workshop “Music as Monument.” The full workshop moderated by Monument Lab Senior Curator Yolanda Wisher, featuring speakers Kendrah Butler-Waters, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Mendi and Keith Obadike + a special music playlist curated by DJ lil’dave is now available to watch on YouTube! ??: https://lnkd.in/eUPjkefN Monument Lab’s Public Workshop series, presented with major support from the Mellon Foundation.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has partnered with Monument Lab for an engaging series of guided conversations about The Shape of Power exhibition. Monument Lab curators Yolanda Wisher and Aubree Penney will examine threads of public memory and possible futures in the exhibition through topics like monuments, hair, and gods and monsters, zooming in on specific works to illustrate ideas and spark dialogue. Learn more and register today: https://lnkd.in/eky97H_8

Re:Generation Team Spotlight: "You Betcha! Farmer-Labor Solidarity is Possible" commemorates Minnesota's largely forgotten Farmer-Labor movement: the most successful third-party movement in U.S. history, made possible by building solidarity among a wide diversity of Minnesotans. You Betcha! invited communities across the state to inform this commemoration by engaging with artists in facilitated discussion about solidarity today in conversation with this remarkable history. Team Members include: Thomas U. Beer, Valentine Cadieux, Randy Croce, Alanna Galloway, Gita Ghei, Leif Grina, Anna Kurhajec, Amy Livingston, Thomas O'Connell, Phil Qualy, Raquel (Rocki) Sim?es, Amie Stager, Signe Sundotter, Steve Trimble and Cassie J. Williams. Major support for Re:Generation is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Video by: You Betcha! Farmer-Labor Solidarity is Possible

Re:Generation Spotlight: Melting ICE is a traveling public exhibition featuring the stories and experiences of people currently and previously detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. Through the testimonies of those detained, they examine the private prison system and highlight the efforts of La Resistencia, a grassroots organization led by undocumented immigrants and people of color fighting to end detentions and stop deportations. The exhibit centers storytelling as an act of living resistance and affirms that those detained are full persons with human rights who deserve dignity and respect. Major support for Re:Generation is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Video by Melting ICE