Beginning in 2022, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit public art, history, and design studio, Monument Lab, launched a nationwide initiative organized around a central question: Which stories belong in public? The editors and contributors to Monument Lab: Re:Generation responded with creative and impactful projects of reclamation that provide a deeper understanding of how monuments live and function in communities.

Monument Lab: Re:Generation presents case studies that travel across America, highlighting local commemorative campaigns dedicated to advancing public memory. Featuring articles and artwork from the country’s leading monument makers, each project includes a framing essay that provides insights into the varied contexts of location, culture, form, and subject matter.

Monument Lab: Re:Generation provides innovative, healing, and practical approaches to the United States’ unreconciled past and divided present facing our nation. In doing so, it invites readers to engage with a broader discourse of monuments and public memory.

Contributors: Thomas J. Adams, Kareal Amenumey, Sháńdíín Brown, Jonathan Jae-an Crisman, Kristen Dorsey, Aruna D'Souza, Mariluz Franco Ortiz, Jacqui Germain, Grace Sanders Johnson, Dani R. Merriman, Deirdre Cooper Owens, Naima Murphy Salcido, Kirk Savage, Clint Smith, Tsione Wolde-Michael, Eric Zimmer, and the editors

Paul Farber is Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab. He is also Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art & Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Farber is the author or coeditor of several books including Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia (Temple).

Sue Mobley is Director of Research at Monument Lab. She is a contributor to Empty Pedestals: Countering Confederate Narratives Through Public Design, Teachable Monuments: Using Public Art to Spark Dialogue and Confront Controversy, and Remaking New Orleans: Beyond Exceptionalism and Authenticity.